E.L. James Tops Forbes' List of World's Top-Earning Authors

Posted on August 14, 2013

Forbes magazine has released its annual list of the top-earning authors. E.L. James topped the list thanks to her bestselling novel, Fifty Shades of Grey. Forbes says E.L. James made $95 million between June 2012 and June 2013. She debuted on the list in the top position.

The prolific James Patterson came close to matching E.L's monster earnings. He made $91 million during the 12 month period ending June 2013. Patterson was followed by Suzanne Collins, the author of The Hunger Games trilogy. She made $55 million. Bill O'Reilly came in fourth and made $28 million thanks to his Killing Lincon and Killing Kennedy bestsellers. Bestselling novelist Danielle Steel came in fifth and made $26 million.

Here is the top ten list. You can view the complete list of 16 top-earning authors on Forbes.com.

  1. E.L. James - $95 million
  2. James Patterson - $91 million
  3. Suzanne Collins - $55 million
  4. Bill O'Reilly - $28 million
  5. Danielle Steel - $26 million
  6. Jeff Kinney - $24 million
  7. Janet Evanovich - $24 million
  8. Nora Roberts - $23 million
  9. Dan Brown - $22 million
  10. Stephen King - $20 million



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