There have been many writers who have published hundreds or even thousands of works during their careers. However, there’s only one that holds the title of the most prolific author.
That is Ryoki Inoue. He published nearly 1,000 novels in just six years which earned him the title. After that, he continued to write and publish novels and has 1,075 novels to date.
Whether you want to write or do something different, there’s certainly something we all can learn about productivity from Ryoki Inoue. Keep reading to learn more about his secret to maintaining such a high level of production.
Personal History
José Carlos Ryoki de Alpoim Inoue was born in Brazil in 1946 to Portuguese and Japanese parents. He later shortened his name to Ryoki Inoue. There is little known about his growing up years, we do know that he pursued a degree in medicine at Brazilian University, USP.
After working as a thoracic surgeon for several years, he decided to give up the medical field in 1986 to try his hand at writing. From 1986 to 1992, he published 999 pulp fiction novels under his own name and 39 different pseudonyms.
The books he wrote were often referred to as pocket books. The subjects he wrote on included romance, wars and espionage, science fiction, and far-west. In most cases, there were around 10,000 copies made of this style of book and Inoue’s quickly sold out every time.
In 1992, Inoue confronted his publisher about the appearance of pocket books and wanted them to be created in such a way that they could compete in an international market. However, the publisher had no desire to make these changes.
This pushed Inoue to reconsider his own career, and he abandoned the high production of these pulp fiction novels he was used to writing. He spent some time ghostwriting books for other people and now writes one to two well-crafted novels every year.
Accomplishments
Let’s dig a little deeper into some of Inoue’s biggest accomplishments throughout his career as a writer.
Quantity
Obviously his biggest accomplishment was the sheer quantity of novels that Inoue was able to produce in such a short period of time. He was able to write more books in six years than most authors write in their lifetime.
It was in large part because of how quickly he was able to produce completed novels that forced him to use so many pseudonyms when his works were being regularly published.
His numerous pseudonyms also allowed him to write in such a wide variety of genres. Often, readers will associate a certain style to an author and end up disappointed if they pick up a book by that author that’s in a completely different genre.
Quality
Writing large amounts of words is not necessarily a huge accomplishment. After all, anyone can tap away at a keyboard until a story is formed. That’s what helps set Inoue apart from others is that his novels contained high-quality writing that people wanted to read.
Alexandre Garcia of Rede Globo TV said this about Inoue’s works: “The story of this book makes you lose your breath. It is difficult to interrupt the reading because the narration gains the life of a movie, [like] a good American film with all the ingredients to become a box hit.”
Market Dominance
As a result of both the quality and quantity of work produced by Inoue, he ended up dominating the pocket book industry in Brazil no long after he started his career as a writer. In fact, it was estimated that his books made up 95% of the market.
When you consider how many other authors were competing in that market during that time, it’s incredible to think that one man was able to almost completely take it over in just a few years and without a long history of writing.
How Ryoki Inoue Became a Master Producer
By now, you may be wondering how Inoue was able to become a master producer. His secret is so simple it’s not a secret at all.
Inoue reported that his creative process is “98% sweat, 1% talent, and 1% luck.” For those that don’t feel talented or lucky, this is great news since you don’t need exceptional skills to be successful in your industry. All you need to do is be willing to put in the work.
During the height of his career, Inoue was writing three novels every day. People that knew him said it wasn’t uncommon for him to work from six in the morning to two in the morning on the following day.
Discipline and application were the two biggest motivators for Inoue. He forced himself to sit in front of his computer and work until he finished what he had started.
Today, many of us find it increasingly difficult to stay disciplined enough to put in the hours that we need to complete the tasks we set out to do. Often, we allow things like social media and the internet to distract us and we end up wasting hours that could have been productive.
It’s also easy to stop working on something and to tell yourself that you’ll come back to it later. However, we then often forget about it or never actually come back to complete it. Take some inspiration from Inoue and always finish one task before moving onto another one.
Want to Boost Your Productivity Score?
Now you know all about Ryoki Inoue, a master producer that wrote 999 novels in six years. Although he’s slowed down now, his track record is no less impressive. Just think of how much you could accomplish in your field if you put in as much sweat as he did.
If you want to get close to the level Inoue was at, you need to take steps to boost your productivity score. One of the best ways to do that is through our app that is customized for you to help you become more productive every day.
