<P> Sword Art Online is a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara with accompanying illustrations drawn by abec . The series takes place in the near - future and focuses on various virtual reality MMORPG worlds . Originally self - published online under the pseudonym Fumio Kunori , ASCII Media Works began publishing the novels on April 10 , 2009 under their Dengeki Bunko imprint . The series has since grown to 18 volumes as of August 10 , 2016 and the 20th volume was released on September 8 , 2017 . Yen Press began publishing the novels in English in North America and United Kingdom with the first volume on April 22 , 2014 . The novels are also published in China , Taiwan , South Korea , Thailand , France , and Poland . With more than 16 million copies in print worldwide , there are future plans for publications in Germany , Italy , Austria , Switzerland , Vietnam and others . </P>
<P> Sword Art Online is a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara with accompanying illustrations drawn by abec . The series takes place in the near - future and focuses on various virtual reality MMORPG worlds . Originally self - published online under the pseudonym Fumio Kunori , ASCII Media Works began publishing the novels on April 10 , 2009 under their Dengeki Bunko imprint . The series has since grown to 18 volumes as of August 10 , 2016 and the 20th volume was released on September 8 , 2017 . Yen Press began publishing the novels in English in North America and United Kingdom with the first volume on April 22 , 2014 . The novels are also published in China , Taiwan , South Korea , Thailand , France , and Poland . With more than 16 million copies in print worldwide , there are future plans for publications in Germany , Italy , Austria , Switzerland , Vietnam and others . </P>
how many volumes of sword art online are there
how many volumes of sword art online are there
20th volume
20th volume