James Patterson, who is worth $800 million, says “another form of racism” targets older white men
According to the novelist, "you don't meet many 52-year-old white males" in the business anymore
Aux News Patterson
For many people, an author who is worth an estimated $800 million and has seen nearly a dozen of his original works made into big-budget films might be the definition of “success.” But James Patterson, the thriller novelist who checks all of the aforementioned boxes, seems to feel that his older white male peers don’t have the same chances in Hollywood as others these days because of … racism?
In a new interview with the U.K’s The Times, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, Patterson described “another form of racism” he thinks older white men in his line of work face—racism that appears in the form of their difficulty securing a job in Hollywood and the publishing industry.
“What’s that all about?” he said. “Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes. It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.”
The author found himself on the topic after the Times noted that much of Patterson’s initial success stemmed from his popular character Alex Cross, a Black detective and forensic psychologist who has been portrayed onscreen by Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry.
“I just wanted to create a character who happened to be Black,” Patterson said. “I would not have tried to write a serious saga about a Black family. It’s different in a detective story because plot is so important.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Patterson describes himself as someone who is “almost always on the side of free speech.” Then, he actually cites the time staffers at his publisher Little, Brown and Company staged a walkout in 2020 in protest of the release of Woody Allen’s memoir. Allen’s adopted daughter Dylan Farrow has long accused the director of sexual abuse.
“I hated that,” Patterson said of the walkout. “[Allen] has the right to tell his own story.”
Patterson finds himself back in the interview circuit (and with just so much to say) after the release of his novel Run, Rose, Run. Patterson co-wrote the thriller with Dolly Parton, and the duo’s work will soon receive a film adaptation with the help of Reese Witherspoon.
160 Comments
Wow sounds like somebody keeps Tucker Carlson on in the background while they write novels.
“Write.”
Hold on, I’ve been preparing this one for a while.*ahem*“OK, boomer.”
If he’s only 52, he’s not even old enough to be a Boomer.
I forget, what came after Boomer?
Eh, no one cares.
You’re right. I don’t care either.
We all forget which generation came after the Boomers. But Patterson was born in 1947, and my god, the shoe fits.
No, the forgotten generation comes before the boomers. After the boomers, I mean do we really even care who they were. I am apathetic on it
Then looking 70 is a slight improvement…..
Trump.
GenX
But he looks 70 so there’s that…..
He’s 75.
James Patterson is 75 years old.
The struggle is real.
Yes, Woody has a right to tell his story, and no one took that right away. He does not have a right to it being published by a major publisher. This feels obvious. No one is paying me for my life’s story. But I’m free to write it, xerox it, and try to hand it out at the West 4th Subway station every Wednesday from 1-8 as I please (also available longer hours by appointment only, DM for more!)
You bastard, you stole my time slot.
Woah! Are you a New York Times published poet?!
I’ve self-pubbed a couple of novels. It’s easy-peasy!
Didn’t have to ask permission or whine about ‘access’ or ‘free speech’ or shit like that.
“I’ve self-pubbed a couple of novels. It’s easy-peasy!”Yeah, that kind of writing makes me want to go out and buy those novels.
Geez, no WONDER nobody’s reading your life story!Post it on Facebook, man.
I’m a major publisher interested in obscure/indie-minded writers whose voice embody the DYI spirit such as the one you essentially embody. But I don’t do DM and my hours in that subway stop are 12-9, so….sorry!
It doesn’t change the fact that Hachette (and Little, Brown wasn’t even the imprint that was going to publish it—even bargain-rate talent should know how to click a link they’re citing) behaved like cowards in that.
Yeah, but no one wants to read Woody’s life story ever since Andy got that fancy new spaceman toy.
Going for that lucrative “nodding off by 4PM in The Villages” book market, I see.
“It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.”I’m just wondering how many 52-year-old black male writers, or 52-year old hispanic writers, or 52-year-old female writers he’s “not met”. Because what he’s talking about is likely just another form of bigotry, ageism, but mystifyingly he’s only noticing the dearth of white men in this crisis. Odd.
Yeah, I’m guessing it’s more ageism, which is a thing. I’m also guessing that by 52, if you haven’t figured out how to write a successful story/screenplay, you’re not going to figure it out. Time has passed you by. It happens to everyone at some point.
Ironically, that’s a pretty ageist comment you’ve just made.
Yes. 52 is the absolute age where people can’t do anything anymore
I turned 52 last September. I can concur.
Juse because you decided to give up doesn’t mean that’s how things are for everyone.
That’s great news. As a mere stripling of a 48-year-old, I resent being burdened with the expectation of doing things. Four more years until I’m free!
I should tell my fiance he’s basically just a useless corpse now and life is over.
True. I’m 54, and I can’t do shit.
Yep…that’s what I sa…wait, a minute…I didn’t say that at all. Dumbass.
Yep, no need to bother trying anymore if you’re 52! Couldn’t be that you haven’t had the right connections or that you came to writing a little later in life. 52? Nothing left to say if you’re not already successful, I guess!
7 more years and then I can officially do nothing and have an excuse? Sign me up!
If you’re 52 and still in the writer’s room…you’ve screwed up somewhere. Writer’s rooms are populated by young people, who then generally take a couple of paths from there: They write their way into other positions, either on screen (ala Donald Glover from 30 Rock to Community) or into showrunner positions (ala Donald Glover in Atlanta). Or they write themselves out of the business by not being very good. Writer’s rooms are stepping stones. If you’re camping out there for 30 years, you’re probably not growing.
What’s wrong with liking being a writer? Do want makes you happy.
There’s nothing wrong with liking being a writer, but that’s just generally not how these positions work in Hollywood. They’re not positions that you camp out in for 30 years, generally speaking. Writers rooms skew young, and people tend to move onward/upward, just like production assistants tend to move on to other jobs higher up in the industry, or they wash out. These are just not jobs that are made for longevity.
Again you have no idea what you’re talking about
Or they work for Hack Frauds like Alex Kurtzman and keep destroying beloved franchises.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. At all. Honestly pathetic that you thought you had some kind of insight on this
Frank McCourt was 60 years old when he wrote his first book Angela’s Ashes, which won the Pulitzer. Bram Stoker was over 50 when he wrote Dracula, which influenced basically every horror novel that came after it. Raymond Chandler actually was 52 when he defined the entire detective genre with The Big Sleep. Laura Ingalls Wilder was 65 when she wrote her debut novel Little House in the Big Woods, launching a series which has been in continuous print for 90 years.
I could go on.
I’m sure you could. And I’m guessing these people are in the top .01 percent too. I didn’t say you couldn’t be a writer at this point…I’m saying the overwhelming majority of people who were trying to be a writer and hadn’t hit upon something by 52…probably aren’t going to be super successful post age 52.Of course there are exceptions. I assumed that was pretty obvious!
Of course they’re in the top percent. Anyone who gets published at all is in a tiny minority percentile. The vast majority of writers never get published at all.I’m just saying that writing is hard enough without someone deciding that no one is allowed to try beyond some random arbitrarily assigned age. But hey, if that’s the hill you want to die on…you probably won’t die on it for another 30 years or so if you’re 52 years old, so why would you want people to waste three decades of artistic potential?
No you couldn’t. You’re one of the dumbest posters on this site, which really says something
No one else probably noticed since he’s rightly stuck in the greys, but several weeks ago I dunked on this weirdo so hard that now he just follows me around and leaves generic insults like this on like 90% of my comments. It’s pretty funny.
Who exactly are you talking to?You’re such a fucking loser it’s incredible.You seem to think you have an active audience or fans or something and you’re not some lonely douche desperately trying to show people that his life matters because of what a good, moral person he is. You’re an ignorant nobody. That’s why your life has turned out like this.
There’s also numerous actors who didn’t even start acting until they were over 40. I don’t think it’s possible to be “too old” to attempt something, unless you’re in a position where your body physically will not let you.
At the same time, since we are talking about writing, not working in a corporation where you would get filtered out by time. Considering how much luck and other factors are involved, one could get their big break late in life.
He’s clearly not going to the meetings, because according to my count, 15 white males over the age of 50 had No. 1 NYT fiction bestsellers in 2021 — including three who hit No. 1 with multiple projects.
15 white males over the age of 50 had No. 1 NYT fiction bestsellers in 2021But how many of those white males over the age of 50 are brand-new writers just starting out? I think that’s the point Patterson was trying to make: It’s virtually impossible to break into any field over age 50, or even 40. Sounds to me more about ageism than racism.
If he did mean ageism in his comment then he’s still an out of touch hypocrite. He’s got a considerable amount influence in publishing and could do a lot to launch the careers of these hypothetical authors instead of merely slapping his name on their work and taking the lion’s share of the credit and compensation for himself.
I’m 45 and just broke into a field, starting a new career as a lawyer. All I had to do was go to law school with a bunch of folks in their mid-20s. I’m currently a summer associate at a top firm in NY — again, with a bunch of people in their mid-20s.You’re focused on number of successes without accounting for number of attempts. That there are so few older people breaking into new fields has much more to do with how many of us decide to chuck our old professional lives and start over from the bottom than with external barriers to doing so.
He’s an old white guy – he considers old white guys the reference standard you compare other groups against, not a group to be compared against others.
You’re so brave. And such a good person. Congrats
His fellow members of the exclusive clubs located near his multiple homes heartily concurred over 100yr old brandy and Cuban cigars.
Ya, it’s clearly a race thing. Ageism is of course an issue across fields, but writers tend to peak pretty “late” in life. A Google search suggests that the average age of an author who first achieves bestseller status is 48-52ish.I’ve no doubt that many publishers are looking for younger writers from historically ignored groups, but to say there is a dearth of middle aged white dudes in publishing is laughably incorrect.
It’s just such a bald-faced lie. Like. Just the lyingest of lies. Like legit? You don’t meet any of the big-money in charge folks in Hollywood who are white men in their 50s? REALLY DUDE?
You don’t meet any of the big-money in charge folks in Hollywood who are white men in their 50s? REALLY DUDE?But they didn’t start out in Hollywood in their 50s. They sorted mail and fetched coffee in their 20s and climbed the ladder for decades to become the big-money-in-charge folks in Hollywood in their 50s.
That’s not what he said. But let’s be real, you don’t have any insight into any of this regardless
Yes, he notices what happens to white men because of his, wait for it, lived experience. Also, it is his truth.
Christ I wish I was 52 again. Ageism is real. And his comment was dumb.
Patterson finds himself back in the interview circuit (and with just so much to say) after the release of his novel Run, Rose, Run. Patterson co-wrote the thriller with Dolly Parton
So he made these comments after collaborating with a woman who busted her ass to drag herself out of poverty and become one of the most successful and beloved singer/songwriters in the world? A woman who was actually sued by her former (white male) employer when she decided to go solo?
The only way this could be more tone deaf is if he had written the book with Tina Turner instead of Parton.
And let’s be real, neither Patterson nor Parton wrote Run, Rose, Run. Patterson farms out all of his writing to a stable of underpaid ghost writers that he shamelessly exploits. So he can fuck right off.
“underpaid ghost writers that he shamelessly exploits.”
Ghost writers don’t get on-cover credits. Ghost writers don’t get “James Patterson &” their name on the cover.
And “shamelessly exploits”? His co-writers are co-writers. They get money from every book sold and if/when the book is adapted into a movie.
I’d love it if my employer shamelessly exploited me like that!
“It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.” May I present, the Academy Award Winners for best Original Script since 2010:
Some of those guys are in their 60s, so checkmate!
And one of those guys is a dame!
That’s a really nice visual because the noticeable shift over the last few pictures is precisely what he finds so threatening.
“When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” Having to compete on the merits of your writing must be frightening when you’re so used to preventing others from competing against you entirely.
Flagging this for making me look at Woody Allen’s face
Can you put it in slideshow format please? Thanks.
But every single one of those people had established careers and had been working in Hollywood for decades. It’s not like they just got off the bus in Los Angeles at age 50 with nothing but a screenplay and a dream. What Patterson meant is that you don’t meet many 52-year-old white males who are brand-new writers looking for their first big break. It’s virtually impossible for anyone over 50 to launch a new career in any field, not just entertainment.
He shouldn’t have limited what he said to white males; he should have just left it at ‘It’s harder for older writers’, which it is.
“What Patterson meant is that you don’t meet many 52-year-old white males who are brand-new writers looking for their first big break.”
In what world is that what he meant? Are you fucking stupid or insane?
Huh, it’s almost like the industry might be changing so that white men aren’t automatically granted success.
lol this
*but are still far more disproportionately likely to achieve success
“When you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” It used to be easier for white men to reach success in the writing industry because everyone else was blocked. Now as people of different genders, ethnicities, demographics, etc, get fairer access, the industry starts to reflect the demographics of the nation. But old white dudes are just so used to having it easy that they feel like having to compete on merits is unfair to them.
Just when you hope it won’t be needed any longer, John Scalzi’s column about Straight White Men and Gaming becomes relevant again (https://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/ ).Guess that’s why he wrote a Ten Years Later column last month (https://whatever.scalzi.com/2022/05/18/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-ten-years-on/ )!
Cute line, but it’s flagrantly obvious there has been an overcorrection in the opposite direction such that what we’re working with now isn’t equality and competition on merit but active bolstering of anyone who isn’t a straight while male and shunting of anyone who is. That isn’t “equality” so much as an extremely corny and obvious turning of the tables – affirmative action goes Hollywood – so at least call it what it is
Almost. But we know they still are, really.
“Waaah! People don’t read my books anymore! Waaah!” James Patterson
Or it’s almost like the industry just isn’t interested in new writers over age 50 of any race or gender. So if you have any dreams of scoring your first publishing contract in middle age, you may as well forget about it. People are making this out to be a white male privilege issue, but as a woman of color over age 50, I see this more as an ageism issue.
Shocking!
Well shit, looks like I picked the wrong time to be a white man.
That’s the thing though. Patterson’s books are hugely successful right now, so I don’t even know what he’s talking about. He created the Patterson Book Farm decades ago. He’s got at least, looking at his bibliography, 10 ongoing series right now, ranging from adult mystery, romance, YA stuff, and childrens series, most on NYT best seller lists, none that he wrote. The actual writers get a “with” credit below his very large name on the book cover.This is a guy that has admitted that he doesn’t write this stuff over 20 years ago, but should still be given top billing, because he comes up with the ideas, even though the actual act of writing is done by someone else. He apparently pays his writers very well so they haven’t ever complained about it. Basically I have no clue what he’s complaint about. His Book Farm has been a joke for ages now. Hell, even Stephen King has made fun of him (around 4:30 since I unsuccessfully tried to just grab that snippet):
“automatically granted success”….mmmno
Lol you’re an extremely unintelligent person
The publishing industry is almost entirely made up of middle and upper class white women, and what gets published represents that. It’s not the music industry.
I think the point he’s missing is right there in his own words “Can you get a job? Yes. Is it hard? Yes” – this is born out of more diverse hiring but the misconception is that it was always hard for everyone except white males and now he’s simply noticing what other groups have people have always faced.
As someone else pointed out, he would get minimal pushback if he said that it’s hard to get published after 50. He would get some blowback if he implied that it’s especially hard for men over 50. But he went for the hat trick.
Patterson publishes a book every couple months. He has no issue with getting published. He doesn’t write. For decades he’s had other people write for him. He was the highest paid writer in the world from 2014-2016, while he was in his late 60s, so I’m not sure where his 52 year old number came from. He’s still making bank off of other people’s work. His book are still hitting the NYT No. 1 best sellers combined published and ebook as of this year, and he’s 75. He also says he does almost nothing but go see movies with his wife 7 days a week. Which, good for them. I’d be cool if that’s what I was doing at 75. That does call into question his experience with the current publishing world or Hollywood though. He rakes in dough, hasn’t been near a “Hollywood meeting” in ages, and apparently doesn’t realize that movie studios are still largely dominated by 50+ year old white men.
“Along Came a Hot Take”
As a used book store owner I can tell you a lot of his fans are slowly realizing he’s a hack who’s been phoning it in for a long time now. I’m not convinced he actually rights anything. Any halfway talented writer could easily write a James Patterson novel. Pretty much everything he cranks out now has a co-writer which very likely means “You write the book, I’ll put my name on it”.
“The underpaid young writers cranking out the books I slap my name on are increasingly foreign to me and it’s making the facade harder and harder to maintain.”
I mean, I’m not even mad. Dude gets paid for not writing.
He’s the Robert Kincade of bullshit novels nowadays.
His co-writers are paid extremely well, and get a cut of film rights if adapted, and have their solo stuff published by him. That’s why they don’t complain about only getting a “with” credit. It’s called the Patterson Book Farm. It’s well known, Patterson has had to talk about it in a million interviews, because obviously he’s not writing a book a month (amongst a swath of genres from adult murder mystery, to romance to children’s books no less). Other authors have made fun of him for decades. Stephen King, who is already ridiculously prolific, especially. Patterson claims he writes a treatment for the “plot and characterization” for every book, and gives notes, so he should basically be considered a director and deserve top billing, amongst many other weird comparisons he’s made to excuse it. Whatever the opinions on the Book Farm, his words are baffling. He’s since tweeted that white people don’t face racism, implying that he was referring to ageism instead, but even that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Patterson was the highest paid author for three years straight up to 2016, while he was in his late 60s, for stuff he didn’t write. 50+ year old white men dominate Hollywood, particularly behind the camera. He’s pretty much last person who should be complaining about anything.
It’s not like book farms are a new thing; they’ve been doing them in Science Fiction for 50 years. Arthur C. Clarke, Anne McCaffrey, and Jerry Pournelle are three ‘big name’ writers I can think of, off hand.
And then there’s the whole ‘shared world’ deal. It started as a one-off and became a whole industry. George R.R. Martin is still shipping “Wild Cards” books to this day.
Hell, Tom Clancy’s been dead for nearly a decade and he’s still putting out at least a book a year.
Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene sure as hell didn’t write all those Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew books alone. Even as a kid I knew that. Hadn’t realized about Anne McCaffrey, but it makes sense.
“Patterson claims he writes a treatment for the “plot and characterization” for every book, and gives notes, so he should basically be considered a director and deserve top billing”
Ah yes, like how the top-billed person in a movie crew is the person with the “story by” credit.
The sad thing is for the right price, I’d be more than happy to take the job of writing his books.
Can we even call him an author anymore? I know a guy who has co-written a few books with Patterson. Here’s how it goes down:Writer and Patterson discuss plot details. Writer writes a draft. Patterson offers his notes. Writer rewrites draft according to notes. Rinse and repeat until something marketable is assembled.Patterson isn’t an author. He’s an editor who somehow gets to have his name be twice as large on the book cover compared to the person who did 90% of the work. Oh, and Patterson takes 100% of the credit in interviews. It’s only marginally better than having a ghost writer.What really drives me nuts? The guy I know loves it. It doesn’t bother him at all that Patterson never mentions him in interviews. It probably helps that he gets paid loads more money than his solo novels.
It’s a fantastic life: All the creative work for (usually) a decent share of the advances and royalties, none of the complications of fame and notoriety. He can continue the life of being an author with the elusive goal of never having to wonder about what your next project will be or when it will come, or whether or not it’ll be sold.Unless you desire that level of profile, it’s the best possible outcome for someone who wants to make a career out of writing.
Yeah, I hear that. It’s why I don’t bring it up with this guy–it’s his choice and he’s clearly happy with it, so I’m happy for him. I just kvetch about it anonymously online. Everybody’s a winner.
No, sorry. The readers are the real losers. They’re the ones getting scammed.
“They’re the ones getting scammed.”
Why? You think his readers can’t read “& John Doe” below the “JAMES PATTERSON” at the top of the cover?
But seriously, it’s adorable when people think they’re better than someone because of their reading habits. Don’t worry, Iain, you’re still better than them.
If you’re still in the audience for that kind of book long after you start to notice the smaller ‘and Ghost MacAuthor’ or ‘with Hired von Handwriter,’ under the headline, you probably aren’t the kind of person to feel scammed by such a thing.
“What really drives me nuts?”“so I’m happy for him. I just kvetch about it anonymously online.”
Yeah, you’re not happy for him. You’re jealous, and it’s really fucking sad.
“What really drives me nuts? The guy I know loves it. It doesn’t bother him at all that Patterson never mentions him in interviews.”
It bothers YOU that this guy doesn’t care about the artifice of fame?
Wow. That’s…that’s really something.
Yeah, it’s called the Patterson Book Farm. He obviously hasn’t been writing a book a month for 30 years and there’s plenty of news stories about it. He’s been forthright about it for decades now, though he claims he should still get top billing because he conceives the “plot and characterizations.”He started as an ad exec, and even in his early stuff he started with plot points he thought would be successful, then tried to stitch them together into a narrative. Then at one point he just said, fuck it, I’ll write treatments and have someone else write it and I’ll give notes like a director. If you look at his bibliography, every series after the early Alex Cross stuff has a specific co-writer, though they only get a “with” credit. That’s how he has multiple mystery, romance and YA and children’s series going at once. It’s also how he continues to make ridiculous amounts of money.It seems the only reason he doesn’t get more flak for not really being an author is because he pays his “with” credited writers extremely well, to the point that they even get a cut if it’s adapted to film, and he publishes their solo work. Given all that, this guy is the last person who should be complaining about anything at all.
“What really drives me nuts? The guy I know loves it. It doesn’t bother him at all that Patterson never mentions him in interviews.”
Does it drive you nuts because your friend is comfortable enough with himself that he doesn’t need James f*cking Patterson to pat his head during an author interview?
“Hardly any of the team of ghostwriters that write my books now are old white guys!”
The reason he doesn’t meet many 52-year old white makes in the publishing game anymore is that he’s reached the level of success that warrents a heavily armed body guard in front of him for every time some schmuck comes running up to him asking if he could give a look at their manuscript. This reeks of a lonely white guy taking the least informed opinion he could possibly stand to offer.
It’s a bad take, but him being rich and successful doesn’t make it that way. That’s like every MAGAt who thinks celebrities should shut up and entertain.
I think he’s missing a critical difference between not seeing “many” 50-year old white guys and not seeing “only” 50 year old white guys.
The following tale of 50-year-old white male oppression is true. And by true, I mean false. It’s all lies. But they’re entertaining lies. And in the end, isn’t that the real truth? The answer is: No.
It’s true. I’m a 48 year old white male and I haven’t been given a book deal.
Does it have to be exactly “52″? Seems like George RR Martin and Stephen King and Dean Koontz and David Baldacci and James Lee Burke and Don Delillo and Cormac McCarthy and on and on and on and fucking on are all white dudes over 52 who seem to be doing pretty okay.This is like saying you don’t see many white men over 50 in Congress. Moronic. And objectively untrue.
Cue jacking-off motion.
Bigots are the best at playing the victim.
At least he didn’t say spaz! Boy, he’d really be in trouble then.
Shut up, no one cares that your favorite slur got properly labeled as a slur
Not defending OP or Liz, but ‘shut up’ is an ableist slur as well…
James Patterson is 75 years old. I am curious. Where is the 52 year old thing coming from? As someone who will be 52 in 2023, I need to know ASAP.
Probably tried to get a mediocre relative a publishing deal and discovered that James Patterson’s say-so isn’t what it once was and decided to blame a more equitable world.
I’m a white guy in my fifties and I write. I write emails. For my job. Lots of ‘em. The point is that I do get paid to write these emails so technically, I’m a writer – and yet I have NEVER been invited to a Hollywood meeting. So how much reparations am I gonna get?
I tried to read one of James Patterson’s books all the way through once. It didn’t work out. Book-wise there are just so many other fish in the sea that suck less.
USA Today has a weekly top 150 bestselling books. Can you guess how many authors are white men? The answer may (not) surprise you.50, 1/3 of the list.
Yes, but white guys over 65 make up 99% of the American public!
Wait, hold on, someone’s whispering something in my ear … About 5%*? No shit? Huh, I wonder what might account for them being over-represented on the best-sellers’ list that way …
* Based on some simple math on the US Census’ July 1, 2021 Quick Facts page:
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045221
Oof – someone needs to explain to him that old white men worth millions don’t get to complain about how hard it is for white men. As a white man who will never see a 7-digit balance in my bank account, I can say that Patterson should shut the fuck up.Honestly, the only real surprise here is that he didn’t break his statement up into 48 chapters.
I too am a victim of “another form of racism.” One so far removed from the original that one might hesitate to actually call it ’racism.’
There have been multiple studies that show that even having a quarter of the people in a meeting be women is perceived as women being the majority in the meeting. Similar studies have shown similar results for PoC.
Hey, Jimmy, are you just freaking out because you saw a few more brown faces and a few more women in meetings that used to look like the board of directors of a private golf club in 1978?
Link to said studies that totally exist and totally represent the outlook of the average person
That’s ageism, you one trick pony!
Headline should be: Old white dude has standard old white dude opinion. But really everyone, whatever James Patterson is saying or doing is not something the AVClub audience is supposed to care about. The only reason this article exists is to make us mad, and a website that used be to great that is now just trying to make me mad with info I don’t want about people I don’t care about, this also makes me mad.
Well, it’s his opinion. That’s for sure.From the outside looking in, older white guy novelists with a publishing track record like him seem to do pretty well. I’m not really up on the current status of inclusion in the publishing industry but as others note the large majority of money in the industry being earned by authors is being earned by people a lot like him.Acting and filmmaking? OK, I guess you can make a kind of general ageist complaint for front of camera roles. It applies a LOT more to not-white males, but hey, it’s at least relevantish.Or, hey, maybe it’s yet another rich white guy showing that what he’s most worried about is some nameless, faceless, not-white “other” stealin’ what’s his guddarnnit! He ain’t gunna be replaced!
It seems he was referring to ageism and not racism. He’s already tweeted that it was a poor choice of words and that he doesn’t believe white people face racism. That said, the dude was the highest paid author in the world for three consecutive years from 2014-2016, when he was in his late 60s, so I’m not sure what he’s even talking about. To this day he cranks out books that hit No. 1 on the NYT combined print and ebook best seller list. Hollywood is dominated by 50+ year old white males behind the camera. And, really in front, as far a pure salary, so I’m not sure what job he’s even talking about.
Threatening me with a good time.Old white dudes really aren’t handling the 21st century gracefully.
There something in the water? This is happening daily at this point.
I wonder how much of this is just “because the publishing industry has gotten more cutthroat.” I’ve heard authors complain about the current state of things as a lot of publishers trimmed/cut back due to the Amazon-incited race to the bottom, but now they’re making money again and the contracts didn’t get any better.
If you’re a more successful author too at least you have options because even if you can’t get the publishing deals you used to, you can afford to write a book without an advance, or via crowdfunding even. (Brandon Sanderson, case in point.) If there’s ageism in the industry it’s because a 52 year old person is less likely to put up with the same sorts of crap deals that a 20-something person can afford to put up with. (Not that the deals are fair either way.)
You know what, fine. Fine, white men or old white men or whatever adjective white men, you can have some racism. Enjoy it. Put some in your morning coffee and sip it.
But then what? Do you want greater representation in the workforce? You already got it. Do you want higher pay? You already got it. Do you want more power? Rights? Freedom? You already got it.
And if you don’t know that, it’s because you’re not even trying to see it. You have that privilege too. That’s obvious to everyone else, including other white men. FFS.
He’s doing an app where they will sell stories that are around 100 pages or so for people who don’t have the time for full novels.He’s invented the novella.
I always wanted to see them publish his books where the parts he writes are in one color ink and the parts his collaborators write would be a different color. I bet the only place you would see the James Patterson ink is the contract.
I always wanted to see them publish his books where the parts he writes
are in one color ink and the parts his collaborators write would be a
different color.Only his name on the cover would be in color then.
The caucasity
Why every awfull white male looks like the orc from LOTR?
–
Right?
We can’t help it.
One day, we wake up, and BAM!
Orc.
Me?
I’m trying to lean into it.
Take that example Orc you’ve got there, and take away that long stringy hair, and I think you’ve got a pretty good idea of what I look like.
When I’m happy.
When I’m sad, my face actually looks a little droopy and farble.
This guy complaining that he doesn’t meet other middle-aged men anymore has extremely Tim & Eric vibes
Oh, JFC – I am so very tired of old white men complaining that they might have to share wealth and success with people not exactly like them. For a fucking change. STFU writer I will never read again.
“James Patterson, who is worth $800 million”
What does his net worth have to do with anything? He’s not saying he isn’t making money.
Think that may actually be Ageism there James. Also, it may be best to realize there are also a large majority of white males who push against old rich men. Simply because we are tired of seeing your gains grow more and more while the rest of us suffer
I’m likely in the minority here, but for decades the media industry had a preference for older more experienced writers. Sure, there were always done break out writers that were younger, but generally you had to work twice as hard for mere pennies to “finally make it” round about mid career, probably in your late 30s going into your 40s.I’d say that today, ageism which is absolutely a thing, is much stronger across the board where studios and publishers are much more interested in hearing a “younger voice”, they’re much less likely to be targeting middle aged, late career readers/viewers and are laser focused on the 18 to 25 (maybe up to 35 crowd) and don’t believe older writers that don’t already have multiple awards under the belts can hit those targets. But the studios & publishers do think even with a lack of experience, younger writers will understand their target audiences and so they’d rather take a risk with a younger unknown than trust in the experience from someone they consider “too far from their target demographic”We’re seeing a lot of this in the software/IT industry as well, where in many cases programmers and engineers are being let go, or not hired, in favor of hitting multiple younger folks that companies believe are more flexible, more likely to know the latest trends/systems, and are of course a lot cheaper.
That guy is only 52?
He looks like 80!