Read the entire post at JA Konrath’s blog. Trust me on this one.
Perhaps you’ve seen the ad James Patterson recently ran in the NYT.
The Ad Should Be Called "Hyperbole" or "Special Interest Marketing"
If you don’t want to squint at the jpg, here’s what Patterson wrote:
“If there are no bookstores, no libraries, no serious publishers with passionate, dedicated, idealistic editors, what will happen to our literature? Who will discover and mentor new writers? Who will publish our important books? What will happen if there are no more books like these?”
Then there’s a list of 38 books, including All the President’s Men, Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple, Fahrenheit 451, Catch 22, etc. I agree that many of them are great.
Then he ends with:
“The Federal Government has stepped in to save banks, and the automobile industry, but where are they on the important subject of books? Or if the answer is state and local government, where are they? Is any state doing anything? Why are there no impassioned editorials in influential newspapers or magazines? Who will save our books? Our libraries? Our bookstores?”
I respect Patterson for his marketing genius. I also like many of his books. He makes 94 million dollars a year, so he’s obviously doing quite a bit right.
But I’m not finding much to agree with here.
Another voice chimes in here, and is definitely worth the read!