Who is the best-selling author of all time?

James Patterson is the world's highest-paid author by a wide margin, and has been the world's best-selling author since 2001. He has sold more than 350 million books worldwide, and is most famous for the "Alex Cross" crime novel series.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on businessinsider.com


Who is the best-selling author in history?

Heralded as the Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time, outsold only by Shakespeare and the Bible. According to a recent study conducted by Harper Collins, Christie has sold more than 1 billion copies in the English language alone.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on bookriot.com


Who has sold the most books of all time?

Tolkien, that lack comprehensive sales figures. According to Guinness World Records as of 1995, the Bible is the best-selling book of all time with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on en.wikipedia.org


Who is the most published author of all time?

It's not who you think it is

Ron Hubbard the world's most published and most translated author, having published 1,084 fiction and non-fiction works that have been translated into 71 languages.”
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on malwarwickonbooks.com


What is the most sold book in the world?

He found that the Bible far outsold any other book, with a whopping 3.9 billion copies sold over the last 50 years. "Quotations from the Works of Mao Tse-tung" came in second with 820 million copies sold, and "Harry Potter" came in third with 400 million copies sold.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on businessinsider.com


Top 15 Best Selling Authors Of All Time



Who is the richest author?

FAQs on Richest Writers

J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, is the richest writer in the world with a net worth of $1 billion.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on becomeawritertoday.com


Who wrote the highest number of books?

The Guinness Book of World Records ranks Mary Faulkner (1903-1973) as the most prolific novelist, having written 904 books.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on timesofindia.indiatimes.com


Who is the most written about person in history?

By 1980, according to The Guinness Book of World Records, Muhammad Ali had surpassed Lincoln, Christ, and Napoleon as the most written-about person in history.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on ew.com


Who is the most famous author in the world?

The Top Ten Famous Authors
  1. William Shakespeare. Ah, The Bard. ...
  2. George Orwell. True, Orwell (whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair) isn't everyone's taste, especially those who do not share his views on totalitarianism. ...
  3. J.K. Rowling. Like her or not, Ms. ...
  4. Kurt Vonnegut. ...
  5. Virginia Woolf. ...
  6. Ernest Hemingway. ...
  7. William Faulkner. ...
  8. Ayn Rand.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on thereadingclub.co.uk


Who is the best author in the world?

TOP TEN AUTHORS BY NUMBER OF BOOKS SELECTED
  • William Shakespeare — 11.
  • William Faulkner — 6.
  • Henry James — 6.
  • Jane Austen — 5.
  • Charles Dickens — 5.
  • Fyodor Dostoevsky — 5.
  • Ernest Hemingway — 5.
  • Franz Kafka — 5.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on themarginalian.org


Who is the only person to earn $1 billion as an author?

J.K. Rowling (UK) is one of only five self-made female billionaires, and the first billion-dollar author. The seven Harry Potter books have sold a total of 400 million copies around the world and are published in 55 languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on guinnessworldrecords.com


What is the most read book ever?

The most read book in the World is Bible. This holy book so far has outsold any other in the world. During the last 50 years, a whopping 3.9 billion copies has been sold.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on thehansindia.com


What is the 2nd most read book in the world?

We've got a list of the most read books in the world of all time.
  • The Holy Bible.
  • The Holy Quran.
  • The Harry Potter Series: J.K. Rowling.
  • The Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse Tung.
  • The Lord of the Rings.
  • The Alchemist.
  • The Diary of Anne Frank: Anne Frank.
  • The Twilight SagA: Stephenie Meyer.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on capitalizemytitle.com


Who Wrote the Bible?

Even after nearly 2,000 years of its existence, and centuries of investigation by biblical scholars, we still don't know with certainty who wrote its various texts, when they were written or under what circumstances.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on history.com


What is the 10 most read book in the world?

Have You Read The 10 Most-Read Books In The World?
  • THE HOLY BIBLE. ...
  • QUOTATIONS FROM CHAIRMAN MAO TSE-TUNG by Mao Tse-Tung. ...
  • HARRY POTTER by J.K. Rowling. ...
  • THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien. ...
  • THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho. ...
  • THE DA VINCI CODE by Dan Brown. ...
  • THE TWILIGHT SAGA by Stephanie Meyer.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on theanthrotorian.com


What is the oldest book known to man?

While Shuruppak's fatherly wisdom is one of the most ancient examples of written literature, history's oldest known fictional story is probably the “Epic of Gilgamesh,” a mythic poem that first appeared as early as the third millennium B.C. The adventure-filled tale centers on a Sumerian king named Gilgamesh who is ...
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on history.com


Who has read the most books in the world?

Which countries read the most?
  • India, 10:42. With its citizens reading 10 hours and 42 minutes per week on average, India tops our list. ...
  • Thailand, 9:24. Thailand is second on our list, with a time of 9 hours and 24 minutes on average per week. ...
  • China, 8:00. China ranks third with eight hours on average.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on malwarwickonbooks.com


Is JK Rowling richer than the Queen?

So, yeah, J. K. Rowling is rich. In fact, she's richer than the Queen of England. The once beloved and now controversial writer has made an absolute fortune off The Boy Who Lived—she's currently one of the wealthiest authors in the world.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on cosmopolitan.com


Is JK Rowling still a billionaire?

In 2004, Forbes named Rowling "the first billion-dollar author". Rowling denied that she was a billionaire in a 2005 interview. By 2012, Forbes concluded she was no longer a billionaire due to her charitable donations and high UK taxes. She was named the world's highest paid author by Forbes in 2008, 2017 and 2019.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on en.wikipedia.org


How long did it take JK Rowling to write Harry Potter?

J.K Rowling took six years to write Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first book in the Harry Potter series. It was published on 26 June, 1997 and the bestselling fantasy novel series is marking its 20th anniversary in 2017.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on timesofindia.indiatimes.com


Who are the top 5 authors of all time?

Top 10 Authors by Number of Books Selected
  • William Shakespeare – 11.
  • William Faulkner – 6.
  • Henry James – 6.
  • Jane Austen – 5.
  • Charles Dickens – 5.
  • Fyodor Dostoevsky – 5.
  • Ernest Hemingway – 5.
  • Franz Kafka – 5.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on theatlantic.com


Who is the best author alive?

The 10 best living American novelists
  1. Alice Walker. Getty Images. ...
  2. Marilynne Robinson. ...
  3. Jonathan Franzen. ...
  4. Michael Chabon. ...
  5. Bret Easton Ellis. ...
  6. George Saunders. ...
  7. Rachel Kushner. ...
  8. Anne Tyler.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on fridaymagazine.ae


Who is the best man in the history?

The greatest man in history is Muhammad
  • Muḥammad, -- Prophet, -- -632.
  • Islam.
  • Islam -- History.
  • View all subjects.
Takedown request   |   View complete answer on worldcat.org