Some authors stand out not only for the quality of their work but also for the sheer amount they produce. Prolific authors often produce a continuous flow of titles, often without pause.
To be clear, we’re not just talking about books. These titles could involve novels, collections, non-fiction books, poetry, and magazine articles. It results in an extensive and varied collection of work that fans can explore for a long time.
Prolific Authors
Plenty of writers work like machines, able to churn out stories quickly and consistently. Here are just a few of these prolific authors.
1. Corín Tellado
Corín Tellado has published more than 4000 romance novels throughout her writing career. It’s led to her being one of the best-selling authors in history, with an estimated 400 million copies sold.
2. Ryoki Inoue
Once acknowledged by the Guinness World Records as the world’s most prolific novelist, Ryoki Inoue has published 1075 works under his name or 39 pseudonyms. He’s been at it since 1986, mainly writing science fiction and thrillers.
3. L. Ron Hubbard
Now best known as the creator of the controversial religion Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard has at least 1084 published works. It was enough to get him a Guinness world record as the most published works by one author.
4. Barbara Cartland
Barbara Cartland has published some 723 novels. Known as the Queen of Romance, she mainly writes contemporary and historical romances but has also written cookbooks, plays, biographies, and more.
5. Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton, a popular children’s writer, has written over 800 books, selling over 600 million copies. At her peak, she was writing at least 50 books per year, leading to her being accused of employing ghostwriters. Her works include series like The Famous Five and The Secret Seven.
6. Isaac Asimov
Considered one of the “Big Three” of science fiction, Isaac Asimov has either written or edited over 500 books. Though most are science fiction, he has also written plenty of fantasy, mystery, and non-fiction.
7. R.L. Stine
Best known for his Goosebumps and Fear Street series, R.L. Stine has published over 400 books. While his works are often classified as horror (earning him the nickname Stephen King of children’s literature), they’re more on the suspenseful side rather than straight-up terror.
8. Kathleen Mary Lindsay
Kathleen Mary Lindsay is a writer of historical romances who wrote 904 books under eleven pen names. According to the Guinness World Records, she was the most prolific author at the time (under her pseudonym “Mary Faulkner”) but has since been surpassed.
9. Jacob Neusner
Jacob Neusner is an academic scholar of Judaism who has written 950+ books. More impressive is that he exclusively wrote non-fiction, which usually takes more research and time to write compared to fiction.
10. Jiro Akagawa
Jiro Akagawa, best known for his humorous mysteries, has written and published 506 novels in the course of his 30-year career. Some of his works have been adapted into other media, with his most successful being his Calico Cat Holmes series.
11. Stan and Jan Berenstain
Stan and Jan Berenstain are the creators of the beloved children’s book series, The Berenstain Bears. They’ve published over 300 books in the series, which was picked up by their son after their deaths.
12. Edward Stratemeyer
Edward Stratemeyer is best known for popularizing juvenile fiction and creating the Rover Boys, Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, and the Nancy Drew series. He established the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which released these series, authored by either himself or his ghostwriters using a collective pen name.
13. Philip M. Parker
Philip M. Parker claims to have authored more than a million books since 2008. He doesn’t actually write them though. Instead, he has algorithms dedicated to generating a plethora of books that range from toilet brushes to asparagus.
They’re meant to create written materials on subjects that companies deem unnecessary or impractical to publish. His goal is to use these materials for language learning and education in developing countries.
Most Published Authors
Creating a list of the world’s most prolific authors is difficult. There’s a lot of debate about which works are published, their categories, whether they fit certain criteria, and whether to consider their unpublished works. The figures mentioned in this list aren’t even exact due to the difficulty of compiling an author’s body of work.
You also have to consider the changes in the publishing industry. Shorter novels and serialized fiction were more popular decades ago. Multiple volumes back then constitute only one novel now.
Even authors who primarily write short stories have an edge in churning out multiple works. Then there’s the fact that some authors employ ghostwriters.
The authors above are those commonly thought of when discussing prolific authors. They haven’t necessarily written the most but have proven extremely productive.
Do you know any other prolific authors? Share them in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- 10 Famous Authors Who Only Wrote One Novel
- 10 Great Books by Two Authors That Show the Power of Teamwork
- 10 Best-Selling Authors of All Time
Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
