List of prolific writers
Encyclopedia
Some writer
s have had prolific careers with hundreds of their works being published. While some best-selling authors have written a small number of books that have sold millions of copies, others have had lengthy careers and maintained a high level of output year after year. Agatha Christie
, the most published novelist in history, is estimated to have sold 4 billion books, having written 69 novel
s and 19 play
s. Her works were published between 1920 and 1976, equating to around three publications every two years. Barbara Cartland
has also sold millions of copies of her books but wrote many more than Christie. She spent 80 years as a novelist with 722 books published, averaging one book released every 40 days of her career. While Cartland wrote a significant number of full-length novels, other authors have been published many more times but have specialised in short stories. Spanish author Corín Tellado wrote over 4,000 novella
s, selling 400 million copies of her books.
Not all authors work alone. Groups of writers, sometimes led by one central figure, have published under shared pseudonym
s. The Stratemeyer Syndicate
, started by Edward Stratemeyer
in 1905, created numerous book series including 190 volumes of The Hardy Boys
and 175 volumes of Nancy Drew
. More than 1,300 books were published by the group, and although Edward Stratemeyer wrote several hundred, he also employed ghostwriter
s to keep up with the demand. These writers were given storylines and strict guidelines to follow to ensure a level of consistency within each series. Amongst the writing team was Howard R. Garis, who contributed several hundred books to the collection, one of the most active authors. Sales were estimated at over two hundred million copies before the syndicate was sold to Simon & Schuster
in 1984.
Authors carefully craft their work, writing and rewriting several times before publication. Some authors use pen and paper, while others such as Isaac Asimov
spent hours working at a typewriter
. Philip M. Parker
, by one measure the world's most prolific author, has an entirely different approach. Parker has over 200,000 titles listed on Amazon.com
, having developed an algorithm to gather publicly available data and compile it into book form. The computer-generated nature of the books is not detailed on the sales page and the books are printed only when ordered.
Notes:
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
s have had prolific careers with hundreds of their works being published. While some best-selling authors have written a small number of books that have sold millions of copies, others have had lengthy careers and maintained a high level of output year after year. Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
, the most published novelist in history, is estimated to have sold 4 billion books, having written 69 novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s and 19 play
Play
Play may refer to:* Play , enjoyment by animals including humans* Play , structured literary form of theatre-Bands:* Play , Mexican band* Play , Swedish band-Albums:...
s. Her works were published between 1920 and 1976, equating to around three publications every two years. Barbara Cartland
Barbara Cartland
Dame Barbara Hamilton Cartland, DBE, CStJ , was an English author, one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century...
has also sold millions of copies of her books but wrote many more than Christie. She spent 80 years as a novelist with 722 books published, averaging one book released every 40 days of her career. While Cartland wrote a significant number of full-length novels, other authors have been published many more times but have specialised in short stories. Spanish author Corín Tellado wrote over 4,000 novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
s, selling 400 million copies of her books.
Not all authors work alone. Groups of writers, sometimes led by one central figure, have published under shared pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s. The Stratemeyer Syndicate
Stratemeyer Syndicate
The Stratemeyer Syndicate was the producer of a number of mystery series for children, including Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others.- History :...
, started by Edward Stratemeyer
Edward Stratemeyer
Edward Stratemeyer was an American publisher and writer of books for children.He is one of the most prolific writers in the world, producing in excess of 1300 books himself, selling in excess of 500 million copies, and created the well-known fictional book series for juveniles including The Rover...
in 1905, created numerous book series including 190 volumes of The Hardy Boys
The Hardy Boys
The Hardy Boys, Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional teenage brothers and amateur detectives who appear in various mystery series for children and teens....
and 175 volumes of Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew is a fictional young amateur detective in various mystery series for all ages. She was created by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate book packaging firm. The character first appeared in 1930. The books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published...
. More than 1,300 books were published by the group, and although Edward Stratemeyer wrote several hundred, he also employed ghostwriter
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
s to keep up with the demand. These writers were given storylines and strict guidelines to follow to ensure a level of consistency within each series. Amongst the writing team was Howard R. Garis, who contributed several hundred books to the collection, one of the most active authors. Sales were estimated at over two hundred million copies before the syndicate was sold to Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
in 1984.
Authors carefully craft their work, writing and rewriting several times before publication. Some authors use pen and paper, while others such as Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
spent hours working at a typewriter
Typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
. Philip M. Parker
Philip M. Parker
Philip M. Parker holds the INSEAD Chair Professorship of Management Science at INSEAD . He has patented a method to automatically produce a set of similar books from a template which is filled with data from database and internet searches...
, by one measure the world's most prolific author, has an entirely different approach. Parker has over 200,000 titles listed on Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
, having developed an algorithm to gather publicly available data and compile it into book form. The computer-generated nature of the books is not detailed on the sales page and the books are printed only when ordered.
Prolific writers
| Name | Language | Birth | Death | First publication | Last publication | Published works | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (bibliography) |
English | 506 | Published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System Dewey Decimal Classification Dewey Decimal Classification, is a proprietary system of library classification developed by Melvil Dewey in 1876.It has been greatly modified and expanded through 23 major revisions, the most recent in 2011... |
||||
| Japanese | 470 | ||||||
| English | 1922 | 500+ | |||||
| (bibliography) |
English | 600~ | |||||
| (bibliography) |
English | 1923 | 722 | Holds the Guinness World Record Guinness World Records Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world... for the most novels (23) written in a single year |
|||
| English | 600+ | More than 10 pseudonyms | |||||
| French | 277 | ||||||
| |
English | 500+ | Member of the Stratemeyer Syndicate | ||||
| |
English | 150+ | |||||
| (bibliography) |
English | 1894 | 1961 | 1200 | Estimated to have written 100,000,000 words using around 20 pseudonyms, equivalent to 1,200 novels | ||
| English | 1000+ | Wrote around 600 novels and 400 novelette Novelette A novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella... s |
|||||
| Romanian etc. | 1886~ | 1940 | 1359 | Another count has "1300 volumes and 25000 articles" | |||
| Polish | 1887 | 350+ | 200+ novels and 150 novellas, short stories, and art reviews | ||||
| English | 900+ | 11 pseudonyms | |||||
| English | 300+ | ||||||
| English | 2003 | 900+ | |||||
| English | 1981 | (Active) | 200+ | Romance novels, published under at least four different names | |||
| Romanian | 1904 | 1952 | 120 | The count covers novels and short story collections | |||
| French | 1921 | 500+ | |||||
| English | 1878 | 1943 | 200+ | Wrote novels, serials, short stories and other works of fiction | |||
| English | Living | Hundreds | The best-selling children's author of all time as of 2004, Stine has written hundreds of children's books, including the Goosebumps and Fear Street Fear Street Fear Street is a teenage horror fiction series written by American author R. L. Stine, starting in 1989. In 1995, a series of books inspired by the Fear Street series, called Ghosts of Fear Street, was created for younger readers, and were more like the Goosebumps books in that they featured... series. At one time he produced one book a month for each of those series. |
||||
| Spanish | 1946 | 4000+ | Wrote over 4000 novellas | ||||
| Spanish | 2200~ | Playwright |
Notes:
- Authors with more than 100 books are considered for inclusion.
- Asimov celebrated his birthday on 2 January but his true date of birth is unclear
Other notable writers
- Al-SuyutiAl-SuyutiJalaluddin Al-Suyuti also known as Ibn al-Kutub was an Egyptian writer, religious scholar, juristic expert and teacher whose works deal with a wide variety of subjects in Islamic theology. He was precocious and was already a teacher in 1462. In 1486, he was appointed to a chair in the mosque of...
- Ned BuntlineNed BuntlineNed Buntline , was a pseudonym of Edward Zane Carroll Judson , an American publisher, journalist, writer and publicist best known for his dime novels and the Colt Buntline Special he is alleged to have commissioned from Colt's Manufacturing Company.-Naval and military experience:Edward Judson was...
- Evelyn Everett-GreenEvelyn Everett-GreenEvelyn Ward Everett-Green was an English novelist who started her writing career with improving and pious stories for children, and later wrote historical fiction for older girls, and then adult romantic fiction.She wrote about 350 books: more than 200 under her own name, and others using the...
- SophoclesSophoclesSophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
– wrote 123 plays of which only 7 survive today