James Patterson, Danielle Steel Top Forbes' List of Top Earning Authors

Posted on August 18, 2011

Forbes has compiled a list of the Highest Paid Authors. Forbes used sales data from books and film deals from June 1 2010 to June 1, 2011 to compile its list. The prolific James Patterson topped the list. He published numerous books during the time period and had bestsellers in both adult and children's fiction. Patterson was followed by Danielle Steel and Stephen King.

Here is a list of the top ten earning authors:

1. James Patterson - $84 million
2. Danielle Steel - $35 million
3. Stephen King - $28 million
4. Janet Evanovich - $22 million
5. Stephenie Meyer - $21 million
6. Rick Riordan - $21 million
7. Dean Koontz- $19 million
8. John Grisham - $18 million
9. Jeff Kinney - $17 million
10. Nicholas Sparks - $16 million

You can see the complete list here.

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