"Booksellers save lives": James Patterson plays Santa to hundreds of bookstore employees nationwide

James Patterson has given 600 booksellers $500 holiday bonuses just in time for the holiday season.

The bestselling author has been awarding independent bookstores across the country since 2015. This year, bookstore staffers at stores like Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama, San Francisco's City Lights Books and The Nook in Cedar Falls, Iowa are all at the center of Patterson's initiative, ABC News reported.

In a statement released Tuesday, the author said, “Booksellers save lives. Period. I’m happy to be able to acknowledge them and all their hard work this holiday season.”

Out of the thousands of applicants, Patterson's handpicked winners are bookstore staffers Davis Gustafson at Thank You Books and Erin Messer at City Lights. They were all nominated for the holiday bonus by co-workers and customers. Other winners include Brandon Conrad of the Nook, Gina Marx of The Lynx in Gainesville, Florida, and Kirstin Kraig of Whale's Tale Books in Lakewood, Colorado. 

“We appreciate Mr. Patterson’s financial generosity as well as his generosity of spirit. We all continue to be awed by, and grateful for, Mr. Patterson’s continuing support of independent booksellers,” Allison Hill, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, said in a statement. "It means everything to have him recognize and reward the valuable role booksellers play in the industry.”

The prolific American author has also donated millions of dollars to schools, libraries and literacy programs in America. In 2015, the National Book Foundation awarded him an honorary National Book Award — the Literarian Award — for “outstanding service to the American literary community."