Saturday, April 07, 2007

Buying the Brand

If you’ve been paying attention (and I know you have), then you’re aware that the International Thriller Writers has given its ThrillerMaster award to two powerhouses in this genre: Clive Cussler, who received the commendation last year during the first Thrillerfest in Phoenix, Arizona; and James Patterson, who’ll be presented the ThrillerMaster award during Thrillerfest 2007, to be held in New York City in mid-July.

What do these mega-selling authors have in common? Well, apart from their storied wealth, it’s that they collaborate with other writers to produce their books.

The London Times today carries an intriguing piece about the often big business of modern thriller-writing, and the collaborations behind some of its biggest names. Alice Fordham writes:
When James Patterson, author of the Alex Cross series, produces a new book, 1.25 million copies are routinely printed. After he was poached from [Britain’s] Headline by Random House last year the victors crowed: “Signing James Patterson is like acquiring a one-man publishing industry.” His fortune was estimated by Forbes to be $28 million (£14 million) in 2005. Another big name, Robert Ludlum, has 210 million books in print, and every one of his titles has been on The New York Times bestseller list. Clive Cussler has 70 million copies of his Dirk Pitt series in print, and Penguin UK sells 700,000 of his books every year. The books are fast-paced and addictive and readers cannot get enough of them. Including paperbacks, Cussler alone has five books out in the UK this year and each one is a guaranteed bestseller.

Small wonder, then, that the production of so many page-turners involves more than lone writers toiling in garrets. More and more, the people producing million-sellers are leaning on collaborative authors to do much of the writing.
I’ve often wondered how these collaborations work, both creatively and financially. In the case of Ludlum, who died in 2001, it’s obviously other people--including Gayle Lynds and Patrick Larkin--who are now batting out the novels in his name, and collecting the proceeds. But the arrangements vary among wordsmiths:
Thriller writing does have a long history of collaboration. Twenty years ago Patrick Larkin was writing thrillers with Larry Bond, including The Enemy Within, but, as Larkin says: “In those days, it was quite unusual to have two names appearing on the front of the book, so Larry’s name went on.” Crucially, however: “We split the money right down the middle.” But today’s collaborations differ in a number of ways. First, they are no secret--James Patterson recently gave an interview alongside one of his collaborators, Michael Ledwidge. The names of the co-writers appear on the covers, sometimes in rather small writing, but not always. And, unlike Larkin and Bond, the money might not be divided equally. (Patterson refused to elaborate on this in a recent interview, but insisted that all parties were satisfied.)
Call me cynical, but the output of words from Cussler and Patterson alone would keep an army of typists busy. However, they seem to have found a readership that a solitary scribe could only dream of. The Times explains:
One of Patterson’s regular co-authors, Maxine Paetro, reveals a rather different working relationship today. “Jim comes up with the story idea,” she says. “It’s pretty densely written and about 30 pages long. He sends it over to me for a month or two, while I think about it and come up with ideas. I add my two cents worth, and send it back to him. Sometimes he will say: ‘Maxine, that’s fantastic,’ which I love, but other times he says: ‘This isn’t how I tell stories’. ”

Patterson is renowned for his “golden gut”, an instinct for what will and won’t work in a story. When Paetro receives the final outline, conceived by Patterson and worked on by her, she fleshes it out into a manuscript, which will become a 400-page book, and hands it over to him. “And it’s his book,” she says. “He runs with it from there, although he won’t usually make big changes.”
However, these collaborations do serve to distance the “name author” from the books produced under his byline. This old anecdote made me chuckle:
Patterson ... was once subjected to a quiz on television where he was asked to identify his own books from sections read out from them. He failed, but remained cheerful, as well he might. This is a man who has sold more than 100 million books to readers not too bothered that he doesn’t craft his own sub clauses.
You can read the full Times article here.

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