Note: The following has been first published in the Sept. 2013 edition of the Publishing Poynters newsletter, which in turn credited TheBooksage as the source.
Forbes has come out with the top-earning authors of 2013. The most significant change at the top is that James Patterson has been knocked down to #2 from his usual perch at #1.
Here are the top 16 and the amount of money they earned:
1. E.L. James (50 Shades trilogy) – $95M
2. James Patterson – $91M
3. Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games trilogy) – $55M
4. Bill O’Reilly – $28M
5. Danielle Steel – $26M
6. Jeff Kinney (of Wimpy Kid fame) – $24M
7. Janet Evanovich – $24M
8. Nora Roberts – $23M
9. Dan Brown – $22M
10. Stephen King – $20M
11. Dean Koontz – $20M
12. John Grisham (stopped reading his novels after he messed up the ending in The
Firm back in 1991)
13. David Baldacci – $15M
14. Rick Riordan (author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians series) – $14M
15. J.K. Rowling – $13M
16. George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones) – $12M