James Patterson hits out at New York Times over bestseller list

US famous novelist James Patterson has recently lashed out at The New York Times of “cooking the books” over the bestseller list.

Lately, the author took to Twitter and posted an open letter in which he questioned the publication of choosing the bestseller list.

James mentioned that his latest book Walk the Blue Line had “outsold all but three” of the books in the Times’s top 16 ranking

In an open letter to the publication, he wrote, “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.”

“I guess that means you favour the cooked variety,” said the 76-year-old.

James further stated,“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.”

The author also pointed out that the Times declined to publish his letter.

Responding to James’ 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,” clarified the spokesperson.