After leaving Harvard, Erickson began working as a cowboy and ranch manager on various ranches in Texas and Oklahoma. He began publishing short stories in 1967, while still working as a cowboy and ranch manager. Erickson soon found himself receiving letters addressed to Hank, and so, the next year, in 1983, he published the first full-length book in the series,
The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog. His 2,000-book first printing ran out in six weeks. With the book's success, he shortly afterward recorded the book, word-for-word, on audio tape. Hank the Cowdog has since become the longest-running successful children's series on audio. Hank and Drover, characters in his books, are both dogs he'd worked with at the ranch. In the books, Hank is "Head of Ranch Security" of an unnamed ranch in
Ochiltree County. That book has since spawned over eighty sequels, becoming one of the most popular children's fiction series, selling more than 7.5 million books and winning several awards. The full series of books and tapes are usually available in most school libraries around the United States. His books are endorsed by the
Texas Library Association and have, for two years, been
serialized in
The Dallas Morning News. His "Hank the Cowdog" series has been translated into
Persian,
Spanish,
Danish, and
Chinese, and have sold over 8.5 million copies. Erickson has written over seventy books, and is frequently invited to perform, reading book selections and singing songs, in classrooms and school libraries. ==Personal life==