Most-read author meme
Jan. 20th, 2022 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ivyficYesterday a friend mentioned a meme going around that asked what author had you read the most books from. And I realized—I can just look that up. From seventh grade through the end of college, I kept a book journal (by hand). Some years ago, I input all the authors and titles into an Excel.
Five years after college, I started keeping everything I read in goodreads, and you can export that file. So I know there’s a gap and some others that I’m sure I missed, but here are the answers.
I thought the author I’d read most of was Courtney Milan. I was almost right. Here are my top 10 most-read authors.
Jude Watson*, 27
Courtney Milan, 23
Kevin J. Anderson*, 13
William Shakespeare, 12
Lloyd Alexander**, 10
Caroline B. Cooney**, 10
Lois Duncan**, 10
J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith, 10
John Whitman*, 9
Timothy Zahn*, 9
* These are all authors of Star Wars tie-in novels. Jude Watson wrote the Jedi Apprentice/Jedi Quest books. I read a few of their non-Star Wars books, but this is mostly from reading that one series, and if each of those books is more than 50,000 words I’d be shocked. Kevin J. Anderson wrote Star Wars and other tie-in series as well. He is my nemesis. I HATE what he does to worldbuilding. John Whitman wrote the Galaxy of Fear series—when Star Wars tie-in novels tried to be R.L. Stine. And then of course there’s Timothy Zahn.
** These are all incredibly prolific YA authors. I intentionally went about trying to read the complete catalogue for a few of these. In fact, I’m pretty sure the Lois Duncan is an undercount, and I read more of hers before I started counting.
What this has taught me is:
a) I read a fuck ton of Star Wars novels. I mean, to the surprise of no one. Up until Phantom Menace, I read 100% of the tie-ins that came out, whether or not I wanted to. Which is how I’ve read so many books by an author I hate. The New Jedi Order series pretty much killed my interest in keeping up with Star Wars tie-ins, and my discovery of fanfiction eventually killed my reading of tie-ins all together.
b) Other than that, I don’t have a huge amount of loyalty. Even authors that I have a, oh, I should pick up their new book, marker in my head, I’ve only read a handful. (Like Michael Lewis, 5).
It breaks down as:
No. books by author % of my total reading
10+ - 12%
5-9 - 8%
4 - 7%
3 - 7%
2 - 11%
1 - 52%
Or, to put it another way, 64% of the books I read are from an author I haven't read before. Since they say in book marketing that the biggest influence on purchase of a book is if the person likes the author, I guess I'm a weirdo.
I suspect this is also related to my swing to more non-fiction as an adult.
And also, Courtney Milan *is* my most-read, non-Star Wars, author. That is the author I’ve read the most because of the author, and not some other reason.
Five years after college, I started keeping everything I read in goodreads, and you can export that file. So I know there’s a gap and some others that I’m sure I missed, but here are the answers.
I thought the author I’d read most of was Courtney Milan. I was almost right. Here are my top 10 most-read authors.
Jude Watson*, 27
Courtney Milan, 23
Kevin J. Anderson*, 13
William Shakespeare, 12
Lloyd Alexander**, 10
Caroline B. Cooney**, 10
Lois Duncan**, 10
J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith, 10
John Whitman*, 9
Timothy Zahn*, 9
* These are all authors of Star Wars tie-in novels. Jude Watson wrote the Jedi Apprentice/Jedi Quest books. I read a few of their non-Star Wars books, but this is mostly from reading that one series, and if each of those books is more than 50,000 words I’d be shocked. Kevin J. Anderson wrote Star Wars and other tie-in series as well. He is my nemesis. I HATE what he does to worldbuilding. John Whitman wrote the Galaxy of Fear series—when Star Wars tie-in novels tried to be R.L. Stine. And then of course there’s Timothy Zahn.
** These are all incredibly prolific YA authors. I intentionally went about trying to read the complete catalogue for a few of these. In fact, I’m pretty sure the Lois Duncan is an undercount, and I read more of hers before I started counting.
What this has taught me is:
a) I read a fuck ton of Star Wars novels. I mean, to the surprise of no one. Up until Phantom Menace, I read 100% of the tie-ins that came out, whether or not I wanted to. Which is how I’ve read so many books by an author I hate. The New Jedi Order series pretty much killed my interest in keeping up with Star Wars tie-ins, and my discovery of fanfiction eventually killed my reading of tie-ins all together.
b) Other than that, I don’t have a huge amount of loyalty. Even authors that I have a, oh, I should pick up their new book, marker in my head, I’ve only read a handful. (Like Michael Lewis, 5).
It breaks down as:
No. books by author % of my total reading
10+ - 12%
5-9 - 8%
4 - 7%
3 - 7%
2 - 11%
1 - 52%
Or, to put it another way, 64% of the books I read are from an author I haven't read before. Since they say in book marketing that the biggest influence on purchase of a book is if the person likes the author, I guess I'm a weirdo.
I suspect this is also related to my swing to more non-fiction as an adult.
And also, Courtney Milan *is* my most-read, non-Star Wars, author. That is the author I’ve read the most because of the author, and not some other reason.