James Patterson's writing started as a side hustle—now he's one of the world’s highest paid authors

At 73, James Patterson has sold more than 425 million copies of his 200 novels globally, making him one of the highest paid authors in the world.Patterson had annual earnings topping more than $80 million between June 2019 to June 2020 and sold nearly 5 million in books in the U.S. during that time, according to Forbes.In July, Patterson signed a multi-project deal with Amazon's Audible for an undisclosed amount, with his first Audible Original, "The Coldest Case" out Thursday."I do not work for a living, I play for a living. I love doing it," Patterson tells CNBC Make It.But Patterson's road to success didn't happen overnight. He started writing as a side hustle and he faced a lot of rejection before getting his first book published.Patterson grew up in the woods in Newburgh, New York with an insurance salesman father and a school teacher mother. Despite having dreams of being a writer, the idea "always seemed presumptuous," Patterson says.But after reading books by James Joyce, "it r...