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- Novelist James Patterson — along with a hardworking group of co-authors — generates multiple books a year.
- He says that's not enough for him: He's going to start making a Substack, too.
- AI fans often point to Patterson's publishing system as a precursor to what that tech can do — help a creator be more productive. I asked him what he thought of that idea.
James Patterson does not need another place to write. The best-selling novelist is already famously productive: By collaborating with a platoon of co-authors, he's been able to write more than 200 books since 1976 and can easily publish a dozen titles in a year.
But here he is, promising to make yet more content: He's launching "Hungry Dogs," a Substack subscription — part of that service's push to work with a variety of creators (welcome aboard, Tina Brown) and to move beyond newsletter-style offerings. Patterson says his Substack will be a mix of musings on writing, video interviews with authors he likes (including Bill Clinton, one of his co-authors), and whatever pops into his mind.
There's a lot on Patterson's mind, as I found out in a recent phone interview: He wants to sound off on everything from Hollywood to haters (he has many, including Stephen King). I was particularly interested in whether Patterson thought AI might be a useful tool for someone like himself, given that he already uses an industrial approach to writing.
Here are edited excerpts from our chat:
You don't seem like someone who needs a Substack.
I don't like the word "empower," so I won't use "empower." But it's kind of a power tool for writers, where there's nobody between you and the audience. Nobody is saying, "Do this, don't do that. This is a good idea. This is a bad idea. We don't want to publish this." So I think that's kind of cool. I can pretty much do what I want to do. Up to a point.
It doesn't seem like there'd be many constraints on you right now.
Well, there are, in terms of doing certain things. In terms of the fiction world, they'll let me do it.
In Hollywood, that's its own thing. I remember going on the shoot for "Kiss the Girls," [the 1997 movie based on Patterson's 1995 book of the same name.] Everybody's very nice and everything. But I soon found out that on the movie shoot, the novelist ranks somewhere below the caterer.
Way, way, way back in the day, you'd get these guys that ran studios: "People love cowboys. They love circuses. I'm going to do a movie about cowboys and circuses! Get me 10 writers!" And that hasn't totally gone away.
I'm in a period now where I'm dealing with Hollywood a lot, and you have some people that are kind of motivated by the fear of getting it wrong. That motivates them: "I'm so afraid; I don't want to get it wrong. This has got to be perfect." Some of that is OK, but ultimately, it's pretty destructive.
And then you have a lot of people in that survival state, where they're saying, "I don't really care anymore."
And then the third thing is sort of the joy of wanting to make it better and better and better. Mostly, that's my state.
So, is your Substack going to be writing? Doing videos?
No rules. We do it three times a week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Wednesday is always going to be free. We'll give away excerpts. We'll give away goofy things like used pencils where I chewed the erasers. Shit like that.
Some of it is filmed. I'm doing interviews, and I think they're going to be cool.
I just did a longer one with President Clinton. We're going to do it in two parts. One before the election and then one when his new book comes out later in the year. And that was cool — just human-to-human stuff. There's no curve balls, no sliders.
I talk to a lot of writers. So far, nobody's turned the invitation down. We'll do one of those a week.
I'll do some about things that I've learned along the way that aren't in my MasterClass.
I never give advice and I didn't in my MasterClass. A gazillion people have taken that. Nobody seems to learn shit, but they take it. But I don't give advice. I just tell 'em what I'm doing.
I'll do one on writing nonfiction. I'll do one [about writing] kids' books because I've done a lot of kids' books.
You are incredibly productive. You generate a ton of stuff. You already have this MasterClass. I'm guessing you don't need the money. What's the impulse here?
The interviews are cool. They are really fun. I'm loving the interviews.
This is just sort of human stuff. Like with Clinton: It's the kind of stuff you don't normally hear people asking them about. I know him relatively well now because we've done books together. We have another one coming out next year. And we've seen a lot of stuff.
The first time we went out, my wife and I went out with him and Hillary. It was about three hours, four hours in a little restaurant. And four or five times during the meal, they were holding hands under the table.
People don't think of them that way. You know what I mean? It's more complicated than you think it is. Let's just deal with one another as human beings.
I know Eric Trump a little bit. I could do one with him and not get political about it. I know Bush a little. So, stuff like that.
You famously work with lots of other writers to generate your significant output. Will you be working with people on this? Or does this come straight from your head?
Just me.
One of the reasons I was eager to talk to you is I've been thinking about you for the last year or so during this AI boom. A lot of people are excited about it, and a lot of people have fears about it. Your name often comes up as someone who already works with other writers to create material in your voice. So people ask — "What's the difference between James Patterson working with a group of people to make stuff in the voice of James Patterson and James Patterson using AI for the same thing?"
It doesn't interest me at all. If anybody knew how I do stuff, they would go, "That's stupid. He would never do that. Why would he?"
I haven't seen anything yet — I'm sure it'll happen, but I haven't seen anything yet — out of AI where you go, "Yes, this could be Patterson, or [John] Grisham." Why would I do that?
I have no interest in it. It'd be boring.
I hope this was not boring for you. I appreciate your time.
The only AI thing I think about is one of the guys from The Eagles. What the fuck's his name? It's not [Don] Henley.
Joe Walsh?
Joe Walsh, yeah.
Somebody asked him what was going to happen with music, with AI. And he said, until "I see AI go and destroy a hotel room and throw a television at a swimming pool, I'm not going to be worried about AI." I love that.