List of Best-selling Fiction Authors of all time
This page provides a list of best-selling fiction authors to date and in any language. While a precise number for any given author is near impossible, the list is based on approximate numbers provided or repeated by reliable sources.
"Best-selling" refers to the estimated number of copies sold of all fiction books written or co-written by an author. To keep the length of the list manageable, only authors with estimated sales of at least 100 million books are included.
Authors of comic books are not included. For a few authors, including Miguel de Cervantes, Alexandre Dumas, p?re, Jack Higgins and Leon Uris, no exact figure could be found, although there are indications that they too have more than 100 million copies of their work in print. They have not been included in the below table.
Author | Min. estimated sales | Max. estimated sales | Original language | Genre or title | Number of books | Nationality |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
William Shakespeare | 2 billion | 4 billion | English | Plays and poetry | British | |
Agatha Christie | 2 billion | 4 billion | English | Detectives , Marple , Poirot | 85 | British |
Barbara Cartland | 500 million | 1 billion | English | Romance | 723 | British |
Harold Robbins | 750 million | 750 million | English | Adventure | 23 | American |
Georges Simenon | 500 million | 700 million | French | Detectives, Maigret | 570 | Belgian |
Enid Blyton | 300 million | 600 million | English | Children's literature, Noddy | 800 | British |
Danielle Steel | 560 million | 570 million | English | Romance | 72 | American |
Dr. Seuss | 100 million | 500 million | English | Children's literature | 44 | American |
Gilbert Patten | 125 million | 500 million | English | Adolescent adventures | 209 | American |
Leo Tolstoy | 413 million | Russian | Russian | |||
J. K. Rowling | 350 million | 400 million | English | Harry Potter | 9 | British |
Jackie Collins | 250 million | 400 million | English | Romance | 25 | British |
Horatio Alger, Jr. | 200 million | 400 million | English | Dime novels | 135 | American |
R. L. Stine | 100 million | 400 million | English | Goosebumps , Fear Street | 160 | American |
Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin | 357 million | Russian | Russian | |||
Stephen King | 300 million | 350 milion | English | Horror , Fantasy | 70 | American |
Louis L'Amour | 230 million | 330 million | English | Western | 101 | American |
Dean Koontz | 200 million | 325 million | English | Thriller | 60 | American |
Erle Stanley Gardner | 100 million | 325 million | English | Mystery , Perry Mason | 140 | American |
Sidney Sheldon | 200 million | 300 million | English | Suspense | 19 | American |
Jin Yong | 100 million | 300 million | Chinese | Wuxia | 15 | Hong Kong Chinese |
Jiro Akagawa | 300 million | Japanese | Mystery | 500+ | Japanese | |
Janet Dailey | 300 million | 300 million | English | Romance | 93 | American |
Nora Roberts | 145 million | 300 million | English | Romance | 145 | American |
Robert Ludlum | 110 million | 290 million | English | Espionage | 40 | American |
Fr?d?ric Dard | 200 million | 290 million | French | Detective, San Antonio | 300 | Swiss |
Stan and Jan Berenstain | 200 million | 260 million | English | Berenstain Bears | 300+ | American |
John Grisham | 100 million | 250 million | English | Legal thriller | 22 | American |
Zane Grey | 250 million | English | Western | American | ||
Irving Wallace | 250 million | English | Suspense | American | ||
J. R. R. Tolkien | 200 million | 250 million | English | The Lord of the Rings , The Hobbit , classical fantasy | 36 | British |
Karl May | 100 million | 200 million | German | Western, Adventure | 80 | German |
Mickey Spillane | 100 million | 200 million | English | Detective, Mike Hammer | American | |
C. S. Lewis | 100 million | 200 million | English | The Chronicles of Narnia | 38 | British |
Kyotaro Nishimura | 200 million | Japanese | Mystery | 400+ | Japanese | |
Charles Dickens | 200 million | English | Literature | British | ||
Ann M. Martin | 172 million | 180 million | English | The Baby-sitters Club | 335 | American |
Ryotaro Shiba | 180 million | Japanese | Historical | 350 | Japanese | |
Arthur Hailey | 150 million | 170 million | English | Thriller | 11 | American |
G?rard de Villiers | 150 million | French | Detectives, SAS | 170 | French | |
Beatrix Potter | 100 million | 150 million | English | Peter Rabbit | 23 | British |
Michael Crichton | 150 million | 150 million | English | Techno Thriller | 25 | American |
Richard Scarry | 100 million | 150 million | English | Illustrated children's books | 250 | American |
James Patterson | 100 million | 150 million | English | Thriller | 48 | American |
Clive Cussler | 40 million | 150 million | English | Adventure, Dirk Pitt | 37 | American |
Alistair McLean | 150 million | English | Adventure,Thriller Wartime stories | 32 | British | |
Astrid Lindgren | 100 million | 145 million | Swedish | Children's literature | 100 | Swedish |
Jeffrey Archer | 120 million | 125 million | English | Crime Thriller | 30 | British |
Eiji Yoshikawa | 120 million | Japanese | Musashi | 7 | Japanese | |
Catherine Cookson | 100 million | 120 million | English | Romance | 103 | British |
Norman Bridwell | 100 million | 110 million | English | Clifford the Big Red Dog | 80 | American |
Paulo Coelho | 92 million | 100 million | Portuguese | Literature, The Alchemist | Brazilian | |
Roald Dahl | 100 million | 100 million | English | Children's literature | 50 | British |
Evan Hunter | 100 million | 100 million | English | Detective (Ed McBain) | 94 | American |
Andrew Neiderman | 100 million | 100 million | English | V. C. Andrews , The Devil's Advocate | 60 | American |
Roger Hargreaves | 100 million | 100 million | English | Children's literature, Mr. Men | British | |
Anne Rice | 75 million | 100 million | English | Thriller, vampires | 27 | American |
Robin Cook | 100 million | 100 million | English | Medical Thriller | 27 | American |
Wilbur Smith | 80 million | 100 million | English | African Adventure | 32 | Zambian |
Erskine Caldwell | 80 million | 100 million | English | Literature | 25 | American |
Eleanor Hibbert | 100 million | 100 million | English | Romance, historical, suspense | 200 | British |
Lewis Carroll | 100 million | English | Alice in Wonderland | 5 | British | |
Denise Robins | 100 million | English | Romance | 200 | British | |
Xueqin Cao | 100 million | Chinese | Dream of the Red Chamber | Chinese | ||
Ian Fleming | 100 million | 100 million | English | James Bond | 14 | British |
Hermann Hesse | 100 million | 100 million | German | Literature | German-Swiss | |
Rex Stout | 100 million | 100 million | English | Nero Wolfe | 50 | American |
Anne Golon | 100 million | 100 million | French | Ang?lique | 14 | French |
Ken Follett | 90 million | 100 million | English | Spy Thriller , Historical Thriller | 30 | British |
Frank G. Slaughter | 100 million | English | Medical | 62 | American | |
Edgar Rice Burroughs | 100 million | English | Tarzan , Barsoom | American | ||
John Creasey | 100 million | English | Crime thriller | 600 | British | |
James Michener | 100 million | English | Historical | 47 | American | |
Yasuo Uchida | 100 million | Japanese | Mystery | 130+ | Japanese | |
Seiichi Morimura | 100 million | Japanese | Mystery | 350+ | Japanese | |
Debbie Macomber | 60 million | 100 million | English | Romance | American |