Forbes Lists the Ten Highest-Paid Authors

Posted on August 22, 2010

Forbes has a story containing details about the top ten highest earning authors. Forbes says James Patterson signed a $100 million deal last year that has him writing 17 books by the end of 2012. Some of the $40 million Stephenie Meyer earned in 2009 came from the Twilight film. J.K. Rowling was near the end of the list of top earning authors because her income has slowed somewhat now that the Harry Potter series is finished.

Here is a list of the top ten highest earning authors.

James Patterson - $70 million
Stephenie Meyer - $40 million
Stephen King - $34 million
Danielle Steel - $32 million
Ken Follett - $20 million
Dean Koontz - $18 million
Janet Evanovich - $16 million
John Grisham - $15 million
Nicholas Sparks - $14 million
J.K. Rowling - $10 million