In January 1998, Kinney conceived the idea of a middle-school weakling named Greg Heffley, who writes illustrated stories about his personal life. In May 2004,
Funbrain and Jeff Kinney released an online version of the story, titled
Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The website made daily entries from September of that year to June 2005. He worked on his book for almost eight years, before showing it to a publisher in New York City, U.S. In February 2006, during the
New York Comic Con, Kinney signed a multi-book deal with publisher
Harry N. Abrams, Inc., to turn
Diary of a Wimpy Kid into a print series. The book became an instant hit, with the online version receiving about 20 million views as of 2007. When many online readers requested a printed version, Kinney agreed, and in April 2007,
Diary of a Wimpy Kid was published. To date, 31
Wimpy Kid books have been released, including a movie diary and a Do-It-Yourself Book, and a biography that Greg's best friend Rowley Jefferson wrote. In April 2009,
TIME named Kinney one of ''The World's Most Influential People
. In 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016 the series won a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award
for Favorite Book
. The series is still ongoing, with the latest mainstream book called Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Partypooper.'' To promote the release of
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer, Kinney embarked on
book tour across the
West Coast of the United States titled "The
No Brainer Show" from October 23 to November 8, 2023. Kinney dedicated the tour to libraries and librarians, making a personal donation of $100,000 for libraries along the tour. Each stop featured a game show hosted by Kinney, where participants could win prizes on behalf of their local library. ==Professional work==