At 74 James Patterson has sold more than 425 million copies of his 200 novels globally, making him one of the highest paid authors in the world. "I do not work for a living. I play for a living. I love doing it," Patterson tells CNBC. But Patterson's road to success didn't happen overnight. He started writing as a side hustle and he faced a lot of rejection before getting his first book published.
Patterson grew up in the woods in Newburgh, New York with an insurance salesman father and a schoolteacher mother. Despite having dreams of being a writer, the idea "always seemed presumptuous", Patterson says. But after reading books by James Joyce, "it really turned me on to reading, and then I started writing," he says.
After college, Patterson got his first job as a junior copy writer at the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson. While climbing the corporate ladder, Patterson wrote his first book, The Thomas Berryman Number in the mid-70s. The book "got turned down by 31 publishers", Patterson says. But after it was finally published in 1976, "then it won an Edgar Award for best first novel." The Edgar Award, which is named after Edgar Alan Poe, honors the best writers in mystery fiction and non-fiction.
Despite publishing his first book at age 26, Patterson didn't have a bestseller until he was 40. "It wasn't like all of a sudden," he says. In fact, Patterson kept his day job for decades and got promoted to CEO of J. Walter Thompson in 1988. During that time, Patterson says he would read well over 100 books a year to help spark his creativity. "I have a huge imagination and I'm constantly asking, what about this? What about that?" he says.
Despite his success, Patterson says he doesn't like to give advice, especially about writing. But he credits his own success to his work ethic and passion. "I also don't take myself too seriously," he says. "Yeah, I sell a lot of books, so what?"