Word Finder X is not like Dragon Ball Z at all. One is about super-powered fights, and the other is about Scrabble-puzzled writes. Go there to cheat at games like Words with Friends or Wordfeud.
To get our attention in a bit of research marketing, the Word Finder X team has been looking into the the most successful authors in movie history.
They’ve found that if you’re playing the long game and working the average, then write fantasy novels. Whether you’re alive or dead, you’ll make more than others.
It’s disappointing to see terfy Rowling edging out J. R. R. Tolkien but the latter’s estate at least has new movies like The War of the Rohirrim and a new Amazon Prime Rings of Power series to catch up.
If money isn’t a good measure, then what about quality ratings? Here, it helps to be dead.
Walter Tevis and James M. Cain are neck and neck for the top position. Cain, known for his influence on numerous mid-century films, particularly in the film noir genre, earned a significant income from these adaptations. Interestingly, he held a somewhat dim view of movies, considering them “crudely schematic, childishly contrived, simple-minded, superficial and unsophisticated,” as noted by William Preston Robertson.2
On the other hand, if money really does make life easier, then we’re back to Rowling. She tops the list, handsomely beating the excellent Stephen King into fourth place, but perhaps Stephenie Meyer can catch up.
You can see some similar infographics and confirm the methodology over on Word Finder X. You can also pop over to Amazon’s best-selling fantasy list and help people take that top spot.
If you have a way to recommend unknown or lesser-known authors, a bit like a Spotify new music algorithm, then we’d love to hear about it in the comments below, but one starting point could be DTRPG sister site DriveThruFiction.
You're welcome to share observations about this article in the comments.