Authors donating their name to books they never wrote

[Jacob]

That is one of the things that keeps bothering me.
How come we still have Vince Flynn new books.
How come Tom Clancy is producing so many books per year ?
And what about James Patterson ?? it is almost a book per month !! Is he really writing or just selling his name ?
Do you know about other ghost writers ?

[Leo]

I believe this is more or less clear with Clancy or Flynn, even book cover sais it. Same is probably true with Ludlum's Bourne - the original author created the universe and I don't mind any talented individuals use it. Of course as long as they have the "father's" name mentioned.
As for Patterson, I'm not even sure what he is selling. For me it is just a sign not to bother... But at least there is a second name there. I'm pretty sure that there are more prolific authors who are using some "help" in their writing

[Thomas]

The estate of Robert B Parker has licensed his name and character series to various authors. See https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Carol]

It's not a donation and not a sale. It's also not ghost-writing. it's licensing, and as long as consumers buy based on the brand, without looking for the various disclaimers on the cover of each book, it will continue. The idea that the author on a book may not represent a real person with that name writing that book also isn't new. Carolyn Keene anyone? A syndicate of unidentified writers, no less.

James Patterson's model is akin to Thomas Edison's.

[Jacob]

Robert Ludlum died in 2001 yet we see books published up to 2006

[Thomas]

I read a Patterson interview in the NY Times, where he explained his co author process. He writes a book outline, gives it to the co author, who writes the book. Patterson retained final editing authority. It is pretty much an assembly line process and I stopped reading his books.

[Jacob]

We had (Still have) Fake News. Now we have Fake writers !!!

[Miss M]

How come?
Because people buy that stuff and they make money for publishers and authors' estates, that's how come. ; )

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/bus...

[Thomas]

I sent an online link of the Patterson interview to my s-i-l, who lov-v-v-ves Pattterson. She said "He is a genius!" She is on the library wait list for each new Patterson book.

[Jacob]

Miss M wrote: "How come?
Because people buy that stuff and they make money for publishers and authors' estates, that's how come. ; )

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/bus..."
10Q . Nice article.

[Gram]

I stopped reading Ludlum & Patterson long before they began their assembly line publications. After a few books, they just repeated themselves. That said, there are a handful of authors whose work I'll probably always read, but they don't churn out near as many books as the likes of Ludlum and Patterson.

[Leo]

Gram wrote: "I stopped reading Ludlum & Patterson long before they began their assembly line publications. After a few books, they just repeated themselves. That said, there are a handful of authors whose work ..."
For Ludlum and Patterson I agree 100%. My rule of thumb - if I see that the author has more than 2 books a year for the last 2 years I'm pretty sure that either the books are getting worse or there is a "helper" there