Stephen King Net Worth

How much is Stephen King worth?

About Stephen King

Rightfully hailed as one of the greatest writers of his generation, King is the king of horror and suspense. To date, his books have sold more than 350 million copies making Stephen King a global phenomenon, and a household name alongside other prolific writers such as J. K. Rowling. Many of his books have been turned into TV series and movies, including one of the greatest movies of all time, Shawshank Redemption (1994). But success didn’t come easy for the young Stephen King nor was sustaining it without burden.

His childhood was rough. This is mainly due to his father abandoning his family when Stephen was only two years old. As he likes to say: “He said he was going out to get a pack of cigarettes, I guess he’s still searching for the right pack”.

In his preschool days, his mother was forced to move around the country looking for jobs to support their small family. She was always a loving mother and supportive of the endeavors he and his brothers were involved in but found it hard to make ends meet. The truth is though, young Stephen had it hard and it was only just the beginning. Fortunately, through the good times and the bad, he did finally make it. Forged through hardship King eventually became the diligent successful man we know him as today. For a decade there though, it looked like it could have gone either way.

As he recalls in his wonderful memoir On Writing, it took him more than 10 years to finally sell a story. That first sold story in 1967 was named Glass Floor and King was around 20 when he finally sold it to a magazine. He graduated from college with a degree in English but failed to find steady work. He did work as a high school teacher at times. Yet the majority of his income was actually coming from men’s magazines. He would write and get paid for all kinds of stories in Cavalier and other magazines of similar ilk.

Stephen King was a contributor during the 1970s, and his stories were also featured in Cavalier Yearbook.

During this time he began experimenting with what would become his famous six pages a day rule, or 2000 words a day. That is the first thing he does, every day. It’s the kind of habit that instills in you greatness. These are the kinds of habits that we should aspire to add to our daily rituals, making every day count.

Carrie was his first novel published and the gateway to his fame, but not the first one he had written. In total, he recalls, Carrie was the fourth novel he had written. In his memoir, he recalls the phone call vividly. At first, King thought that something bad had happened when his agent told him to sit down during a phone call he received one dark night. Then came the big surprise, Doubleday wanted to publish his book for $400 thousand dollars. King was in disbelief. After so many years of struggle, financial strain, fear, doubt and dread – finally his day had come.

Writing was such a strong passion for young Stephen growing up that it made him appear almost deranged among his peers. “Writing has always been it for me,” Stephen has said. Fortunately his loving mother would go with him to libraries, send his stories to magazines and do everything in her power to help him develop his skills. Whether she had foresight into the future and saw even before Stephen did what he could become. Or she simply wanted to do her best for him as a mother, where his father had failed. She is credited for her efforts at helping the young Stephen King become, well, Stephen King.

The epistolary horror novel Carrie was King’s greatest tipping point that led to his eventual success. Soon after Carrie was published it was adapted into one of the best horror films ever made, with the great Brian DePalma as director. From then on there was no stopping King who settled into his new found status. He started publishing more and more books, often publishing multiple times per year. His drive and determination was unstoppable. People devoured his books like the monsters in his books devoured people. Some of his best and best-selling books during his early period were Salem’s Lot, It, The Shining, and The Strand.

Many of Stephen’s books were made into films. For example, The Shining was made into a classic horror movie, starring Jack Nicholson as the lead protagonist and with Stanley Kubrick as the director. Of all of his stories and novels that were made into films, Stephen King disliked The Shining the most. He has mentioned that he despised what Kubrick did with the protagonist Jack Torrance. King feels that Kubrick turned him into a heartless shell of a monstrous man, devoid of any redeeming features at all. Stephen saw more depth of character that he feels was lost in the motion picture. Regardless, the film was one of the top 10 highest-grossing films of 1980.

He has also dedicated a lot of his effort into a fantasy series titled The Dark Tower, he created an entire parallel world. A world where gunslinger Roland is trying to track down “The Man in Black”. It was adapted into a movie as well, with Idris Elba in the role of Roland the Gunslinger. The Dark Tower (2017 film) grossed $113.2 million dollars worldwide, from a budget of just $66 million. Stephen King earned an estimated $5 million or more from the film, adding to his net worth.

His gargantuan book “It”, which spans over 1300 pages was made into two commercially and critically acclaimed horror films in 2017 and 2019, grossing $701.8 million and $473.1 million respectively. Making them the highest grossing horror movies of all time. King also saw an uptick in his book sales selling 2.7 million books in the United States alone in 2018, earning an estimated $27 million according to Forbes.

Then in 2019, Stephen King’s earnings came in at $17 million. While book sales weren’t at their highest he collected an eight-figure paycheck from the hit new movie adaptation of his novel, It. The top grossing horror movie of all time.

We should also note the series of films that were done by Frank Darabont, including The Mist ($57 million), The Green Mile ($287 million) and The Shawshank Redemption ($58 million) all majorly added to King’s wealth. The last two being some of the highest rated movies on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, as well.

Stephen King is like an atomic clock, he never misses his writing sessions. He is the example of how a young dedicated person is like a little stream that never stops flowing. That little stream can, over time, become a great river. That is how Stephen King became successful. He wrote, all the time, every single day, his whole life. And eventually that paid off. Carrie a book King published in 1974, and later adapted into two movies in 1976 and 2013, marked just the first of his many big success stories. But, without marrying the proper wife, Tabitha, he may never have realized this success at all. When he threw first drafts of Carrie into the trash, his wife Tabitha recovered them and encouraging him to continue; helped change it into his first bestseller. She was also there for him when he battled with addiction and life was a day to day struggle.

Some may say that Stephen King is successful because he was blessed with talent as a writer, a talent that he further invested in by writing every single day. But more than anything and from what I’ve seen in real life, talent is simply developed skill over years. Many young writers start off not knowing the difference between “your” and “you’re” but through continuous honing of their craft go on to become compelling and prolific writers.

Ever since his school days, his mother had been supportive and encouraged him to write as much as possible. But when it comes to your life, nobody cares for it like you yourself. And regardless of what people may say about drug use or “depression” chances are coming through these experiences made the man that we all love to read today.

His six pages a day rule was perfected after conquering these dark/light days. As were many of his creative twists and turns developed to the best of my knowledge under the influence.

He already knew how to look at an ordinary situation or object, and create a creepy or frightening scenario… where suddenly that object or place will send shivers down your spine. But his struggle with substance abuse seems to have shaped and formed the man and therefore his writing, and likely contributed to his long term success.

At one point, in the 1980s, King was said to be using cocaine, Xanax, Valium, NyQuil, alcohol and tobacco on a regular basis. As King related in his memoir, he then sought help, quit all drugs (including alcohol) in the late 1980s, and has remained sober ever since. The first novel he wrote after becoming sober was, Needful Things.

It’s an interesting trend I do see among men and women of great genius. While I in no shape or form are promoting the use of drugs, and are sympathetic to those who struggle with addiction. I notice that often genius and addiction go hand in hand. And while many great works like Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven were said to be written under the influence, it seems only after these great men and women conquer their battle with addiction do they go on to create their greatest work. Or at least live long and lucid enough to enjoy the success brought on by their magnificent contributions to society and culture.

A final note of praise toward king and surely a key factor in his continued success. Is consistency. Consistency is what will take you there beyond innate skills or talent it is consistency that is king. Consistency is not only what will ensure your continual gradual improvement but also help you overcome adversity. Adversity makes or breaks a person and its antidote is consistency. Consistent noble effort set upon honing your craft.

Summing-Up

Stephen King was an outsider throughout his early life. His family lived in a highly conservative and religious area. After his father left and the family had to move around to find work, people even shunned him. But he managed to twist that fear of the other, of the outsider, into a highly profitable writing career. That poor scared boy, who saw danger in everything that moved, turned into a horror genius and perhaps the most inventive, and certainly the most prolific, horror writer the world has ever seen. As of 2023, Stephen King’s net worth is estimated to be about $400 million dollars. But more importantly he is a man who loves every minute of his working day because he is enthralled in the worlds he himself has created and gets to share in his books with people like you and me.

Thanks to the people in his life, like his wife and fellow author Tabitha, combined with his consistency and work ethic. King has published 63 novels and counting. It is rules like his six page a day rule that has allowed him to get there which was attained on the far side of his adversity (addiction) and used to produce some of the great works of Horror fiction.

For all those creative souls out there, look to Stephen King. Forget about what the naysayers and passes by in your life may say, just look where consistent effort can take you- if you only develop the passion for your craft and simply start writing.

A good writer is a prolific writer.

“I would do it for free if I couldn’t do it for money but I love doing it for money,” Stephen King ladies and gentlemen.