I read a lot. I’ve always read a lot even before I was a blogger. Honestly I probably read more before I started blogging, because I didn’t spend so much time on the internet!
Something I don’t think much about as a reader is my “most read author.” Sure I have my favorites…. but I never think about a specific number of books read when it comes to an individual author.
I promise this post has a point.
The other day I was on Goodreads. (See I told you… spending way to much time on the internet!) Do you have a Goodreads? If you are a book-lover and you don’t… that is definitely something you should look into! Anyway, I was on Goodreads and I spied a new link on my ‘bookshelves’ page, called “most read authors.”
So of course I had to click it. And it’s a page with… you guessed it…. your most read authors! The thing that surprised me, were the authors that made my list. If you would have asked me who my most read authors were, I don’t think that this is the list I would have came up with.
Here are the authors on the top of my list:
Meg Cabot
I’ve apparently read 15 books by Meg. Although if you think about it…. that is nothing compared to the number of books that this lady has written. She is a writing machine! I’ve recently bought books in her Mediator
Karen Marie Moning
12 books for this one. What’s even more surprising is that my top authors aren’t strictly YA authors. Actually, Karen Marie Moning and my number three author, aren’t YA authors at all! Karen has two series, The Highlander
J.R. Ward
9 books for J.R. Ward! Three words for you people… Black. Dagger. Brotherhood. LOVE. LOVE this series…. and apparently I have read everyone of them (plus the Insiders Guide!). Ward has another series, which I have not started, but will have to someday. As I mentioned, this is another non-YA author. Anyone excited for Lover Unleashed
Gena Showalter
8 books for Gena. Gena writes both paranormal romance, The Lords of the Underworld
Rachel Caine & J.K. Rowling
I had a tie for fifth place. I’ve read 7 each of their novels. J.K. Rowling is obviously the author of Harry Potter
Rachel Caine is the author of The Morganville Vampire
Sarah Dessen, Keri Arthur & Richelle Mead
Three way tie for this one. I’ve read 6 novels from each of these authors. Two out of the three are YA authors. Keri Arthur is very much NOT a YA author! I’ve read the first six books in her Riley Jensen
Sarah Dessen is an author whose name is easily equated with the term young adult. I was late in the game reading Sarah’s novels. My first was Just Listen
Richelle Mead is the author of one my most favorite vampire series. VAMPIRE ACADEMY
Nicholas Sparks, Melissa de la Cruz, Megan McCafferty, Melissa Marr, Elizabeth Scott & Scott Westerfeld.
Six way tie on this one… and I think this is where I’m going to stop. I’ve read 5 novels by each of these authors. I have to admit I’m a little surprised to see Nicholas Sparks up there… but now that I think about it, I did go through a phase where I read his books in high school, so that makes a little more sense now. (Although I can’t say I have the same assessment of him now as an author, than I did when I was in high school.)
Melissa de la Cruz. Blue Bloods
Megan McCafferty. Two words people… Marcus Flutie! The Jessica Darling series is fan-freaking-tastic. It’s not technically a YA book… but the story is told from the pov of Jessica, who I believe is sixteen when the series starts, follows her through high school and through college. And if you haven’t read them you should. If you have a Kindle, they have The Complete Jessica Darling Series
Melissa Marr. The Wicked Lovely
Elizabeth Scott. LOVE. Elizabeth is one of my favorite authors. She writes mostly contemp fiction, stand alone titles. I need to read more of this ladies works! I love them! Living Dead Girl
Scott Westerfeld. Scott, is the lone male YA author on the list. I’ve read two series by Scott… The Peeps
And that is my list….
Like I said, had you asked me the question, this is not what I would have came up with!
So… what authors made your list?
Related posts:
I love the BDB series and J.R. Ward! Definitely counting down to Lover Unleashed. I have a huge collection of Nicholas Sparks books too. He's just such an easy read and his book, The Wedding, is one of my all time favorites. Great list!
OMG I love JR!! She is seriously my hero lol! I love the brothers and I cannot wait to read Payne's story. Lover Unleashed should be epic for sure! I love Gena too The Lords are Sexy! I love Sabin! Great list of authors hun!!
It's probably a sin, but Dessen is kind of at the bottom of my list! I've only read 2 of hers! Brian Jacques and J.K. Rowling would be at the top of my list, as would Nicholas Sparks anddddd Cassandra Clare
Wow, that was interesting, thanks for the suggestion. I've just looked at my list of my most read authors. I wasn't surprised by my number 1 though, as it was my most favorite author and it turns out I've read 36!! books by her.
I was very much taken by surprise by the authors that made the rest of my list (Meg Cabot made second place – with 20 books read). It's definitely something worth thinking about.
Thanks to your post I now have to look into the DBD-series by J.R.Ward.
Happy Reading
/ Q N
Dude, that Jessica Darling series is a MAJOR steal. I have a Nook, so I just went to look for it on B&N's website…yeah, it's $55.96! Sad
That's so cool! I never noticed that option before. Thanks for sharing!
I adore J. K Rowling.
Great list
…
WOW! I just checked mine… I didn't even know about this feature until you posted it on twitter the other day. Meg Cabot is also my top read author… except that I apparently have read 28 of her books… 28?! What?! Wow.
I love how you are surprised by some of the authors on your list! I guess after a while, we fail to notice just how many books we've read from an author.
Wow, I have Meg Cabot as my #1 most read author too! I've read 17 of her books (woah). Then I have Ellen Schreiber, Louise Rennison, Laurie Faria Stolarz, Rachel Caine and L.J. Smith.
LOVE Meg Cabot. Love her. She's definitely at the top of my list. I'm pretty author loyal so there are probably a ton on my list. I went hunting for the new Gail Carriger when it came out this summer and my store didn't have it. I must pick up any new Lili St. Crow YA as well as Lauren Willig and Diana Peterfreund.
This is an interesting new thing on GR! I didn't even know they had it. I am off to have a look now.
l have quite a lot of these authors books sitting on my shelves!
Fun! I never noticed this, thanks for the heads-up! My top-of the list authors are all adult authors: James Patterson (66), Stephen King (54), Jodi Picoult (11), and Harlan Coben (10). I have a three-way tie for 5the place, though–Scott Westerfeld, Alex Flinn and Sarah Dessen (7 each).
That is an awesome set. They are all truly great authors with a host of amazing reads.
I haven't counted, no I can find that part on Good Rads, but going by what I know about my reading habits, I would say.
Meg Cabot
Lisa Kleypas
Julia Quinn
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Sarah Dessen
(went to check and according to Goodreads (finally found it) I should add)
Christina Dodd
Mary Balogh
Rachel Gibson
Elizabeth Hoyt
Laura Lee Guhrke
I shocked there are only 2 YA authors there… also, apparently I've read 50 books by Meg Cabot. I think that officially makes me a FanGirl
I think I'll have to read something by Meg Cabot now!
I also didn't realize I read over 40 books by Stephen King. Eek!
Thanks for pointing out the shelf, I'll be obsessing over it, trying to boost my new favorite authors in the ranking.
Ooh, great list! And wow, I didn't even notice this new Goodreads feature! Thanks for sharing with us!
you have so many authors on your list i need to try! Some of mine
Rachel Vincet I've read every book she's written
Kim Harrison Entire Rachel Morgan series to date
J. K. Rowling
Stephen King
Joe Hill
Im sure there are more
Have to investigate
I highly recommend the HP companion books: The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Quidditch Through the Ages, all written by J.K. Rowling!
My most read author was Anne Bishop, with 13 books. Although she has a new one coming out in a few weeks, which will make it 14. My most beloved author of all time.
Hehe, Top of my List is:
1) Lemony Snicket (14)
2) J.K Rowling (10) this includes Beedle the bard and fantastic beasts.
& Colin Dann (10)
3)Meg Cabot & Philip Pullman (9)
I haven't added my Rachel Caine ones to my profile yet, but have read all of hers, she rocks!!!
Just Listen was my first Sarah Dessen novel, I've read all her others, but it still remains my favourite.
Sally.
Oh thanks for pointing tha Feature out, I didn't know this one exists and honestly I was surprised by my list.
)
I totally forgot that I've read Mrs Weis "Drangonlance series" years ago and I loved them all! And of course I read ALL the KMM books, so no surprise here
Here is my list:
1 Margaret Weis
2 Karen Marie Moning
2 Charlaine Harris
4 J.R. Ward
5 Melissa Marr
5 J.K. Rowling
8 Rick Riordan
8 Diana Gabaldon
8 Jeaniene Frost
8 Richelle Mead
I was somewhat surprised by my top authors list, as well. Great idea to post about it… I might do the same. =)
J.R. Ward, Richelle Mead, J.K. Rowling and Meg Cabot are four of my favourites too! Nice list.
I was quite surprised by mine too. JK Rowling and Rachel Caine in joint first place. Id never noticed this in the tools before. Thanks for pointing it out
My number one is Shakespeare, though his works were plays, at 15 plays.
Gail Carson Levine- 13
Sarah Dessen- 8
Stephenie Meyer- 7
Ann Brashares- 7
Ann Rinaldi- 6
Meg Cabot- 6
Shannon Hale- 5
Nice list! Meg Cabot is one of my favorite authors as well, and the Mediator series and 1-800 Where Are You series are among her best books! Hope you'll love them!
I'm actually in the middle of the Vampire Academy series now, and I can't believe I waited so long to read them!!! This series is sooooo good!
I was just on Good Reads this morning and I didn't notice it. I just went right on to check. Most of my top authors are manga and graphic novel writers. My top two were Yuu Watase who I've read three manga series by Imadodi!, Alice 19th and part of her Ceres series. My second was Bill Willingham who writes the Fables graphic novels which I am absolutely in love with. What a neat little feature thanks for pointing it out.
I love goodreads, but I didn't know about the most read authors link, thanks for telling us about it
My top authors are: R.L. Stine, Meg Cabot, J.K. Rowling, Anne Rice
Thanks for pointing out the link! I didn't know it was there either. Half surprised and half not by my list. Though I've realised the list also counts books marked as "to read" as well. So the list below is edited with just the number of read books:
David Eddings – 20 – The author who got me reading, so no surprise here. Got to love his high fantasy!
Rachel Caine – 11 – All the Morganville Vamps, plus the first two Weather Warden novels.
J.K. Rowling – 10 – This includes Tales of Beedle the Bard, Quiditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Robin Hobb – 9 – More high fantasy.
Rachel Vincent – 9 Both YA and adult.
Freya North – 9 – British Romance author. The only adult romance I can read. SO funny!
Karen Chance – 7 – Adult urban fantasy.
Richelle Mead – 6
Jeaniene Frost – 6 Adult urban fantasy.
A lot more adult than YA. I can't decide if I'm surprised by that or not; a number of my fave authors are on the list, but I do read quite a lot of YA these days. Lol. Was interesting to see!
Very interesting! I did not know about this 'most read authors' list! Here are my top 10:
1. Nicholas Sparks – 12 books (no surprise there)
2. Charlaine Harris – 9 books
3. J.R. Ward – 8 books (I'm with you on that BDB Series!!)
4. J.k. Rowling – 7 books
5. Stephenie Meyer – 5 books
Karen Marie Moning – 5 books
Jo Davis – 5 books (hunky firefighter series!)
8. Simone Elkeles – 4 books
Jeaniene Frost – 4 books
Dean Koontz – 4 books
Thanks for blogging about this! I never would've noticed that link if you didn't mention it. Here are the authors in my top five:
Sherwood Smith
Ilona Andrews
Tamora Pierce and Robin McKinley (tied for third)
Patricia Briggs
I didn't know Goodreads had this feature! Thanks for sharing it! Now I'm gonna have to go and see who my most-read authors are. JK Rowling might top my list, along with P.C. Cast and Melissa de la Cruz, because I've read all of their respective series.
My most read author is KA Applegate because I read the whole animorphs series plus the spin-offs , which is over 60 books
15- Cate Tiernan Sweep series is 15 long
11- Dj MacHale's Pendragon series has 10 books plus the 1st book in his new trilogy
11 _ JK Rowling ( 7 + Quidditch through the ages, Fantastic beasts and where to find them and Tales of Beatle the Bard)
10 – Rachel Caine
8- Jenny Nemo and James Patterson
J.D. Robb & Susan Mallery
Allison Brennan
Robyn Carr
Nora Roberts
Charlaine Harris
Lara Adrian & Rachel Vincent
Stephenie Meyer
Karen Rose
Richelle Mead
Melissa de la Cruz
I have more adult than YA, which was a surprise. I didn't realized I'd read so many Susan Mallery books and I just started reading J.D. Robb's "In Death" series a month ago and I'm not even half way through.
Meg Cabot was my number 1 as well with 18 books. I have read the 1800 series and mediator and I love them. Meg Cabot may not be my current favorite author, but she is the one who got me into YA books as I transitioned from childhood to teenagedom. In fact my kindle is named Meg =)
Wow great post idea.
I'm running to go look at my list…
…many of mine are NOT YA either
1 – Laurell K Hamilton (very adult novels)
2 – VC Andrews
3 – MaryJanice Davidson
4 – Bertrice Small
5 – Holly Black
6 – Anne Rice
7 – Kathy Reichs
8 – JK Rowling
9 – Rachel Cohn
10 – Stephenie Meyer
This is a cool link! Thx for sharing. I think I might do a post about mine if you don't mind.
I haven't been on goodreads long enough to have a list of my actual most read authors, but from my own person knowledge I know Meg Cabot would be at the top. I just counted and I have read 40 books by her… Along on that list would probably be D.J. MacHale, Lemony Snicket, Sarah Dessen, and Elizabeth Scott.
I didn't know that option was there, but at this point I haven't updated my Goodreads books in a while either. I had been trying to spend more time reading and less being distracted online.
my list was too weird…only like 4 YA authors in my top 20! Very interesting.
author books read
1 Kelley Armstrong 14
2 Sophie Kinsella 7
3 Stephenie Meyer 6
4 Ellen Hopkins 4
5 Cecelia Ahern 3
5 Maria V. Snyder 3
5 Cassandra Clare 3
8 Beatrice Sparks 2
8 Nicholas Sparks 2
8 Rachel Hawkins 2
8 Dan Brown 2
You have a great list!!! Here's mine
. No surprise Kelley Armstrong is the most read hehe, I looove her work! She has a fabulous YA series as well as a really great adult series<3
Ha! Who knew?? I had to search for it, but I found it. It seems my top 3 go to authors are Sophie Kinsella (I do love her!), Nicholas Sparks (this one was a surprise) and Jodi Picoult (I'll read anything by Jodi Picoult)!! Thanks for sharing…what fun!
So interesting. Since I'm trying to write as well as work and read, my list would not be as good as yours.
Great topic! Honestly, it would take me way too long to count them all! Stephen King would for sure be on the list, and Elizabeth George. I've read everything by Douglas Adams, of course all J.K. Rowling's books… it goes on and on…
I agree with you about Just Listen — I read it only recently, and LOVED it.
Go Scott Westerfeld!! What a brave man ~_^
J.K. Rowling has also written the Tales of Beedle the Bard, Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Quidditch through the Ages. Not cannon HP, but perfect for the fan, and some of the proceeds go to charity.
So glad you pointed this out!
So far I've read…
89 by Katherine Alice Applegate (Animorphs, Everworld, & Remnants series)
25 by Tamora Pierce & Debbie Dadey (Bailey School Kids)
22 by Stan Berenstain
11 by C.S. Lewis
10 by Chris Archer (Mindwarp), Diane Duane (Young Wizards) & J.K. Rowling
8 by Bruce Coville, Beverly Cleary & John D. Fitzgerald (The Great Brain)
7 by Patricia Briggs
6 by Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl), Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Cage (Spy Girls), Melanie Rawn (Dragon Prince) & Piers Anthony (Xanth)
5 by Douglas Adams, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Patricia C. Wrede & Judy Blume
And a bunch of authors with 4, 3, and 2 books apiece.