There was a tweet making the rounds earlier this week asking what author people own the most books by, and of course I couldn’t just straight up answer the question and move on. I wanted to get technical and talk about all of the authors I own a lot of books by! So I figured I’d turn this into its own blog post.

JK Rowling

So this is where things get technical! I own the seven Harry Potter books plus Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, which makes for nine individual books. But I own 28 assorted copies of those nine books. I’ve talked about owning multiple versions of the same book in a previous blog post, but to recap, I have the original American hardcovers, the paperbacks with Hogwarts on the spines, the new British paperbacks with the rainbow spines, and the illustrated editions.

Of course, I can’t talk about JK Rowling without expressing how disappointing and abhorrent I find her anti-trans views. Grappling with where the books fit in my life and how to continue loving them when she has such views is something I’m still struggling to figure out, but for now, I’m at least planning to donate to a trans organization if I do spend money on anything Harry Potter-related.

Lisa Kleypas

I knew Lisa Kleypas would be high on this list, but I didn’t realize it would total 19! I’ve been collecting her books since high school and have all of the Wallflowers and Hathaways books, plus all of the books in her new Ravenels series, not to mention assorted other books from her. She holds a significant amount of shelf space in my life, and has for years.

Nalini Singh

Nalini Singh is a super new addition to my shelves! I hadn’t read any of her books until a couple of years ago, but once I started the Psy/Changeling series, it was impossible for me to put it down! I own all 15 books in the original Psy/Changeling series (which I reviewed here), plus the first three of the new Psy/Changeling Trinity series. I’ll definitely be adding Alpha Night to my shelves once it’s out in paperback!

I haven’t owned ebooks for any of the authors I’ve mentioned so far, but I do for Nalini Singh! Just another way to get really technical about this question. So I have to add her Hard Play books and a few from the Rock Kiss series, so that’s another four, I think? Plus I own a few Psy/Changeling digitally, which brings me up to a total of seven ebooks, I believe (I have a hard time counting them because I’ve read a lot digitally from the library, and they still show up in my kindle library, which is why I’m not 100 percent positive). That’s 25 books!!

Jane Austen

Jane Austen is another author where I don’t own that many individual books from her, but I have a lot of copies! She wrote six full-length novels, but I have 16 physical books by Jane Austen on my shelves. It’s just too hard to resist collecting all of the pretty editions! Plus I have kindle editions of them all, and Rosamund Pike’s audiobook versions of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, which is another eight copies.

Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas is definitely my favorite fantasy author, and I’m so lucky that she’s been so prolific in her short career! I own all 14 of her books that she’s published so far, and will definitely be adding all of her future books to my shelves. Also, these books are absolutely massive hardcovers, so she probably takes up the most physical shelf space after JK Rowling. Easily the most shelf space for individual titles from a single author! I only own digital copies of two of her books, though: A Court of Mist and Fury because I love it so much, and Kingdom of Ash because I was going on vacation when it came out and decided to shell out for the ebook so I didn’t have to lug my hardcover across Italy.

Sarah MacLean

Another longtime favorite, I’ve been reading Sarah MacLean since I was in high school and discovered her YA historical, The Season. I now own all 14 of her books! And I think all of them are signed, too, since she so frequently does book signings with Word Bookstore in Brooklyn!

Maria V. Snyder

I was a big fan of Maria V. Snyder’s fantasy books when I was in college! I had to have the original Study trilogy, though I passed on adding the Glass trilogy to my shelves. But when the second Study trilogy built off of the Glass trilogy, I added all six to my collection, as well as her Healer trilogy, which I really enjoyed. So that’s a total of 12 books! I actually haven’t added anything recent of hers — she’s kind of fallen off my radar, but I should really circle back and see what she’s been up to lately.

Julia Quinn

Julia Quinn is yet another longtime favorite author! I of course have the original eight Bridgerton books, plus the four new Rokesby/Bridgerton prequel books for a total of 12! There might be a few others of hers floating around my shelves, I’m not entirely sure.

Tessa Dare

Tessa Dare is possibly my favorite historical romance author these days, and I have 11 of her books on my shelves! I also have one of the Spindle Cove books on backorder, plus I recently bought one of the Spindle Cove novellas, so once those get here I’ll be up to 13. And I own a digital copy of The Wallflower Wager, which I picked up when it was on sale because I loved it so much.

Alyssa Cole

I love all of these authors, but Alyssa Cole’s books are really something special! I have six full-length novels of hers on my shelves, plus two novellas. And she has another two books coming out this fall that I definitely plan to be adding to my shelves! I also own the audiobook version of The AI Who Loved Me, as well as digital copies of four novellas, A Duke by Default, and Radio Silence. I really need to finish reading her backlist! I think I just need to read the Off the Grid trilogy, but I might be missing a few novellas, I’m not sure.

Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo is another favorite fantasy author taking up a lot of shelf space! I didn’t pick up Ninth House because I’m not sure it’s really my thing, but I own all of her Grishaverse books plus Wonder Woman, which I loved! All told, I have eight books from Bardugo on my shelves.

Ilona Andrews

So I technically have seven on my shelves at the time I’m writing this, but Emerald Blaze is out on Tuesday and I preordered it ages ago, so I’m going to count it! In addition to the five Hidden Legacy books and the novella, I also own physical copies of two of the Kate Daniels books (I picked up my favorites, books four and ten). That’s a total of eight books taking up space on my shelves, but it’s far from all of my Ilona Andrews collection! I enjoyed the Kate Daniels series enough that I’ve been slowly snagging the ebook versions as they go on sale, plus I bought a bindup of the Innkeeper series when it was on sale a few months ago, and I own Sapphire Flames (and soon Emerald Blaze) digitally, which adds up to 10 ebooks. And I’m sure this number will only grow as I complete my Kate Daniels collection!

Bonus

So this covers all of the authors I have on my shelves here in NYC, but I have a lot of books yet at my parents’ house, and I know some of those belong on this list. In fact, I suspect Johanna Lindsey might be able to surpass them all! If I don’t own all of her historicals and scifi books, I certainly own most of them, and she was a very prolific author! Jude Deveraux also belongs on this list, as I suspect she has an entire box to herself in my parents’ closet! Again, I’ve hung on to all of her historicals through the years, and I doubt I will ever part with them.

I also know I own a significant number of Mary Balogh books, not to mention a ton of Meg Cabot books written in different genres under different pen names. She could be a top contender for this list, too! And did anyone else read the Sweep series by Cate Tiernan back in the early 2000s? Because there are 15 books in that series, and I’ve hung on to them all!

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I had a lot of fun going through my books and figuring out what authors I own the most books from. I really should have made some predictions before actually figuring it out, because I’m not sure how accurate I would have been! I think it’s safe to say that these are or have been some of my favorite authors, and it makes me happy to have their books filling up my shelves.

What authors do you own the most books by? Let me know in the comments!