The American is revealed today as the UK's most borrowed author from libraries, coming top for the second year, after his books were taken out more than 1.5m times between July 2007 and June 2008.

Patterson and the writers he employs are happy to keep the fans happy, with the Patterson name emblazoned across at least eight books in the last year, in genres from thriller to romance to misery memoir. Other writers' names regularly appear on the cover - often in much smaller type - but he denies that he sometimes has no involvement at all in the writing. Last year he said: "I get all this baloney about well, what does he do? Does he even look at them? Well yes, he does look at them."

Among his series are the Alex Cross books about a black detective and model single father who mixes family life and volunteering with tackling unimaginably horrible killers. There is his Maximum Ride series for young adults featuring youngsters who are 2% avian. Other heroes are the four women in San Francisco who eat Mexican food while solving murders.

The list goes on to more than 60 published works. It is mainly this prolificness that ensures Patterson is number one. The other two holders of the top spot since records began were similarly able to turn them out: Jacqueline Wilson was number one from 2002-06 and before that it was Catherine Cookson for 18 years.

Bookstores classify James Patterson's latest, The Final Warning, as a "young adult" novel. Patterson calls it a "family page-turner" for readers "10 to 110." He urged booksellers to display the book, fourth in his Maximum Ride series, up front in stores, not in YA sections in back. It enters the list at No. 2. Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, his last book in the series about kids who are part human, part bird, hit No. 4, then faded.

Steve Bowen, president of James Patterson Entertainment, says the traditional bookstore approach is akin to taking a film like Indiana Jones and "running it in limited theaters only on Saturday mornings," compared with a wider distribution "that brings in the big box office." Patterson is close to signing a movie deal for Maximum Ride.

Multiyear deal calls for Oberon to produce numerous games with Patterson's brand name, most likely in the mystery or romance genres. Some will be based on Patterson's existing books, others on original stories. Oberon will distribute games online and for cell phones. Elephant Entertainment will distribute the games at retail locations for PCs and, potentially, Nintendo's Wii and DS consoles.

By pacting with Patterson, the publishers are trying to emulate Ubisoft's success making action and stealth games under the Tom Clancy brand. Vivendi has a similar deal to make games based on Robert Ludlum's books. "The casual games market is right where I am, with about 70% of my readers and their players being female," Patterson said. "A lot of people who read my books may think they don't like games, and we can reach that audience for the first time."

Casual games, which are typically easy to pick up and play for just a few minutes, are one of the hottest areas of the vidgame biz. Many of the big publishers, such as Electronic Arts, are investing money in titles aimed at people who don't own an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 and don't typically play games. That aud primarily consists of women and middle-aged people -- precisely the market Oberon and Elephant plan to target with their Patterson games.

"We're trying to explore new ground and broaden the market with this deal," said Oberon VP of publishing Don Ryan.

"There's no formula for what I do," said King, who added that if he tried to analyze and formulate his approach to writing, he might loose his touch. Still, the author admitted his break-neck writing pace has slowed in recent years. "There was a time, when I was working on "The Stand," when I really was a lot faster because none of the gears seemed to stick together." "That's a young guy thing - and besides, my priorities changed."

King also took a swipe at best-selling author James Patterson, famous for penning thrillers like "Along Came a Spider" and "Kiss the Girls." "I don't like him, I don't respect his books because every one is the same."

The Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library has won the top prize from the James Patterson PageTurner Awards - $100,000 - for its groundbreaking "Seattle Reads" program.

The PageTurner awards are funded by Patterson, a mega-best-selling author of thrillers, to "innovative individuals and organizations that go to extraordinary lengths to spread the joy of books and reading across the country." It distributed 39 awards this year - among other winners of the cash grants, totaling $500,000, is the organization 826 National, a nonprofit founded by author Dave Eggers and others which provides reading and writing opportunities to young people and which has a branch in Seattle.

The "Seattle Reads" program, conceived of by former SPL librarian Nancy Pearl, has been widely emulated for its emphasis on an entire city reading and discussing one book. More than 450 locations throughout the country now host their own "One Book" events.