Author James Patterson has golden touch

updated 3:48 p.m. ET May 18, 2006

PALM BEACH, Fla. - James Patterson’s life was an accident, a clashing of indecisiveness, a lost first love and an idea that there were rules for ordinary folks like him. But at 59, there’s nothing ordinary about the multimillionaire author.

Patterson has published 35 books, 18 of which hit No. 1 on The New York Times list of best sellers. He’s sold 100 million copies, grossing $1 billion in sales. His thrillers, “Kiss the Girls” and “Along Came a Spider,” have been made into movies starring Morgan Freeman as criminal profiler Alex Cross. More Hollywood deals are in the works.

The former chairman of J. Walter Thompson advertising firm, Patterson produces up to five books a year: mysteries, thrillers, fantasies, love stories and children’s themes. He made $40 million last year — doing it in a manner that caught the eye of a Harvard University business professor.

Still, despite the fame and fortune, he sees himself as “just a guy that tells stories,” his work as “scribbling.”

A literary icon? “Nope.”

“My books are good of their kind,” Patterson says matter-of-factly, as he sits in a pale yellow multimillion-dollar waterside mansion in swanky Palm Beach with two Mercedes-Benzes parked in the driveway. There’s a dock outside, but no boat. “I know the rules, and I just choose to break them.”

Case study at Harvard Business School
Patterson has just returned from a 10-day tour to promote his new book, “Beach Road,” which he wrote with journalist Peter de Jonge. Another book is due out May 23, his third for the year so far.

On this recent sunny day, his huge, white front door is filled with balloons and plastered with signs reading, “Welcome Home Daddy.” His wife, Sue, newly emerged from the swimming pool, walks around the airy estate in a white robe.

Unlike many writers, Patterson is the hand that rocks his own cradle, involving himself in cover designs, organizing signing events and speaking engagements. He contributes his own money to his book advertising campaigns.

In the halls of Harvard Business School, Patterson is an unusual icon.

Harvard’s John Deighton devised “Marketing James Patterson,” a case study taught in several courses, after hearing the author speak at a gathering of business professionals and realizing that he is a marketer who happens to be his own product.

“That doesn’t happen with a can of soda,” Deighton said.

“The man is a marketing machine,” added Bob Wietrak, vice president of merchandise for Barnes & Noble booksellers.

A few years ago, Patterson began using collaborators to produce even more work.

“I do have a big imagination,” he says, the slit of his left eye closing to a near wink.

It began with “Miracle on the 17th Green,” a story of a middle-aged man seeking the extraordinary from his ordinary life, written with de Jonge.

“Peter is a better stylist than I am, and I’m a better story teller than he is,” Patterson says. He’s since worked with five co-authors.

Patterson writes the story outline. The co-author pens a first draft. After a series of back-and-forths, a new book is produced in about half the time.

“If you commit to my style, it’s very doable for a collaborator,” he says.

MORE FROM BOOKS

Karl Rove memoir coming in March

Karl Rove memoir coming in March Ali Vincent on going from fat to ‘Biggest Loser’ How dog poop led to love for Paula Deen Grisham: Printed books are endangered species Palin book tour avoids Democratic strongholds Poet Lord Byron’s letters sell for $455,000 Seriously! Beer sparked Norm’s ‘Cheers’ career   Add Books headlines to your news reader: