James Patterson Statistics

James Patterson book sales statistics

James Patterson has sold more than 425 million books
He is thought to be the best-selling modern author
In 2020, Patterson published his 100th NY Times bestseller
Patterson has published 260 Times magazine best-sellers
None of Patterson’s books have made Time magazine’s list of 150 best-selling titles since 2004
Patterson’s sales rely more upon the volume of work he produces rather than any individual book
James Patterson was the best-selling author of the 2010s
He sold 84 million books (print and ebook) from 2010-2019
Over this period he was believed to have made over $700 million
His net worth was estimated at over $800 million by Forbes in 2018
In 2020, Patterson was the highest-paid author in the USA making over $80 million
From 2019-2020, Patterson sold more than 5 million books
Patterson was the first person to sell 1 million ebooks
In total, he has now sold over 5 million ebooks
His best-selling book is Along Came a Spider which was turner into a movie in 2001 and made over $100 million at the box office
Along Came a Spider is part of the Alex Cross series which have sold more than 81 million copies in total

In total, Patterson has published at least 394 pieces of work
Between his first release in 1976 and his latest release in October 2022, Patterson has published a piece of work every 6 weeks on average

For Adults
Novels	179
Short Story Collections and Novellas	78
Non-fiction	15
For Young Adults
Novels	30
Comics	20
For Kids
Novels	54
Short Story Collections	1
Picture Books	15
Comics	2

Patterson’s 5 most popular series are:

Patterson worked as an aide in a psychiatric facility with suicidal patients
He often worked night shifts with little to do and started to read to pass the time
Patterson has stated that he had a small-town perspective on life but working in this Harvard-affiliated facility allowed him to meet different people that expanded his ambitions
He went on to get bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English
Patterson began working for an advertising agency in New York. The company was struggling and he started getting opportunities someone in his position wouldn’t usually get because the higher-ups on large salaries were being made redundant.
Patterson was a success and went on to be the CEO of the agency by the age of 38
He began writing in his spare time – before work, at lunchtime, in the evenings after work.
His first novel was rejected by 31 different publishers

Stephen King once said James Patterson is a “terrible writer”
Patterson often writes short chapters and one-sentence paragraphs which have been widely criticized by literary critics
However, Patterson views this as essential to his success as a writer as it keeps the plot moving along at a fast-pace
Patterson works with other writers in many of his books and has been criticized for his co-authoring approach with accusations of being a brand rather than an author
He has also been accused of being a money-making machine rather than focusing on the craft of writing