Why do we hate Patterson? I mean, I’m down to hate him but I wanna know why

hedgepoetess

Can someone explain this to me please

Sure! I wasn’t expecting this to get traction so I didn’t go into detail.

‘Ghostwriter sweatshop’ isn’t a perfect term - I believe the term typically used is co-writers, although I’m not sure that’s fair either. What happens is that Patterson gives writers an outline and a plot, and they write the books. He’ll read and sometimes revise what they produce. Here’s one of several articles on it. Some people have used text analysis tools to confirm that his books tend to read far more like the co-writers than him - ‘author’ may not be the best word for his role. He’s more like the director. 

That being said, many librarians don’t resent him for that. We resent him because, if you work in a public library, he has probably taken over an entire library shelf by now, maybe two. Shelf space is valuable, but when it’s a bestseller you have to buy copies, even if there’s better stuff you could be purchasing. 

I work in a library and literally we all dislike Patterson to varying degrees.

Just the other day I was shifting all the books (because we had just weeded) and I was desperately trying to fit the Pattersons on the shelves and there were no patrons in the library so I yelled “PATTERSON NEEDS TO STOP WRITING ALREADY” and my coworker—not missing a beat or even looking up from what she’s doing—just deadpans back, “He already did.”

So yeah librarians and library employees generally tend to hate Patterson.

I work at a library and recently an email was sent out to all staff with this as the subject line