Guinness World Records: L. Ron Hubbard Is the Most Translated Author
By Kimberly Maul
Wednesday, November 9 2005
Wednesday, November 9 2005
Published on AllBusiness.com
Beating out J.K. Rowling, Sidney Sheldon and Anne Frank to become the world's most translated author is no small feat. But L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, has done so, according to Guinness World Records. Hubbard, who passed away in 1986, wrote dozens of books of fiction and nonfiction that have been translated into 65 languages.
The previous record?51 languages?was set by Sheldon in 1997. Unofficial records state that Rowling and the Harry Potter series have been translated into 63 languages, and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl has been translated into 64.
Hubbard holds this record as of October 2005, and Guinness presented the verification certificate to Author Services, Inc., the literary agency in Los Angeles that licenses all of Hubbard's works around the world.
"We keep making L. Ron Hubbard's words available to publishers everywhere so we expect to continue breaking this record," said Hugh Wilhere, spokesperson for Author Services.
Dianetics, Hubbard's 1950 bestseller about science and the mind, offers methods for identifying and alleviating unwanted sensations, emotions, fears and illnesses, and has become the basis for Scientology. According to Nielsen BookScan, Dianetics has sold 52,000 units since BookScan began collecting data in 2001. Battlefield Earth, his 1980 science fiction novel, has sold 29,000 units since 2001 and was made into a movie starring Scientologist John Travolta in 2000.
"L. Ron Hubbard's books are bestsellers in many countries and the demand for them keeps growing as word of mouth continues to spread from reader to reader," said Wilhere.
Some of the languages into which Hubbard's books have been translated include Arabic, Basque, Croatian, Dari-Farsi, Estonian, French, Greek, Hindi, Icelandic, Japanese, Kannada, Latvian, Mongolian, Nepalese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Xhosa and Zulu.
The previous record?51 languages?was set by Sheldon in 1997. Unofficial records state that Rowling and the Harry Potter series have been translated into 63 languages, and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl has been translated into 64.
Hubbard holds this record as of October 2005, and Guinness presented the verification certificate to Author Services, Inc., the literary agency in Los Angeles that licenses all of Hubbard's works around the world.
"We keep making L. Ron Hubbard's words available to publishers everywhere so we expect to continue breaking this record," said Hugh Wilhere, spokesperson for Author Services.
Dianetics, Hubbard's 1950 bestseller about science and the mind, offers methods for identifying and alleviating unwanted sensations, emotions, fears and illnesses, and has become the basis for Scientology. According to Nielsen BookScan, Dianetics has sold 52,000 units since BookScan began collecting data in 2001. Battlefield Earth, his 1980 science fiction novel, has sold 29,000 units since 2001 and was made into a movie starring Scientologist John Travolta in 2000.
"L. Ron Hubbard's books are bestsellers in many countries and the demand for them keeps growing as word of mouth continues to spread from reader to reader," said Wilhere.
Some of the languages into which Hubbard's books have been translated include Arabic, Basque, Croatian, Dari-Farsi, Estonian, French, Greek, Hindi, Icelandic, Japanese, Kannada, Latvian, Mongolian, Nepalese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Xhosa and Zulu.
