Fiction Bestsellers

I've always known that authors writing school text books were on to a good thing. I've frequently tried to get dh to write the definitive text on auto engineering, to no avail. I've even quoted facts at him, such as did he know that the man who created the Mr Men series of kids books reached no 2 on the list of authors who sold the most books between 2000-2009? I added that at number 7 is the author of hundreds of study guides that have earned him a staggering £49 million. (Ah, correction - the article in the Telegraph says they study guides have taken £49 million at the tills, so maybe the author did not receive all of it.)

The chart listing the top hundred books of the decade  is equally interesting when we look at fiction. For all the sideswipes over the years at Enid Blyton's books, she is present at number 10. Even more surprising is the fact that Jamie Oliver's cook books make him second in earnings to J K Rowling and put him ahead of Dan Brown. (What is it about that rapidly expanding young man that makes him so much more successful than say James Martin or Nigel Slater? I wish I knew, for I find his "whack it in" style of dialogue irritating.)

J K, by the way, has sold 29 million books with a sales value of 215 million. I don't suppose she got all of that, but still, what she did receive would be a hefty sum. Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code was the most successful single title with 5.2 million copies sold. It is worth studying the list for the unexpected. Lyn Andrews, for example - a  shy, gentle lady I heard speak in Corbridge just last year has sold  copies that garnered £9.2 million. I bought just four authors in the list - numbers 15,70, 72 and 100.

 If you want to read Brian MacArthur's full article, here's the link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/6866648/Bestselling-authors-of-the-decade.html

and here's the list:

Author, Voume Sold, Value

1 J K Rowling 29,084,999 £225.9m

2 Roger Hargreaves 14,163,141 £26.6m

3 Dan Brown 13,372,007 £74.1m

4 Jacqueline Wilson 12,673,148 £69.9m

5 Terry Pratchett 10,455,397 £77.2m

6 John Grisham 9,862,998 £65.9m

7 Richard Parsons 9,561,776 £49.2m

8 Danielle Steel 9,119,149 £51m

9 James Patterson 8,172,647 £53.8m

10 Enid Blyton 7,910,758 £31.2m

11 Bill Bryson 7,409,656 £61.2m

12 Patricia Cornwell 7,355,180 £49.8m

13 Jamie Oliver 7,244,620 £89.5m

14 Daisy Meadows 7,149,788 £24.1m

15 Ian Rankin 6,848,039 £44.3m

16 Julia Donaldson 6,621,594 £33.7m

17 Alexander McCall Smith 6,609,779 £40.6m

18 Francesca Simon 6,564,681 £31.6m

19 Bernard Cornwell 6,297,911 £45.5m

20 Roald Dahl 6,169,406 £33.8m

21 Martina Cole 6,021,960 £41.7m

22 Philip Pullman 5,544,376 £35.8m

23 Stephenie Meyer 5,487,313 £32m

24 Maeve Binchy 5,476,134 £37.6m

25 J R R Tolkien 5,280,406 £50.6m

26 Delia Smith 5,269,783 £58.7m

27 Stephen King 5,268,577 £38m

28 Marian Keyes 5,029,363 £31.7m

29 Jeremy Clarkson 4,913,989 £35.1m

30 Josephine Cox 4,651,166 £24m

31 Sophie Kinsella 4,528,095 £27.7m

32 Jodi Picoult 4,514,620 £24.1m

33 Terry Deary 4,495,655 £21.6m

34 Anthony Horowitz 4,304,041 £23.6m

35 Lemony Snicket 4,220,508 £23.9m

36 Andy McNab 4,123,633 £30.4m

37 Ian McEwan 4,040,887 £27.7m

38 Wilbur Smith 3,871,484 £30.1m

39 Michael Connelly 3,785,330 £23.5m

40 Sebastian Faulks 3,782,665 £27.5m

41 Kathy Reichs 3,514,087 £22.2m

42 Helen Fielding 3,473,003 £22m

43 Cecelia Ahern 3,422,899 £19.5m

44 Joanne Harris 3,392,198 £21.2m

45 William Shakespeare 3,333,670 £17.8m

46 Carol Vorderman 3,315,641 £11.2m

47 Chris Ryan 3,289,855 £21m

48 Lee Child 3,274,928 £20.2m

49 Dave Pelzer 3,217,905 £20.2m

50 R L Stine 3,096,584 £13.1m

51 Catherine Cookson 3,020,751 £16.8m

52 Dean Koontz 3,010,242 £17.5m

53 W Awdry 2,991,572 £9.9m

54 Michael Morpurgo 2,989,161 £15.1m

55 Jeffery Deaver 2,972,145 £16.9m

56 Khaled Hosseini 2,957,026 £21.1m

57 Nick Hornby 2,956,544 £19.6m

58 Ben Elton 2,907,294 £20m

59 Katie Price 2,856,697 £21.8m

60 Jill Mansell 2,798,518 £14.2m

61 Mark Haddon 2,783,600 £16.8m

62 Lucy Daniels 2,768,332 £11.2m

63 Dr Seuss 2,760,156 £14.8m

64 Tess Gerritsen 2,745,556 £14.7m

65 Tony Parsons 2,731,436 £17.3m

66 Alan Titchmarsh 2,707,834 £27.5m

67 Harlan Coben 2,672,713 £15.1m

68 Lauren Child 2,632,369 £13.4m

69 Darren Shan 2,617,959 £14.4m

70 Nigella Lawson 2,616,955 £39.2m

71 Robert C Atkins 2,591,073 £17.3m

72 Philippa Gregory 2,577,235 £17.4m

73 Jane Green 2,498,100 £14.8m

74 Clive Cussler 2,435,718 £16.5m

75 Fiona Watt 2,431,376 £14.1m

76 Cathy Kelly 2,391,540 £13.2m

77 Penny Vincenzi 2,358,041 £14.6m

78 Charles Dickens 2,341,980 £9.3m

79 Eric Hill 2,334,612 £12.1m

80 Joanna Trollope 2,333,337 £14.5m

81 Meg Cabot 2,309,844 £12.1m

82 Jackie Collins 2,295,308 £14.4m

83 Lesley Pearse 2,261,007 £12.6m

84 A A Milne 2,255,346 £14.5m

85 Paulo Coelho 2,229,564 £16.3m

86 Eric Carle 2,225,336 £12.1m

87 Louis de Bernières 2,221,481 £15.3m

88 Jack Higgins 2,207,100 £12.4m

89 Anita Shreve 2,198,899 £13.4m

90 Karin Slaughter 2,196,031 £12.6m

91 Louise Rennison 2,172,395 £11.9m

92 Sheila O’Flanagan 2,162,811 £10.8m

93 Robert Harris 2,150,818 £16m

94 Paul McKenna 2,114,476 £16.6m

95 Alice Sebold 2,106,630 £13.2m

96 Gordon Ramsay 2,094,376 £23.4m

97 Roderick Hunt 2,077,092 £7.3m

98 Frank McCourt 2,055,939 £14.9m

99 Dav Pilkey 2,051,622 £9.4m

100 Lyn Andrews 2,027,382 £9.2m

Did any names on that list surprise you?