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Renowned author James Patterson has ripped the New York Times in a fiery open letter over its “lack of journalistic rigor” regarding its Best Sellers list — after the closely-watched list snubbed his highly-reviewed novel about law enforcement in America.
Patterson, 76, said his new book “Walk the Blue Line: No Right, No Left – Just cops telling their true stories to James Patterson” initially failed to make the list even though he said it outsold all but three of the books on the list of 15, according to BookScan, which compiles book sales data.
He accused the Times of “cooking the books” on its esteemed best-selling list.
“I understand you responded to a recent query from my publisher regarding a book containing what I believe to be important and illuminating firsthand stories by American police – by saying that you don’t just pay attention to ‘raw’ sales,” he wrote in a statement posted to Twitter Wednesday. “I guess that means you favor the cooked variety.”
Patterson told Fox News on Sunday that not making the New York Times list upon release hurts an author’s chance at better sales and publicity.
I recently wrote @NYTimes a letter about them cooking the books on their best seller lists. They told my publisher they didn’t rely on just “raw” sales. And they refused to run the letter. But you, dear reader, can read it here. Please spread the word. https://t.co/9UmR4FcjhC pic.twitter.com/fr5NfX7uME
— James Patterson (@JP_Books) March 29, 2023“Here you suggest your process has statistical rigor. And it simply doesn’t,” he said about the Times purported rationale in his letter.
The Times told Outkick that it responded to Patterson’s concerns by letting him know the publication takes them “seriously.”
“And are always reviewing our methods in compiling the Best-Seller Lists to ensure that we are best serving our readers,” the Times spokesperson said.
“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 Times told Outkick while mentioning Patterson’s books have been on the list over 4,000 times.
Patterson wrote the book with Matt Eversmann, a now-retired staff sergeant in the Army.
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