Wikipedia: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.

Prolific writers
undefined Asimov celebrated his birthday on 2 January but his true date of birth is unclear.
 * Notes:
 * Authors with more than 100 books are considered for inclusion.

Other notable writers

 * John Neal is known by historians and was famous in his day for the speed with which he wrote: 6 novels published in 8 years (1817-1825) while engaged in law study, law practice, and making prolific contributions to various magazines, 4 of those novels being published within 2 years (1822-1823): 680 pages in 6–8 weeks, 685 pages in 36 days, 689 pages in 39 days, and 328 pages in 27 days.
 * 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.
 * Napoléon I, Emperor of the French, wrote more than 40 000 letters; published from 2004 to 2018 in 15 volumes.