Quick - name the American author who's sold the most books.
Not Stephen King. Nope, not Jackie Collins. King is No. 8 on the Top 10; Collins isn't even on the list.
Shawn RyanThe No. 1 best-selling American author of all time? Harold Robbins, king of trashy fun. Robbins, who died in 1997, wrote 35 books, with 12 more published after his death, cobbled together from notes he'd made before dying.
If you were born after 1970, his name likely doesn't ring a bell. He wrote fast-moving, sex-filled, melodramatic books that were high on tacky, low on taste. Several became equally lowbrow movies or miniseries - "The Carpetbaggers," "The Betsy" and "The Lonely Lady," to name a few. His books sold more than 750 million copies.
Robbins is hardly the only less-than-literary author in the Top 10 of American novelists. The entire list is pretty much beach-reading.
From No. 10 down to No. 1, according to Listosaur.com, they are: Louis L'Amour, Sidney Sheldon, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, R.L. Stine, Horatio Alger Jr., Gilbert Patten, Dr. Seuss, Danielle Steel and Harold Robbins.
Alger and Patten wrote from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, so they're virtually unknown to most. But they, too, were all about pulp. Alger's books usually focused on oh-so-poor boys who eventually made something of themselves. Patten's most famous books were about Frank Merriwell, a handsome athlete who could do just about anything
Some will argue, but I think King rises above the others in terms of writing quality. Yes, he's horror, which some automatically list as pulp, and they have something of a point. And even though his net worth is estimated at about $400 million, King understands the day-to-day of life, the grinding down of everyman.
And some of his work is stunningly good. The novella "The Body," which was made into the movie "Stand By Me," expertly explores adolescence. "The Shining," beyond its terror, captures the self-loathing of an alcoholic father who feels like he's failed everything in life.
Certainly, King has written some junk that's an insult to the trees that died for the paper. "From a Buick 8" is a waste of nouns, verbs and adjectives. "Pet Sematary" is all build-up to a quick, unsatisfying payoff.
King has a self-deprecating take on writing, though. In his essay "Everything You Need To Know About Writing Successfully - in Ten Minutes," he says: "If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented."
Contact Shawn Ryan at mshawnryan@gmail.com.