How Stephen King Got Scary Rich as a Best-Selling Horror Author
There's a reason why Stephen King is called the King of Horror—his books have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide, and he's received multiple awards for his work, including Bram Stoker Awards, World Fantasy Awards, and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. In 2015, King was awarded with a National Medal of Art for his contributions to literature.
The author's work has also been adapted in many of the horror films that you love today, from The Shining and Misery to It and Carrie. King's work has also been seen on the TV screen, including Under the Dome, Castle Rock, and The Outsider.
King sold his first professional short story back in 1967, and his career has showed no signs of slowing down since, leading fans to wonder just how much he has in the bank.
Stephen King's net worth is $500 million.
King has had best-selling books in every decade since the '70s. 1974's Carrie was the fourth novel that King had written, but it was his first to be published. In 1976, the book was turned into the successful horror film of the same name. The rest of the'70s saw King publish Salem's Lot, The Shining, and The Stand.
In 1982 King wrote Different Seasons, a collection of four novellas, and three of those four novellas went on to become successfull films: Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and Apt Pupil. 1986 saw the release of It, and it was the best-selling hard-cover novel in the U.S. that year.
Green Mile was published in 1995, Under The Dome was released in 2009, and 2013 gave us Doctor Sleep.
King gets paid from the royalties and sales of his books, and he reportedly earned a $2,500 advance for Carrie in 1973, which is equal to about $14,525 today. The paperback rights to Carrie later sold for $400,000, which is $2.3 million today.
King is also extremely philanthropic, and he has previously stated that he donates about $4 million a year to libraries, fire departments, and schools. King and his wife Tabitha created The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation in 1986, and the non-profit provides grants to organizations in Maine, where King was born and still lives.
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