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The pejorative term for them is "airport novels'. They have brash covers, a plot that usually involves a couple of murders, a dodgy FBI agent and a tough detective with a heart of gold and they sell in their millions.
Take US author David Baldacci, whose astounding
claim is that he has more than 50 million copies of his books in print worldwide. He used to be a lawyer who wrote through the night in a little downstairs cubby-hole. Now he's so rich he's giving his money away.
Virginia-based Baldacci says he started writing as a child. "I used to tell ridiculous stories to get myself out of trouble with my parents and teachers,' he recalls. "And one day my mother bought me a book with blank pages and told me to start writing some of this stuff down. I never looked back.'
Baldacci scribbled away for about 17 years without having anything to show for it. He never thought his work would sell well enough for him to be able to write full time. "I kept writing because I loved it,' he says. "I didn't get a lot of sleep but fortunately, I didn't need it. And I was very lucky that my wife was a huge support.'
It was his wife Michelle who sat him down after he sold his first novel, Absolute Power, and convinced him to give up his day job. He now turns out a novel a year, doing all the often-complex research himself.
Baldacci refuses to stick to a formula, sometimes crossing into entirely different genres and risking alienating his fan base. Yet his books keep selling.
"When you start writing, you have to forget about the numbers, how many you've sold in how many countries,' he explains. "You even have to forget about your readers' expectations. I write for myself. I write about things that interest me and about characters I want to hang out with for at least a year of my life.'
His latest book, Simple Genius (Macmillan, $36), brings back two favourite Baldacci characters, private investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. The murder mystery they get pulled into is based on a complex premise - a bunch of scientists working on mathematical and computer breakthroughs that will stop the world in its tracks.
Baldacci says this is actually happening. "We live in a very precarious world. We're on the edge of a cliff really with all the stuff we think we can't live without - ATMs, e-mail, the internet. There are a lot of very bright people out there working on ways to take us back to the Stone Age.'
So does Baldacci never worry that he might be upsetting the wrong people?
"Well, one never knows,' he laughs, "but I've taken pot shots at them before and I'm still standing. I have fans that work in these agencies and they don't take it personally. They know I've done my research.'
Talk of fans isn't immodest. The message boards of the author's website (www.davidbaldacci.com) hum with reader feedback. Baldacci is so popular that those snooty literary critics who routinely put books like his in the slush pile, don't bother him. Except that he worries that they're putting people off reading.
"In the movie world all the blockbusters get reviewed,' he points out. "But in the book world critics will review the most obscure books and then spend most of the review telling people why they're not clever enough to read them. The end result will be that no one will read.'
Baldacci believes people should be celebrating all types of writing. And he is putting his money where his mouth is. He supports adult literacy programmes across the US and funds his own Wish You Well Foundation, collecting millions of new and used books to be distributed through food banks. "So people get something to eat and something to read,' he says.
The author's philanthropic work extends to child cancer, cystic fibrosis and multiple sclerosis (his sister is a sufferer). "I don't consider it 'giving back', just doing the right thing,' he says. "The need is enormous. If we don't do it then who will? Nobody. I'd like to look back and feel I'd done something constructive.'
Baldacci doesn't work all of the time. He has a lake house in Virginia and is about to take a break and teach his children to sail. But he won't have too much time off. He's dreaming of taking his foundation's work international, so there are corporate sponsors to seek. And he's about to start work on his next novel, this one set in Europe and involving brand new characters.
"I love starting a new project because everything is very fresh,' he says. "But fear is also a great motivator. Every book I write is like the first book. I have to prove myself again. So, yes, I do get scared. I've got that feeling right now.'
