One of the enduring mysteries of popular culture is why certain mediocre works become wildly successful, even inescapable. In addition to the occasional masterpiece, book publishing produces hundreds of thousands of middling titles every year, and every so often one of them catches on, becoming the blockbuster that funds all the rest. But why that particular book? Take Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train, a psychological thriller of very modest accomplishment that has sold upward of 11 million copies, putting Hawkins on Forbes’ list of the highest-paid authors in the world, one slot above Game of Thrones’ George R.R. Martin. Most best-sellers aren’t any better than the drably written and predictably twist-ridden The Girl on the Train, of course, and some are much worse. But the typical successful commercial novelist—from James Patterson to Mary Higgins Clark—succeeds not by coming out of nowhere with a remarkable book but because she has hammered out a formula more or less her own, promising her readers a reassuringly familiar experience. Can Hawkins? Her new novel, Into the Water, will tell. Continue reading at 'Slate'
[ Slate | 2017-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
James Patterson's "Unlucky 13," out May 5, hit the list at #2 for the week ended May 12. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It’s BEA time again, and we can’t wait—for all of it: the tote bags, the crowds snaking through the aisles for James Patterson’s latest, the cafeteria food, the bathroom lines, the name tags, the debut authors dizzy with success, and, most of all, the coveted galleys. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James Patterson and Marshall Karp's "NYPD Red 2," and "Shadow Spell," by Nora Roberts, were new to the top ten on Apple's iBooks bestseller list for the week ended March 31. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rocketing to the top of this month’s list of bestselling audiobooks—and snatching the #1 spot from the mega-selling Bill O’Reilly—is James Patterson and Mark Sullivan’s Private L.A. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Patterson says a bookstore will need to be 'viable' and have a kids' section to qualify for a donation. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Well, this process seems a bit counterintuitive, eh? This morning, Barnes & Noble introduced a new scheme for getting Nook customers to visit the company's retail stores. The promotion nets you one free ebook when you purchase another, but -- and this is where the offer tripped us up a bit... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Moving 200,000 books isn’t an easy task, but through the goodwill and team work of several organizations, that’s exactly what happened in an unprecedented donation of James Patterson’s own books to the United States Armed Forces. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 06/09/2011 - 16:04 David Nicholls' One Day (Hodder) remains comfortably the bestselling book in the UK. The novel, which currently tops the Amazon, Apple and Waterstone's ebook charts, sold 83,050 physical copies of its original and tie-in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 16/08/2011 - 14:41 Kathryn Stockett has become the first debut author to join the Kindle Million Club after selling over a million copies of her novel The Help (Penguin). Janet Evanovich, Headline Review author of the Stephanie Plum novels, has... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams and Philip Stone Publication Date: Fri, 08/07/2011 - 09:55 Print sales across the book market have dropped by 3% in the first six months of 2011, compared to the same period last year, with Jamie Oliver the bestselling author over the period, ahead of Julia... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 20/06/2011 - 14:31 John Locke has become the first self-published author to sell more than one million ebooks through Amazon. The author used Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing platform to publish and sell his titles. He joins Stieg Larsson,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 06/06/2011 - 14:49 Lee Child and Suzanne Collins are the latest authors to sell more than a million Kindle books. The pair join Stieg Larsson, James Patterson, Nora Roberts and Charlaine Harris. Child, who has written 16 Jack Reacher thrillers... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 09:19 Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse series of novels, has become the latest writer to sell more than one million Kindle ebooks through Amazon. The author, who is published by Gollancz in the UK, joins Stieg... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 06/05/2011 - 08:55 Random House has hit the landmark of two million ebooks sold in the UK, with other leading publishers reporting a first quarter explosion in digital sales. E-books currently account for 8% of RH's overall sales, with... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Tue, 08/03/2011 - 08:57 The Galaxy-sponsored advertising campaign for Quick Reads has been unveiled, with advertising, posters and bookmarks lined up for the literacy campaign. The 10 Quick Reads, all published on World Book Day, 3rd March, include titles by Linwood Barclay,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Fri, 25/02/2011 - 08:20 Google has introduced ebooks to the web version of its Android Market of apps. By buying an app on the webstore, a user can then push it onto any Android-enabled device. PC Mag reports the book capacity was added yesterday... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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