Stephen King Net Worth

American author Stephen King is known for his huge success as a writer of supernatural fiction, science fiction, and fantasy novels. He has written over sixty novels, six non-fiction works of biography, and writing advice. While the stories may be fantasy, the income is very real. With more than 350 million copies in print, Stephen King’s net worth makes him one of the richest authors in the world.

Who is Stephen King?

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine, on September 21, 1947. His father was Donald Edwin King. His mother was Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. King attended Durham Elementary School and graduated from Lisbon Falls High School. King attended the University of Maine and wrote for the school newspaper. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1970. King met his wife, Tabitha Spruce, while in college. They married in 1971.

King had a teaching certificate but did not find a job as a teacher right away. Instead, he worked as a laborer and rounded out his income by selling short stories to literary and men’s magazines. Startling Mystery Stories was the first to publish King when it ran his story, “The Glass Floor,” in 1967. He subsequently obtained a job as an English teacher at the Hampden Academy.

Stephen and Tabitha King have three children. Joseph King writes under the pseudonym Joe Hill and has published a collection of short stories. Owen King is also a published author and collaborated with his father on the novel Sleeping Beauties. Naomi King is a Unitarian minister.

What novels has Stephen King published?

King published his first novel, Carrie, in 1973. The publisher, Doubleday, paid King an advance of $2,500. A month later, New American Library bought the paperback publication rights for $400,000, which King split equally with his publisher. King initially thought the work to be no good and threw the first three pages in the trash. His wife rescued them and promised to help him finish the story.

In 1975, King published the novel Salem’s Lot. In 1982, he published a collection of four novellas under the title of Different Seasons. Three of the four stories were subsequently made into successful films. The Shawshank Redemption was brought to the screen by Steven Spielberg in 1994. Stand By Me, and Apt Pupil also appeared in the collection.

In the late 1970s’, King began the Dark Tower series, about a gunman who pursues the Man in Black across a fantasy version of the Wild West. The book began as a serial story in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and has been continued periodically for forty years.

King released several novels under the pen name Richard Bachman. King wished to test whether he could replicate and succeed as an author. He also defended his action by pointing out that the publishing industry of the 1970s and 1980s expected no more than one book a year from an author.

King was an early adopter of e-books. He published a serial story, The Plant, online beginning in 2000. The same year, he also released a digital novella, Riding the Bullet.

King continues to be an active writer. In 2018, he published The Outsider, a novel. In 2019, he published The Institute, and in 2020, he released another collection of novellas, If It Bleeds.

King’s 2008 non-fictional biography and book of advice, On Writing, lays out several principles for aspiring authors. He once said that he considers any writer talented if “someone sent [the author] a cheque, [the author] cashed the cheque, and it didn’t bounce,” and it was sufficient “to pay the light bill with the money.”

What other activities does Stephen King participate in?

Together with several other authors, including Ridley Pearson, Amy Tan, and the humorist Dave Barry, Stephen King plays guitar in a rock band, the Rock Bottom Remainders. He has also appeared on albums with the band Blue Oyster Cult and worked with Michael Jackson on a video for The Ghost. In 2012, King and the musician John Mellencamp wrote a musical, Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.

King is active in state and national Democratic politics. In 2020, he initially supported Elizabeth Warren for President, then endorsed Joe Biden after Warren ended her campaign.  He has also testified before Congress on matters of concern to authors and publishers. He is expected to appear before a Congressional committee in August 2022, investigating the merger of Simon and Schuster and Penguin Random House.

What charitable work does Stephen King do?

Stephen and Tabitha King donate about $4 million annually to Maine charities. The couple emphasizes gifts to libraries and to local fire departments, giving life-saving equipment. The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation gives $2.8 million in grants annually. In February 2021, the Kings and their foundation donated $6,500 to help the children of the Farwell Elementary School in Lewiston, Maine, publish two novels they had written as a class project that was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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