Bestselling authors

Two decades after Christopher Paolini self-published his debut book, Eragon, which launched The Inheritance Cycle, this year is unfolding as a blue-ribbon one for the author. On November 7, Knopf will release Murtagh, a standalone novel spotlighting the eponymous Dragon Slayer and his sword Thorn from the cycle's world of Alagaësia.  Read more

By the time Sir Terry Pratchett died in 2015, at the age of 66, he had completed 53 novels (one of them twice), co-authored another six and written close to 100 short stories. It represents a writing career that had begun in 1963 when he was just 14. But those wonderful words eventually dry.  Read more

It's almost impossible to imagine.

Between 2010 and 2019, one of every seven crime novels published was by a single author-James Patterson. Working with co-authors, he became a novel writing phenomenon and much more, while many literary critics argued his work became much less.

Since your first title sold 10,000 copies in its debut month, you've been able to quit your day job and pivot to making writing your full-time profession. As reliable as the sunrise, a royalty check finds its way into your mailbox each month. Your phone pings hourly to let you know that yet another reader has shared your book on social media.  Read more

In April, Richard North Patterson-author of 16 New York Times bestsellers-published an essay in the Wall Street Journal about his difficulties finding a publisher for his first novel in nine years.  Read more