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Besides Ayn Rand, who are other authors who continue to be extremely popular after their death?

Asked by josie (30934points) May 14th, 2013

Thirty years after her death, Ayn Rand is still selling a lot of books. Ayn Rand sold 1,000,000 copies of all of her titles in 2012.

Atlas Shrugged sold 359,105 copies in 2012, its third highest total of all time, behind 2009 (#1) and 2011 (#2).

Atlas Shrugged was a bestseller in Rand’s day, but it’s selling more than ever in the 2010s. Annual purchases of Atlas Shrugged by decade averaged:

1980s — 74,300 per year
1990s — 95,300 per year
2000s — 167,028 per year
2010s — 303,523 per year
To date Rand’s books have sold a total of 29,500,000 copies.

I know lots of people do not like Ayn Rand or her books. The question is not about that.

And certainly nobody reads Ayn Rand for her melifluous prose. Ayn Rand’s writing style is to reading as beef jerky is to chewing. The question is not about that either.

I am simply curious, as a point of comparison…Besides Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, who are other authors who continue to draw a crowd in the millions long after their death.

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