Non-Fiction

Before becoming a novelist, Dumas was very successful at writing plays - he had already made a name for himself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Dumas

Dumas began writing articles for magazines and plays for the theatre. As an adult, he used his slave grandmother's surname of Dumas, as his father had done as an adult.[15] His first play, Henry III and His Court, produced in 1829 when he was 27 years old, met with acclaim. The next year, his second play, Christine, was equally popular. These successes gave him sufficient income to write full-time.


...After writing additional successful plays, Dumas switched to writing novels. ...From 1839 to 1841, Dumas, with the assistance of several friends, compiled Celebrated Crimes, ...

Dumas depended on numerous assistants and collaborators, of whom Auguste Maquet was the best known. It was not until the late twentieth century that his role was fully understood.[16] Dumas wrote the short novel Georges (1843), which uses ideas and plots later repeated in The Count of Monte Cristo. Maquet took Dumas to court to try to get authorial recognition and a higher rate of payment for his work. He was successful in getting more money, but not a by-line.[16][17]

In other words, Dumas was already a brand name, having made a name for himself in the theater.

Dumas did not, while still having to work, solicit other writers for their work under false pretenses, seek publicity for a scam, and thereby make a name for himself that way, so long as the scam remained unknown.

There are many people in history who have worked with collaborators, Dumas is but one example; Andy Warhol and those he worked with at the Factory is another.

But I am not aware of anyone in history who built their brand by fraud - and then sought out others to work under the fraudulently obtained brand name.

To build a "brand" you have to build an identity:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2021/03/09/five-components-of-a-strong-brand/

Five Components Of A Strong Brand

In my experience helping clients build brands, I’ve discovered five key components of strong brands. Here’s what they are and how you can build them.

1. Brand Identity

Brand identity is what you often think of when you think of branding....

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In my opinion, the 1984 "Write if You Want Work" JWT ad could have instructed consumers to mail their writing to "Human Resources at JWT - Copy Test." Without any mention of James Patterson.

And, "Creative Directors" advertised in the ad -- the Expert Opinion evaluating the consumer's writing (this expert review is the promised benefit all consumers would receive by answering the ad) -- could have been the ones to give interviews to various newspapers and magazines that publicized the ad.

But that didn't happen.

There was actually no Expert Opinion benefit to consumers. You receive a rote read by James Patterson's secretary who opens your mailed envelope, reads your submission, then sends you a rejection letter - because that is what James Patterson told her to do. No one else is reading your entry.

None of those Creative Directors in the New York JWT office were ever named nor interviewed in the press (perhaps because none of them were asked to participate in this scam).

Instead, no matter what position James Patterson held over the years at that agency: his name appeared on the ad. He always gave the interviews to the media, continuously promoting this bait and switch/false ad to the public.

That's HOW he made a NAME for himself.

It was through this scam, highly publicized, by James Patterson, that James Patterson built a media reputation for himself (and his subsequent own brand).

Had this bogus ad not existed, or existed with consumers instructed to send their work to HR instead of James Patterson, then: no brand building for James Patterson. He was a commercial flop of a novelist at this time, with this books selling at the Strand book store in NYC for $1 (one dollar) in the Dollar Bin as of March 1985.

And, in my opinion, the Dollar Bin is where all his subsequent books would have landed, too, had he been able to publish any more books, if it were not for this scam. And then: there would be no other collaborators with him as there are now.

Consequently, James Patterson, in my view, is an anomaly -- and not in a good way. Others have collaborated by hiring help -- but others already had a brand name themselves.

James Patterson, a commercial flop of a novelist (three times, with his first three novels) -- THEN stepped on literally thousands of other writers, stole property from these other writers, and chased the media spotlight while doing so, in order to establish his name in the public eye -- and his subsequent individual brand.

Others like Dumas, Warhol, etc, who collaborate do not initially engage in this type of misconduct to create their individual brand. They have already created their brand name.