This author never fails to make it to the bestseller lists – a feat made more astonishing by the fact that it’s been 30 years since he first captivated readers with "Carrie," about a high school student who exacts vengeance on her tormentors with her telekinetic powers.

This terribly imaginative storyteller has consistently delivered, churning out one good yarn after another, whether it’s a nail-biting tale about a killer dog ("Cujo"), a novella about four boys going off on a search for a dead body (which inspired the movie "Stand By Me") or a no-frills narrative about a little girl getting lost in the woods ("The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon").

King’s prolific output justifies his decision to come up with a book called "On Writing" (A Memoir on the Craft).

Critics may scoff and sniff (What right does he have to make a book on writing?), but when you come to think of it, who would be a better resource person for this topic than someone whose books have captivated readers for three decades?

It’s not just King fans who have enjoyed this title since it first came out in 2000 (expectedly turning it into another bestseller), however, but undoubtedly legions of aspiring writers, too. "On Writing" may be a short read, but it’s packed with the kind of information that those dreaming of becoming full-time authors will gladly lap up. They get an enormous helping of tips on what it takes to write from someone who himself started from scratch, making this memoir at once compelling and inspirational.

The first part of the book, dubbed "C.V.", tackles King’s growing-up years and how his love for telling stories was developed even as a young boy. At first, he merely copied the drawings and dialogues from a comic book, but was encouraged by his mother to write his own stories.

"I remember an immense feeling of possibility at the idea, as if I had been ushered into a vast building filled with closed doors and had been given leave to open any I liked," King recounts.

With that initial motivation, the budding writer thus produced four stories that he himself made up, about a large white bunny named Mr. Rabbit Trick, and for which he was promptly rewarded by his beaming mother who paid him a quarter a piece. It was, as King recalls, the first buck he made in the business.

King’s recollections chart his growth in writing, as he wrote articles for his brother’s home-made weekly newspaper called "Dave’s Rag", served as editor of his school paper, and turned contributor to dozens of mystery magazines from whom he mostly received rejection slips. It is a testament to his passion as storyteller that King never got dejected, as he plodded on and wrote still more tales on the trusty typewriter that his mother had given him.

We also get an inkling as to where his stories spring from. King says ideas are out there all the time, but the trick is in recognizing them when they come and the possibility that they could be turned into a story.

For instance, the idea for "Carrie," which would become King’s breakthrough book, resulted from a janitorial duty inside a girl’s shower room in high school, and a science story in a news magazine. Something clicked in his mind and the unlikely story about adolescent cruelty and telekinesis was born.

"Carrie" almost didn’t come to be, however. Feeling that he wasn’t going anywhere with the story, King had chucked his manuscript into the waste basket. But wife Tabitha rescued the crumpled pages and encouraged him to continue working on it.

Years later, the paperback rights to that novel would net $400,000 four — half of which went to King. He was on his way up.

Adding poignancy to the sudden turn of events was that the Kings were hard up at that point, raising two kids with a teacher’s modest salary (King) and his wife’s even more meager pay working at a Dunkin Donuts store.

King’s candid narration about his years of struggle, which included a battle with alcohol and drug addiction, makes him an all too-human and approachable guru.

This same openness is apparent in the section dubbed "On Writing," the meat of King’s book wherein he discusses anything and everything that a determined writer should bear in mind (from the three essentials in a novel: narration, description and dialogue; to selling a story and getting an agent). The author is generous with his advice and dispenses it alongside anecdotes about his own experiences penning his various books and a number of writing exercises for those willing to take the challenge.

Read and write a lot, King encourages young writers. Have discipline. Punch out at least 2,000 words a day — or a more comfortable output in the beginning, as long as you religiously stick to it.

For King, writing is about the buzz that he gets from telling a good story. He insists, "Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well,and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy."

With such hopeful words, who knows, "On Writing" may just help make you a bestselling author too?