List of prolific writers
Some writers 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. Dame Agatha Christie, the most-published novelist in history, is estimated to have sold 4 billion books, having written 69 novels and 19 plays. Her works were published between 1920 and 1976, equating to around three publications every two years. Dame 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 novellas, 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 pseudonyms. 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 L. Stratemeyer wrote several hundred, he also employed ghostwriters 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.
Most authors carefully craft their work, writing and rewriting several times before publication. Some authors simply use pen and paper, while others such as Isaac Asimov spent hours at a stretch 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.
Prolific writers
| Name | Language | Birth | Death | First publication | Last publication | Published works | Notes |
| Spanish | 1946 | 2006 | 4000+ | She wrote over 4000 novellas and magazine's short stories. She was listed in the 1994 Guinness World Records as having sold the most books written in Spanish, and earlier in 1962 UNESCO declared her the most read Spanish writer after Miguel de Cervantes. | |||
| German | 2900+ | More than 100 pseudonyms | |||||
| Spanish | 2200~ | Playwright | |||||
| François-Marie Arouet | French | 21 November 1694 | 30 May 1778 | 1718 | 1778 | 2000+ | Voltaire was a versatile and prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. |
| Romanian etc. | 1886~ | 1940 | 1359 | Another count has "1300 volumes and 25000 articles" | |||
| Arabic and Persian | 1953~ | 2001 | 1300 | He made contributions in various fields ranging from jurisprudence and theology to politics, economics, law, sociology and human rights. | |||
| English | 1894 | 1961 | 1200 | Estimated to have written 100,000,000 words using around 20 pseudonyms, primarily for boys' weekly magazines, including public-school stories | |||
| English | 1934 | 1987 | 1084 | Science fiction, adventure, westerns, mystery, religion. | |||
| Portuguese | 1986 | 1000+ | Brazilian surgeon turned pulp novel author, acknowledged by Guinness as world's most prolific writer. Wrote almost a thousand novels in 6 years, under his own name or 39 pseudonyms. | ||||
| Portuguese | 1935 | 1991 | 1000 | Brazilian leader of a religion called Cultura Racional. For 56 years, he wrote a one-thousand-volume encyclopedia called Universo em Desencanto, which covers a very wide range of subjects. | |||
| English | 1000 | Wrote around 600 novels and 400 novelettes | |||||
| Spanish | 1958 | 1000 | He wrote 500 novels in Brigitte Montford Series and other 500 novels by other genders. | ||||
| English | 8 October 2016 | 1962 | 950+ | ||||
| English | 1 December 2001 | 900+ | |||||
| English | 900+ | 11 pseudonyms | |||||
| Urdu | 1972 | Continuous | 800+ | Spy thriller crime series | |||
| English | 1907 | 1966 | 800+ | Brooks published his first short story, in July 1907, when he was seventeen. | |||
| Spanish | 1933 | 1952 | 1983 | 800+ | He wrote over 800 novellas mainly under the pseudonym of Carlos de Santander. | ||
| English | 1922 | 1968 | 762 | Children's literature, adventure, mystery, fantasy. | |||
| Hungarian | Living | 1974 | 732 | Science fiction, crime, historical, mystery, romance, and more. | |||
| English | 1923 | 722 | Holds the Guinness World Record for the most novels written in a single year | ||||
| English | 700+ | Many pseudonyms | |||||
| Arabic | 700 | Islamic Ideological Books, Fiqh, Sufism and Tafseer Works including a six volume Tafseer and a three volume tafseer | |||||
| English | 600+ | More than 10 pseudonyms | |||||
| English | 506 plus The Return of the Black Widowers | Published in 9 of the 10 Dewey Decimal System categories | |||||
| English | 500+ | Member of the Stratemeyer Syndicate | |||||
| English | 1922 | 500+ | |||||
| French | 1921 | 500+ | |||||
| Portuguese | 1932 | 500+ | Brazilian spiritist medium whose works are attributed to be psycographies written by spirits. He wrote over 500 books in many different areas of knowledge. | ||||
| English | 2013 | Mostly occultism, magick rituals books.The author of more occult books than anyone in history. | |||||
| Japanese | 470 | ||||||
| Polish | 1887 | 350+ | 200+ novels and 150 novellas, short stories, and art reviews | ||||
| English | 1992 | 330+ | The best-selling children's author of all time as of 2004, Stine estimates that he has over 330 children's books, including the Goosebumps and Fear Street series. At one time he produced one book a month for each of those series. Stine has also written many books under the pseudonyms Jovial Bob Stine and Eric Affabee. | ||||
| English | 300+ | ||||||
| English | Unknown | Living | 1989? | 300+ | Mostly books for schoolchildren | ||
| French | 277 | ||||||
| Hindi | 1959 | 250+ | Wrote over 250 novellas in crime fiction in India. He is known as a Grand Master of Hindi crime fiction. He has been writing for almost 50 years; his first short story was published in 1959 at the age of 19. | ||||
| Arabic | 240 | Mystical Islamic Books e.g. A 7 volume Futuhat e Makkiya | |||||
| English | 1907 | 1966 | 240 | Mostly Christian devotional books. | |||
| German | 1982 | 220+ | Fantasy novels | ||||
| English | 1974 | 223 | Mainly children's books. Includes 75+ based on the television series Doctor Who, for which he was a former script editor. | ||||
| English | Living | 1998 | 200+ | Has also received 21,000 rejection letters. | |||
| English | 1878 | 1943 | 200+ | Wrote novels, serials, short stories and other works of fiction | |||
| English | 1981 | 200+ | Romance novels, published under at least four different names | ||||
| Arabic | 200 | Fiqh, Sufism and Tafseer | |||||
| English | Living | Living | 2016 | 170+ | A bestselling ghostwriter of fiction and non-fiction in several genres including fantasy fiction, sci-fi, romance, supernatural, self-help, biographies, and more. Only one book has been published under the author's true name. All other books written by and for this author have been published under pseudonyms; the most well known being . The first Dash Hoffman book was written as the result of a viral meme. This author wrote the first 170+ novels within a six and a half year period and continues to write. | ||
| English | 150+ | ||||||
| Russian | 140+ | A bestselling Russian author of detective novels and kitchen books. | |||||
| English and Hindi | Living | 2005 | 132 as of 2017 | He writes books on health, medical, music and literature. | |||
| Romanian | 1904 | 1952 | 120 | The count covers novels and short story collections |
;Notes:
- Authors with more than 100 books are considered for inclusion.
Other notable writers
- Augustine of Hippo wrote over five million words.
- Lin Ching-hsuan claimed that he wrote more than 170 books and had 298 publications.
- Ni Kuang has written over 300 Chinese-language wuxia and science fiction novels, and more than 400 film scripts.
- Zhang Henshui published more than 100 novels in his 50 years of fiction writing.
- Evelyn Everett-Green wrote about 350 books: more than 200 of them under her own name, and others using pen names.
- Sophocles – wrote 123 plays of which only 7 survive today
- Leibniz about 15,000 letters to more than 1000 recipients plus more than 40,000 other items
- Bertrand Russell over 30,000 letters, thousands of articles published in nearly 100 books
- Robert Boyle no complete count, but an incomplete subset filled a huge 14 volume hardback bound compilation set in 2000
- Elizabeth Linington at 80 books under 4 names, also considered a prolific writer
- H.P. Lovecraft over 100,000 letters, some of them up to 70 pages in length.
- Charles Wesley wrote over 6,000 hymns.
- H. G. Wells can be considered a prolific writer.
- Noam Chomsky is the author of over 100 books on many topics.
- Gene Wolfe is a prolific short-story writer and novelist.
- Peter C. Byrnes is a prolific author with 60 novellas of the same genre and with a central main character.
- Napoléon I, Emperor of the French, wrote more than 40 000 letters; published from 2004 to 2018 in 15 volumes.