James Patterson accuses New York Times of ‘cooking the books’ over bestseller list

Prolific author claims his latest book ‘Walk the Blue Line’ has outsold numerous titles ranking in the top 15

Patterson in March

(Getty Images for ACM)

James Patterson has accused The New York Times of “cooking the books” in an open letter regarding the publication’s bestseller list.

The US author claimed that his latest offering Walk the Blue Line had outsold “all but three” of the books in the Times’ top 15 ranking according to other data providers.

“I understand you responded to a recent query from my publisher regarding a book containing what I believe to be important and illuminating first-hand stories by American police – by saying that you don’t just pay attention to ‘raw’ sales,” the 76-year-old wrote in the letter posted on Twitter.

“I guess that means you favour the cooked variety,” he wrote, adding: “As the nation’s bookstores and our publishing houses have known for years and can prove – your lists too often are outside the realm of statistically possible, much less plausible.”

He also claimed that the Times refused to publish his letter.

In an interview on Fox News on Sunday (2 April), the Alex Cross author doubled down on his comments, saying the Times’ list is “a little bit of fake news”.

In response to Patterson’s letter, a spokesperson for the Times told OutKick: “We responded to Mr Patterson to let him know that we take his concerns seriously and are always reviewing our methods in compiling the Best-Seller Lists to ensure that we are best serving our readers.”

“Our bestsellers lists are based off detailed analysis of book sales from a wide range of retailers, tens of thousands of brick-and-mortar stores of all sizes, and numerous online book-selling vendors to best represent what is selling across the United States,” the spokesperson added while mentioning that Patterson’s books have ranked on the list over 4,000 times.

The New York paper’s bestseller list has been compiled weekly since 1931.

Last year, Patterson apologised after suggesting that “white male writers” struggling to find work was “another form of racism”.

Patterson is one of the highest-paid writers in the world, earning an estimated $80m (£66m) in 2020 alone and holds the record for having the most books in The New York Times’ bestsellers list.