Bestselling Author James Patterson Triples Record-Breaking Ebook Sales to 3 Million in Less Than 12 Months

NEW YORK, June 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Hachette Book Group announced today that #1 bestselling author James Patterson has tripled his record-breaking ebook sales in less than a year's time. To date, Patterson has sold 3,035,713 ebook units just 11 months after becoming the first novelist ever to surpass the one million ebook unit mark (as of July 2010).

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David Young, CEO of Hachette Book Group, said, "James Patterson thrills and entertains readers, across all formats and all ages. To surge from 1 to 3 million ebooks sold in such a short period is extraordinary. This growth indicates that Patterson is maximizing the new ways digital can connect him with his readers, be it through ebooks, his major online presence, or the Patterson app."

That major online presence includes the over 4 million visitors a year to JamesPatterson.com and Patterson's 1.6 million-plus Facebook friends (numbers which grow daily by the thousands). The James Patterson app for iPad/iPhone has been downloaded close to 14,000 times, with 80 percent of Patterson's app audience actively updated and engaged in the app's content and features. In addition to this audience, there are also hundreds of thousands of followers on book-specific Facebook pages for Patterson's young readers series such as Witch & Wizard and Maximum Ride. There is a dedicated website, an app, and interactive games for Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, Patterson's latest title for young readers launching on June 27.

James Patterson said, "I'm delighted to see that the rise of ebooks means the rise of reading across the board. We're finding more ways to get readers hooked on great books, and nothing could make me happier."

Since his first novel, The Thomas Berryman Number, won the Edgar Award in 1977, James Patterson's books have sold more than 230 million copies worldwide.  His Alex Cross series, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider, is the most popular detective series of the past

twenty-five years.  In total, his Maximum Ride, Daniel X, and Witch & Wizard series for younger readers have spent more than 200 weeks on national bestseller lists, and all three series are in Hollywood development.  His lifelong passion for books and reading led James Patterson to launch a website, ReadKiddoRead.com, to give adults an easy way to locate the very best books for kids.  He writes full-time and lives in Florida with his family.

Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading trade publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the second-largest publisher in the world. HBG publishes under the divisions of Little, Brown and Company, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Grand Central Publishing, FaithWords, Center Street, Orbit, and Hachette Digital.

SOURCE Hachette Book Group