Stine launched his first horror book series for young adults, Fear Street, in 1989. Described as "where your worst nightmares lives," the series explored the dark misadventures of students at Shadyside High School. Fear Street grew to include roughly 100 novels, eventually selling more than 80 million copies.

In 1992, Stine started taking younger readers on their own thrill ride with the Goosebumps series. These books, which he produced through his wife Jane's Parachute Press book-packaging company, targeted the tween market. The first title, Welcome to Dead House, was quickly followed by more novels. At one point, Stine was writing one or two books each month. Each title featured the trademark elements of the series: Page-turning plots and daring cliffhangers at the end of each chapter.

Goosebumps soon became a literary phenomenon. The books became bestsellers in the United States and abroad, and were eventually translated into 16 different languages. Goosebumps was turned into a television series as well. The tremendous popularity of the series turned Stine into one of the most successful children's writers of all time, drawing comparisons between Stine and adult horror writer Stephen King.

As the 1990s came to a close, Goosebumps fever began to fade. Stine launched a new series in 2000, Nightmare Room, with each title featuring an online component. In 2004, he mixed humor and horror in Who Let the Ghosts Out?, the first book in the Mostly Ghostly series.

Stine continues to branch out into new directions, writing about common student fears in 2011's It's the First Day of School ... Forever! and exploring the vampire craze in 2010's Bitten.