James Patterson's Life and Work
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MaRcH 2012 reprinT r1203T
James Patterson
Interviewed by Alison Beard
Life’s Work
This document is authorized for use only in 030PT100 - Marketing by Rudy Moenaert at TiasNimbas from May 2013 to November 2013.
Life’s Work
Interviewee Name Intro copy here. by
Interviewer Name joining me. I don’t like to use the word “boss,” even though I don’t think it’s inaccurate, because I think I create an environment that is much easier than the ones most people have to deal with when they write for magazines, newspapers, and publishers. And, as I said, nobody leaves.
eXPerieNCe
James Patterson is one of the world’s most prolific and popular fiction writers, thanks to a fast-paced style and genre-spanning oeuvre, his collaboration (by fax!) with coauthors, and the marketing savvy he acquired as an ad executive. How does he make good on a four-year, 26-book deal while experiencing “zero stress”? By thinking efficiently yet creatively and trusting his gut. Interviewed by Alison Beard
I didn’t go to Harvard Business School. I’ve taken no business courses. I’ve taken no marketing courses. But I’m a creative problem solver. Often those two things, the creative and the analytical, don’t exist in the same body, so there aren’t enough of those people in business. But I think they need to be very high up in companies. That’s probably the main reason for my success. I am very creative: I have 500 pages of ideas for books. I couldn’t possibly do them all myself. And I have coauthors, none of whom had been very successful at solving the problem of writing a novel that was going to (a) get published, and (b) be successful, whether it’s terrific reviews or the best-seller list.
Some people think that the way you write and market books has revolutionized the publishing industry.
done a lot. The newspaper business, the movie business—they’re full of teams. A lot of art was done by teams, a lot of cathedrals.... I’ll write an elaborate outline, maybe
MaRcH 2012 reprinT r1203T
James Patterson
Interviewed by Alison Beard
Life’s Work
This document is authorized for use only in 030PT100 - Marketing by Rudy Moenaert at TiasNimbas from May 2013 to November 2013.
Life’s Work
Interviewee Name Intro copy here. by
Interviewer Name joining me. I don’t like to use the word “boss,” even though I don’t think it’s inaccurate, because I think I create an environment that is much easier than the ones most people have to deal with when they write for magazines, newspapers, and publishers. And, as I said, nobody leaves.
eXPerieNCe
James Patterson is one of the world’s most prolific and popular fiction writers, thanks to a fast-paced style and genre-spanning oeuvre, his collaboration (by fax!) with coauthors, and the marketing savvy he acquired as an ad executive. How does he make good on a four-year, 26-book deal while experiencing “zero stress”? By thinking efficiently yet creatively and trusting his gut. Interviewed by Alison Beard
I didn’t go to Harvard Business School. I’ve taken no business courses. I’ve taken no marketing courses. But I’m a creative problem solver. Often those two things, the creative and the analytical, don’t exist in the same body, so there aren’t enough of those people in business. But I think they need to be very high up in companies. That’s probably the main reason for my success. I am very creative: I have 500 pages of ideas for books. I couldn’t possibly do them all myself. And I have coauthors, none of whom had been very successful at solving the problem of writing a novel that was going to (a) get published, and (b) be successful, whether it’s terrific reviews or the best-seller list.
Some people think that the way you write and market books has revolutionized the publishing industry.
done a lot. The newspaper business, the movie business—they’re full of teams. A lot of art was done by teams, a lot of cathedrals.... I’ll write an elaborate outline, maybe