James Patterson scores new record for e-book sales

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - Best-selling author James Patterson has crossed another e-tailing milestone with his thrillers.

The Hachette Book Group announced Wednesday that e-book sales for the prolific novelist now top 5 million, with 2 million coming in just the past seven months.

The 64-year-old New York writer hit the 1 million mark for e-books in July 2010, making him among the first authors to reach that milestone.

Patterson also is thriving on paper. Hachette noted that hardcover and paperback sales for his work in 2011 topped 4.7 million copies, as tracked by Nielsen BookScan, which compiles around 75 percent of the non e-book market.

A former advertising exec, Patterson publishes several books a year, many of them written with others. He is best known for his mystery series featuring forensic psychologist Alex Cross, including "Kill Alex Cross," which is number three on the Publisher's Weekly bestsellers list for hardcover ficton.

His latest book is "Private: #1 Suspect" written with Maxine Paetro and published Jan. 2.