By HILLEL ITALIE

NEW YORK (AP) — Melanie Moore, who runs the Ohio-based Cincy Book Bus, is one of hundreds of booksellers who received a pleasant surprise for the holidays: a check for $500 from author James Patterson.

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“I’ve never taken a salary. All profits from the bookstore go to buy books for kids in need,” Moore said in a statement released through Patterson’s publisher, Little, Brown & Company, which announced the bonuses Wednesday. “This gift from James Patterson will be my very first paycheck!”

Over the past 20 years, Patterson has donated millions of dollars to schools, libraries, literacy programs and others in the book community. For the past several years, he has made a tradition out of sending $500 checks to 600 independent booksellers who have been recommended by peers or patrons. The list for 2025 ranges from Katie Gabriello, social media coordinator for Whitelam Books in Reading, Massachusetts, to store manager Kate Czyzewski of Thunder Road Books in Spring Lake, New Jersey.

“I’ve said this before, but I can’t say it enough — booksellers save lives,” Patterson said in a statement. “What they do is crucial, especially right now. I’m happy to be able to acknowledge them and their hard work this holiday season.”

One of the world’s most popular and prolific authors, Patterson received an honorary National Book Award medal in 2015 for his “Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.”