Selected Articles for the Reader in You

20 great articles selected just for you, the reading writer. Have fun!

The 1968 Olympics Black Power Salute

Courtesy: The Mystery World

1. 40 of The Most Powerful Photographs Ever Taken

The 1968 Olympics Black Power Salute: African American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists in a gesture of solidarity at the 1968 Olympic games. Both Americans were expelled from the games as result.

2. This Map Shows The Most Famous Book Set In Every State

Local literature can be a surprising source of home state pride, no matter where you're from.

We found the most famous book set in each state. How many have you read? Check out the annotated map below.

3. 9 Books Scarier Than Any Horror Movie

There is nothing better than a good ghost story. It might be tempting to pop in one of your scarier movies when you want to get into the Halloween spirit, but there are plenty of novels sure to keep you up for just as many nights.

4. 10 Tips to Enhance Your Fiction Reading Experience

Here are some tips that may help make your fiction reading experience even more enjoyable.  Some of them may be obvious and well-known, but others may surprise you.

5. Bestseller Success Stories that Started Out as Self-Published Books

You write, you re-write, you edit, you tweak and when it's perfect, you submit. And then you get rejected. Many times, maybe by a person who didn't even read it. Rejection is painful because it instantly devalues your creation.

6. 8 Lucrative Tips for Selling Articles to Magazines and Websites

 Article writing can be great for your career as a writer: nothing bad can come from writers trying to sell content to magazines, newspapers and websites.

7. How to Write for Writer’s Digest (… Even if You’ve Never Written for Magazines Before)

 A few years back I did what I wish more editors would do—I wrote about how to break into our magazine.

8. From the Bronte Sisters to JK Rowling, a History of Pen Names

In 1850 Charlotte Bronte finally outed the brilliant but obscure brother authors Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, and neatly analysed why centuries of authors have chosen to shelter behind entirely invented names or ambiguous double initials. The brothers Bell were her and her extraordinary sisters…

9. Is the Book Industry Sexist or Just Starved for Great Women Authors?

There’s a huge gender divide in speculative fiction publishing—especially when it comes to science fiction and space opera, which are incredibly male dominated.

10. Book Review: Alternate Movie Posters – Author Matthew Chojnacki

As an avid movie fan myself, it sure puts a smile on my face when I hear of news book releases that pay homage to the artistry of the craft.

11. 5 Ways To Manifest Your Reality With The Power of Visualization

Actor Jim Carrey is famous for parking his car on Muholland Drive every night before anybody knew about him, and visualizing becoming the Hollywood star that he inevitably became.

12. Mystery Influences

Who are your literary influences?

Readers often ask me who my favourite mystery authors and/or influences are.  It's actually a pretty short list.
Generally, when it comes to crime fiction, I like North American writers.

13. Important Writing Lessons From First Time Novelists

Here’s something most published pros know well: In this business, there are no absolutes. There is no fixed path, no yellow-brick road to success. The journey to bookstores seems a lot like that old snowflake cliché—No two are alike.

14. Hidden Disney Characters in Disney Movies

At the pet shop in “101 Dalmatians” all of the dogs in the window are puppies except for this familiar dog in the corner. The dog is Peg from the classic Disney film “Lady and the Tramp”

15. The Secrets to Successful Guest Blogging

Guest blogging can be a valuable asset in your tool kit, whether you’re a blogger, writer, podcaster, or small business owner.

16. Creative Writing Techniques: How To Enhance Our Creative Personality

Creativity is not a talent; it’s an ability: you can learn it, develop it and use it.

17. 6 Secrets of Writing a Novel Without an Outline

When I was in school and a teacher would assign us to write an outline for a story, I’d finish the story first, then go back and write the outline so I’d have something to turn in.

18. What to Do When You Feel You Haven’t Accomplished Much

We all have those days when it feels like we weren’t able to check enough things off our to-do list. What do you do when that happens?

19. What Writers Should Do When Drawing A Blank

If you’re drawing a blank in your #writing, lead yourself back to your natural nature.

20. Do You Lead Like a Lioness?

So what do lionesses have to do with leadership lessons? One of my big loves in life, other than my husband, is travel. My husband and I have had the opportunity to travel throughout the world and one of our favorite places is Africa.

These are all articles I have had the pleasure of reading and learning from. The lessons will remain with me to the grave.

Keep your pens bleeding!

Akpan

Stephen King's 'Greatest' Achievement

With Tabitha (wife) & Owen (son)
Photo: loc.gov

Stephen King has sort of become a staple wherever the horror genre is discussed. It's almost impossible to not think of King when the terror-inducing genre crosses your mind. Whether you are a fan of the genre, of the writer or a torrid critic of either the form of writing or the writer. And a reviewer said, "Stephen King polarizes writers."

His name, craft and career are yet to fossilize in a stint that spans nearly five decades. From the 70s when he was known as the Prince of Horror right into the 21st century, the King of Horror has pretty much maintained up in the game that seems to be constantly undergoing  organic mutation at the turn of each decade.

Stephen King who once said of himself, "I am the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and Fries"  has thrown in a good measure of his genius in development of the genre for which he is widely celebrated. And his works have had immeasurable influence on hundreds of writers including yours truly repping the ministry of fear in Nigeria.

I think I'll go out on a limb and say Stephen King seems to have achieved a feat possibly, no other writer has aspired to or come close to accomplishing; he converted members of his family into a fear factory.

Tabitha King

King met his wife in the late 1960s at the University of Maine where he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper. Tabitha is quoted as saying jokingly, "He married me for my typewriter." Tabitha published her first novel, Small World at age 32; a fantasy about a mad scientist and his evil device. Stephen King was on his eighth published novel and seven years into his writing career at the time. The nonfiction book Danse Macabre had just been released.

Tabitha King has gone on to release over eight novels and two nonfiction books so far. Wikipedia lists her genres as horror, science fiction and fantasy. Seen any connection with the style of the Master?

With Joe Hill (son)
Photo: nerdsburgh.com

Joe Hill

Joe Hill, Stephen King's first son decided he wanted to succeed on his own merits rather than as Stephen King's son. Even though, online speculations about his link to Stephen King abounded since 2005, it was not until 2007 that Joe Hill acknowledged his kinship with the Horror meister. And only after he achieved considerable success on his own.

His first book, 20th Century Ghosts, a collection of 14 short stories was published in 2005 and won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection including a British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story for Best New Horror. His first novel, Heart-Shaped Box (published February, 2007) reached #8 on the New York Times bestseller list. Hill had gone on to collaborate with his dad on at least one project.

Joe Hill writes horror, dark fantasy and science fiction. Second convert towing the same line with the master.

Owen King

Owen King is the last of King's children and even he has chosen to follow his father's obsession. His first book, We're All In This Together: (A Novella and Short Stories) was published in 2005. Since then, he has published another collection Who Can Save Us Now? he has published a debut novel, Double Feature (2013). He co-wrote a screenplay with his brother Joe Hill titled Fade Away.

Owen King has had several of his stories published in anthologies and magazines and won several awards. Although, several of his stories feature what might be termed horror as one interviewer said, "Owen King's approach is more literary, and any terror contained in his stories is wholly inspired by real life." (Does that mean more gore or less gore?)  His stories focus on broken families or strange relationships and edge on redemption and forgiveness.

It's an amazing story, yes? The influence, and I might add positive inspiration a man can execute over the life and career of his family. With the Kings writing is indeed a family business. You think you ought to go and do likewise?

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan

Related articles

• Stephen King: My mother-in-law scares me
• Carrie Underwood Asked Stephen King For Permission To Recreate Christine
• Of Time, Stephen King and Jack Finney
• Stephen King writes post-Newtown essay on guns
• Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill
• Casting For Stephen King's Mercy Finally Revealed

10 Stephen King Stories Featuring Writers as Characters

Photo: vcablogorama.blogspot.com

Stephen King often uses authors as characters in his stories. It's possible that no other author before him or during his time equals him in this particular enterprise. And it's impossible for you as a serious writer not to find yourself parodied in one of King's stories.

Most of the writers in King's stories (if not all) are men. Nevertheless, the sort of distress they often get themselves stuck with is not gender-oriented. King, at one time announced he was hanging his pen on stories featuring writers as characters. I believe that was in the note on Secret Window, Secret Garden published in a collection of novellas called Four Past Midnight back in 1990. But alas, in 1998, a Stephen King novel, Bag of Bones featured a writer as the main character and going through the worst dread that could ever happen to a writer-writer's block. You can never trust a storyteller, han?

Bag of Bones (1998)

This novel is by far, my favorite Stephen King book. It features the writer, Mike Noonan, who is going through the worst case of writer's block, as the main character of the novel. He has not written anything, besides his laundry list, that is, for the past four years or so.

King says he was inspired to write this novel after reading a story about Virginia Wolfe who is reported to have been so prolific she had to deposit her books in a safe. The book borrows its title from Thomas Hardy who said, "The most brilliantly drawn character in a novel is but a bag of bones"

Noonan's block is worsened by the death of his wife, Jo, who passed away with their unborn child on the pavement of a pharmacy. But Noonan doesn't realize the death of his wife and the baby is in part, fulfillment of a generational curse. If you want to learn about the art of writing and how to deal with writer's block while having fun, read Bag of Bones. It's King's best effort, so far.

Secret Window, Secret Garden (1990)

Morton Rainey is the main character in this novella. He is a writer and recently separated from his wife. As a review says, Rainey is trapped in the demonic depths of a writer's worst nightmare. He has relocated to his summer home awaiting the finalization of his divorce from his wife when one hot afternoon, a stranger wakes him from his siesta. He opens the door and sees a guy who looks like a character from a Faulkner story. The first words the guy says to him and which marks the opening line of the novella are, "You stole my story." And from that point in time, Rainey's nightmares begin.

Stephen King masterfully twists the plot line, sometimes Rainey is a split personality, possessed by this strange character, John Shooter, who appeared at his doorstep uninvited. The story revolves around a writer exhibiting rare symptoms of dissociative disorder. You can't guess where King is taking you, even after the story is told. The suspense is just too intense.

Word Processor of the Gods (1985)

Here's a short story and part of the collection, Skeleton Crew about a writer who receives the gift of a custom built word processor from his fifteen-year old nephew, Jon. The machine has supernatural powers to execute whatever commands a user typed.

Richard Hagstrom, a struggling writer, uses the word processor to bring back his nephew who died in an accident caused by his drunken father–Richard's older brother. But not before deleting his son and wife from the face of reality. Word Processor of the Gods is a short story that attempts through allegories, to show how fiction immortalizes our dreams and hopes.

1408 (2002)

Of this story, Stephen King said, "I never intended to finish it. I wrote the first three or four pages as part of an appendix for my On Writing book, wanting to show readers how a story evolves from first draft to second."

Mike Enslin visits places haunted by ghosts or spirits or some other evil and then writes about his experience. Olin, the manager of the hotel tries to discourage Enslin from going up to Room 1408 (the number adds up to 13–the so-called evil number), where several paranormal activities had occurred but his attempts were rewarded by fierce rebuttal.

Enslin went into room 1408 but barely escaped with his life when the thing in the room set him ablaze.

Misery (1987)

Imagine meeting a fan of yours who wants you to write one last novel for an already concluded romance series you have been writing. You may not want to consider it as an option but she can be persuasive... with an axe! That's the scenario the main character in this story, Paul Sheldon, finds himself thrust into. Involved in an accident, bugged down by a broken ankle and rescued by a psycho nurse who is responsible for the deaths of over 100 people, Paul Sheldon is in a worst-case scenario. And Annie Wilkes is the perfect muse for any complacent writer, believe that!

Lisey's Story (2006)

This is the story King said was inspired by visions of his own death after his now famous accident. He returned from the hospital to find his wife had rearranged his study and the thought came to him what becomes of his wife after he dies.

Lisey Landon, wife of the deceased writer, Scott Landon is faced by scores of people demanding her late husband’s unpublished manuscripts to the point of threat. The story is paranormal romance at its best.

The Road Virus Heads North (2002)

Richard Kinnell is a horror writer who picked up a picture with supernatural powers at a yard sale. The original owner and artist had hung himself in his basement but not before pinning a note to his breast which read, "I can't stand what's happening to me."

Eventually, Kinnell, observes that the picture keeps changing and he tries to rid himself of the thing. He dumps it in among the pine trees behind a fast food joint. However, when Kinnell gets home he finds The Road Virus, that is the name of the picture on the wall at his home.

‘Salem's Lot (1975)

Is the story of a writer, Ben Mears who returns to a town, Jerusalem's Lot ('Salem's Lot, for short) where he grew up and had been away from for years. He finds the town almost in the same condition as he had left it but at the same time, he discovers an unspoken evil hovering over the town.

It's a vampire story with a twist. King said he did a "restructuring and updating (of) the basic elements of Bram Stoker's Dracula to create 'Salem's Lot."

The Shining (1977)

Jack Torrance was hired to take care of a large hotel all winter but the tide turns against him. He becomes psychotic and tries to harm his family. His son, Danny, and wife eventually escape owing largely to the 'gift' of The Shining the kid possesses.

The Dark Half (1989)

Thad Beaumont is a writer in distress as his pseudonym gains substance and tries to steal his reality. Beaumont was switching genres and had celebrated the fact with a mock funeral of his pseudonym with a picture on the cover page of a magazine. A few days later, the grounds keeper of the local cemetery discovers a 'hole' in the same spot Beaumont had used for his mock burial.

Something had dug its way out of the 'grave'. Then the killings began and Beaumont's fingerprint is all over the evidence. Yet, Beaumont has proof he was home on the night of the murders. This story is allegoric presentation of how fiction can influence the life of a writer.

Stephen King has more stories which, involve writers but I intend to end my ranting with Dark Half. If you want to learn the craft of writing, do read King's nonfiction book On Writing but do not stop there, read his novels, as well. You'll learn vastly by following that route.

Keep your pen bleeding.

Akpan

10 Writers Whose Fiction Reflect Their Life Stories II

It’s amazing what we can learn when we study the lives of those who have excelled and made their mark in their chosen field. There are lots of facts about the life stories of the authors presented here I wasn’t even aware of before I did research for this article. But these experiences came to be the striking peculiarities that preserves their work in the hearts of readers of every generation.

See for yourselves.

5. Stephenie Meyer (1973- )

Four years after her birth, Meyer’s family relocated to Phoenix, Arizona and she thinks herself a native since she moved there at such a young age.

Meyer felt out of place among the otherwise wealthy population of Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, where she received her secondary education. She also married her childhood sweetheart. (Well, not really. They barely if ever, exchanged words as kids though, they attended the same church and social activities.)

Most of the students at school rode Porsches but Meyer never had a ride until she was in her twenties. Bella Swan of the Twilight series readily comes to mind when we think of a fictional character who’s had a similar experience. Almost everything about Meyer’s childhood fits perfectly into Bella’s profile.

6. Ian Fleming (1908-1964)

Ian Fleming worked in the British naval intelligence during World War II and was involved in the planning of high profile intelligence operations.

Fleming proved himself resourceful during the war. He plotted and carried out dangerous missions often involving rescue operations.

Fleming’s traits including golf handicap, his taste for scrambled eggs, his love of gambling, and brand of toiletries became Bond’s as soon as the character was created.

Fleming admitted that Bond “was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war.” – Wikipedia.

7. Maya Angelou (1928- )

Some will argue that her life story which Angelou has published in six volumes should be termed autobiographical fiction and not autobiography. Whichever side of the wall you pick, we can still appreciate the fact she has taken pains to gather her life story into books which are no doubt, works of great literary worth.

Before becoming a writer, Maya Angelou had tried her hands on several other items including dancing in nightclubs. She eventually, produced a Calypso album, which she titled Miss Calypso.

Maya sometimes slept in the same bed as her mother and her mother's lover, Mr. Freeman, who eventually, raped her. They found him kicked to death three days later after the court failed to sentence him. For five years, Maya was a mute because she believed her telling on Mr. Freeman had killed him. Her muteness was cured when recited one of her poems to a family friend and since then, she’d discovered the power of poetry.

8. Bram Stoker (1847-1912)

Stoker was bed-ridden until he was seven. His mother was a writer and told him tales of the macabre while he lay sick and worn in bed and this probably influenced his choice of genre in later years.

He was dedicated to Henry Irving who he worked for as personal assistant while also managing the Lyceum Theater.

Henry Irving was a real-life inspiration for the character of Dracula, tailor-made to his dramatic presence, gentlemanly mannerisms and affinity for playing villain roles. – Wikipedia

Stoker may also have used the battle for his wife, former Florence Balcombe, whom he fought over with Oscar Wilde, in a scene where some men battle for the hand of the female character, Lucy Westenra who receives three marriage proposals in one day. And also, his son Irving Noel Thornley Stoker, who is named after three different personalities, in the naming of the son of the character Jonathan Harker, whose son is named after the men (about four in all) who helped him to destroy Dracula and rescue his wife from the villain’s spell.

9. Tananarive Due (1966- )

Tananarive Due is one of a handful of black science fiction and fantasy writers. Due at one time worked as a journalist and columnist for the Miami Herald. She had at some point in time been in a relationship with a guy who she said, “turned out to be different.” She believed this man was out to deceive her.

A few years after the relationship between Due and this strange fellow ended, she reworked her personal experience and created a character she called her ‘perfect guy’ by re-inventing her former boyfriend.

The novel conceived by this idea is called My Soul to Keep. And the plot revolves around the life of a young newspaper reporter who is still in her twenties. The woman later discovers her husband is a 500-year old immortal from a culture of immortals.

10. J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Tolkien grew up around the Sarehole Mill and Moseley Bog in England and loved exploring these places. As a child, Tolkien was bitten by a large baboon spider in the garden, an event which later had echoes in his stories. His adventurous mind led him to his Aunt Jane’s farm of Bag End. The name occurs in his fiction. Frodo Baggins, Samwise "Sam" Gamgee, Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck and Peregrin “Pippin”–the characters from his books may have been the fictionalized Tolkien and three of his childhood friends, Rob Gilson, Geoffrey Smith and Christopher Wiseman, with whom he formed a semi-secret society which they called the “T.C.B.S.” (Tea Club and Barrovian Society).

In a 1968 letter, Tolkien details his trip to Switzerland on a summer holiday. A trip, which called to mind Bilbo's journey across the Misty Mountains in his The Lord of The Rings book. A scene from the book, which includes “the glissade down the slithering stones into the pine woods”, is directly based on his adventures as their party of 12 hiked from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen. – Wikipedia.

After his mother’s demise at age 34, Tolkien lived in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham in the shadow of the Victorian tower of Edgbaston Waterworks which is believed to have influenced the images of the Dark Towers within his works.

These are writers who have endeared themselves to our hearts by creating masterpieces from their personal experiences in life. Writers who we, no doubt perceive as geniuses. No wonder they say it’s the ordinary things of life that are the real miracles.

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan

10 Writers Whose Fiction Reflect Their Life Stories I

Many writers have had dreadful and I mean dreadful experiences. As a result, their books have become fictionalized versions of their life stories. Some of them have built their life around these terrible ordeals and triumphed in channeling their passion into their works. Others have not been very lucky and eventually, they choked on the dirt of their indecision.

Ten great writers are cited here followed by a brief bio of their travail and/or triumphs. You get to decide which ones pulled through and which ones blew it.

1. H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)

creativebuzz.com

Lovecraft’s nearly five decades of suffering spawned his weird but genius writing. As a matter of fact, his life story is stranger than fiction! His dad was acutely psychotic and passed away in an asylum. Later on, his mom hit by hysteria was also confined to the same mental home.

Lovecraft suffered from night terrors–a rare parasomnia disorder. His poem, Night Gaunt was spawned off his fear of what H.P called night gaunt. Prior to his high school graduation, Lovecraft experienced a nervous breakdown. He married and moved to Red Hook in New York only to be separated from his wife when he couldn’t land a job. These are some of the unusual experiences, which fed one of the weirdest minds of the 2oth century. Lovecraft was one of the first writers to combine horror and science fiction.

2. Stephen King (1947- )

blog.sevenponds.com

King considered the Master of Modern Horror, had a disturbed childhood. When King was just two, his father abandoned his family leaving his mother to take care of two kids without any stable source of income.

As a child, King witnessed his friend struck and killed by a train. The ordeal left him speechless with shock, for days. It is believed this event, among others, triggered his interest in horror. King once recalled being drawn to the horror genre after reading books by H.P. Lovecraft his dad left behind. A onetime drug addict, King’s life story recurs again and again throughout his fiction.

You undoubtedly have your own thoughts, interests, and concerns, and they have arisen, as mine have, from your experiences and adventures as a human being… and you should use them in your work.

Stephen King, On Writing.

3. Danielle Steel (1947- )

keloise2630.blogspot.com

Steel has her romance stories cut out for her often involving rich families facing a crisis, threatened by dark elements such as jail, fraud, blackmail and suicide.

Steel married a banker divorced him and married a man jailed on robbery and rape charges, in the prison canteen. She divorced him in 1978 but the relationship spawned Passion's Promise and Now and Forever, the two novels that launched her successful career (which incidentally has garnered about 800 million copies in sales making her the bestselling author alive). Next, she married a former drug addict… Do you see a connection between the general storyline in Steel’s books written above and her life story?

Steel’s mother was the daughter of a diplomat and this gave her access to study the life of the wealthy and famous (stuff which make up the main ingredients of her prose).

Her parents divorced when she was eight and this could have stimulated her hunger for affection, which she tried to satiate by writing romance novels.

4. Terry McMillan (1951- )

ourdailyblast.com

McMillan, the author of the book-to-movie, Waiting to Exhale, which featured Whitney Houston in a leading role, has quite the profile for a writer with books based on her life story.

In 1998, Terry McMillan hooked up with a Jamaican named Jonathan Plummer who was soon to set McMillan’s heart plummeting to the pits.

McMillan was in her late 40s and Plummer in his early 20s (see where this is headed, yet?). In December, 2004 Plummer told McMillan he was gay and the relationship ended. McMillan’s book How Stella Got Her Groove Back which, has a similar storyline and was adapted into a movie featuring Whoopi Goldberg, was inspired by this episode from her life story.

Four down, six to go. Catcha next time around.

Bleed your pen.

Akpan

The Top 10 Best-selling Fiction of All Time

Photo credit: residentialmarketingblog.com

Have you ever wondered which one of your favorite novels (fiction books, in this case) has the highest number of sales ever? Just in case you ever wondered, here are the books with messages which have resonated throughout history and have delighted wo/men’s hearts with their treasured secrets. Here are the 10 best selling fiction in any language of the world. This list omits some books like The Three Musketeers, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and any of the books considered to have attained bestseller status but have unreliable sales figures.

In some cases, there are ties. I have placed books with similar sales figures in the same position so other bestsellers (which include childhood favorites like Heidi which has sold over 50 million copies to date, and Peter Rabbit, over 45 million) deserving mention may be a part of the countdown.

Number 1.

Number one is a tie.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Publication date: 1859 and

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Pub. Date: 1943, have sold over 200 million copies each to date.

Number 2.

You probably know The Lord of the Rings as a fantasy trilogy (that is, three separate books) but since J.R.R. Tolkien originally published them as one fantasy book; they are regarded as one volume for the sake of this countdown. The book has sold over 150 million copies since its publication in 1954-55.

Number 3.

Selling a little over 100 million copies these three books tie at number 3:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Pub. Date: 1937;

Hong lou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber) by Cao Xequin. Pub. Date: 1751/1791 and;

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie Pub. Date: 1939.

Number 4

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis Published in 1950 has sold over 85 million copies.

Number 5

At number 5 and with 83 million copies sold worldwide is H. Rider Haggard’s She. This masterpiece published in 1887 has come to be regarded as one of the bestselling books of all time.

Number 6

The Da Vinci Code, some really controversial novel written by Dan Brown in 2003 holds forth at number 6 going over 80 million in sales.

Number 7

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951) ties with

O Alquimista (The Alchemist) by Paulo Coelho (1988) with over 65 million copies each sold.

Number 8

The following have gone over 50 million each in sales:

Heidi by Johanna Spyri (1880);

Anna of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (1908);

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955);

Il Nome della Rosa (The Name of the Rose) by Umberto Eco (1980);

The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins (1975);

Watership Down by Richard Adams (1972)

Number 9

Two children favorites draw a tie with an adult fiction at number 9. With over 45 million copies each sold, together these three rank as one of the bestsellers in history:

The Gingerman by J.P Donleavy. Pub. Date: 1955

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. Pub. Date: 1902

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams. Pub. Date: 1952

Number 10

The literary phenomenon, J.K. Rowling, creator of the Harry Potter series brings up the rear on this list of worldwide bestselling books.

Presently, at a little over 44 million copies sold, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling stands at number 10 of the all time fiction bestsellers.

Bonus:

It would probably be a thrill for Nigerians and Africans all around the world to know that the Nigerian sweetheart, Dr. Chinua Achebe wrote one of the bestselling books of all time.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe has sold over 11 million copies and has been translated into over 45 languages of the world and that makes it the bestselling book written by an African residing in Africa!

If you were in any way, touched by the outcome of this list, you can get the rest of the bestselling books of all time on Wikipedia. That’s where I borrowed this wonderful info from. Of course, you don’t think I sell books, do you?

And while you’re at it, remember to donate a little something ($5 isn’t small) to keep Wikipedia running.

Read with passion!

Akpan