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Who Are the World's Highest-Paid Authors?
Forbes just released its annual list of the world's highest-paid authors, and together they earned a whopping $269 million over the last 12 months.
Topping the list—no surprises here—is James Patterson, whose fiercely prolific output has made the 69-year-old one of the world's bestselling author with more than 350 million books sold. Between June 2015 and June 2016, the thriller writer published more than a dozen titles and his pre-tax earnings for the year topped $94 million.
In a distant second place is children's author Jeff Kinney, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid creator, who made $19.5 million in the past year.
Coming in third is J.K. Rowling with $19 million. Continued sales of her Harry Potter books, the new play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, as well as Universal's Harry Potter theme parks contributed to her earnings.
The list was compiled using estimated income from sales of books, ebooks, and audiobooks as well as money from television and film adaptations.
Other familiar names on the list are John Grisham, Stephen King, Danielle Steele, and Nora Roberts. The only newcomer this year is Paula Hawkins, whose bestselling The Girl on the Train, and subsequent film deal, earned her $10 million.
Here is the Forbes list in full with some Goodreads suggestions from each author.
James Patterson—$95 million
Jeff Kinney—$19.5 million
J.K. Rowling—$19 million
John Grisham—$18 million
Stephen King—$15 million
Danielle Steele—$15 million
Nora Roberts—$15 million
E.L. James—$14 million
Veronica Roth—$10 million
John Green—$10 million
Paula Hawkins—$10 million
George R.R. Martin—$9.5 million
Dan Brown—$9.5 million
Rick Riordan—$9.5 million
Who's your favorite highest-paid author?
Topping the list—no surprises here—is James Patterson, whose fiercely prolific output has made the 69-year-old one of the world's bestselling author with more than 350 million books sold. Between June 2015 and June 2016, the thriller writer published more than a dozen titles and his pre-tax earnings for the year topped $94 million.
In a distant second place is children's author Jeff Kinney, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid creator, who made $19.5 million in the past year.
Coming in third is J.K. Rowling with $19 million. Continued sales of her Harry Potter books, the new play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, as well as Universal's Harry Potter theme parks contributed to her earnings.
The list was compiled using estimated income from sales of books, ebooks, and audiobooks as well as money from television and film adaptations.
Other familiar names on the list are John Grisham, Stephen King, Danielle Steele, and Nora Roberts. The only newcomer this year is Paula Hawkins, whose bestselling The Girl on the Train, and subsequent film deal, earned her $10 million.
Here is the Forbes list in full with some Goodreads suggestions from each author.
James Patterson—$95 million
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Who's your favorite highest-paid author?
Comments Showing 101-150 of 281 (281 new)
George R.R. Martin, J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Huh, guess I like fantasy. :-)
My book Lawdogs and Boozehounds is better than hawkins Girl on a train
I like J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. I love those books, But my favorite authors from this list are Nora and James.
Surprised Lee Child is not on the list especially after selling Reacher to Tom Cruise.
Di wrote: "I guess if you churn out books by formula and on schedule you get paid more. So many good authors that deserve more pay are missing from this list."
Ditto. Couldn't have put it better.
Ditto. Couldn't have put it better.
Diana Gabaldon is my all time favorite! I'm surprised she is not on this list, since the Outlander series has been so popular on TV.I also like Rowling, Martin, and Riordon.
I find it a little funny and disconcerting that Jeff Kinney is above J.K Rowling... c'mon, what happened to kids reading Harry Potter in elementary school?But yeah my favorites would be King and Rowling.
Damn, The Girl on the Train must've been a hell of a book or something...
Emily wrote: "I don't think some of these poeple commenting actually read the question. The question was: who is your favorite highest-paid author. For those of you who just don't seem to get it, that means, of ..."Well, you're right. Still... there's always room for a quick reflection on how huge earnings find their way in today's society.
Are there fine authors who aren't on this list, of course, but these are the authors who have tickled the imagination of a huge amount of the population and, I say, more power to them. Those who put them down for being multi-million dollar bestsellers give new meaning to the term "sour grapes."
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Rowling and Uncle Rick
As far as I recall I've read nothing of any of them. I don't read books just because they are bestsellers. I usually don't like books which are too thick. But I have seen some film versions. Judging from these I would choose Stephen King from this list here.Based on these works of him:
* The short story "The Body" (published in Different Seasons) from which "Stand by me" was created (featuring my favourite actor River Phoenix RIP)
* Misery (with the amazing Kathy Bates)
* The Stand (with Gary Sinise).
Suzanne Collins , the hunger games , why ??????????she still the best
I'm no fan of Danielle Steel, but I don't really understand why it's so difficult to spell her last name correctly--it's right there on the book covers. You should correct all the misspellings in this blog post, Goodreads.
You make'in bank Ricky! Wow! Percy Jackson Forever! (Plus Apollo, and Jason, and Leo, and Annabeth, and Nico, and all that jazz.)
Veronica Roth is my favorite of the group, with John Green a close second. I'm glad to see they're being richly rewarded for their artistic excellence.
Kat wrote: "JK Rowling!!!! So sad that Jeff Kinney is higher than her!!!!!! :("
No, not sad...they reach entirely different audiences. I am NEVER SAD that someone who WRITES BOOKS is making LOTS OF MONEY. Jeff Kinney has hit a nerve, kids are reading and loving his books (and knockoffs), and that's making kids want to read more. Please--tell me how this is a bad thing??
My favorite on here is J.K. Rowling, by far. I started reading the HP books when HP #3 just came out. I remember reading #2 (checked out from my school's library--I'm a teacher, so I was 25 or 26 at the time), reading the section with the mandrakes, and thinking--this book is SO GOOD. It reminded me of the best books I had read as a child, and kept me completely mesmerized as an adult. And though I love the series as a whole, my heart is with books 1-3--which are children's/ middle grade books, and remind me so poignantly of books I loved when I was 11.
Let's remember: just because they are popular and made a lot of money, that doesn't make them good writers. I've read books by most of those authors and disliked their books. Of those authors, Stephen King is a favorite I've loved in the past although I don't read him anymore (now I'm reading his son). George R. R. Martin is the only on that list that I currently still read. Or, I would if he'd hurry the hell up and publish his next book. For the most part, however, I avoid the best seller shelves in the bookstores like the plague...but I guess this is good news for aspiring writers. You don't have to write well, you just have to finish the book and even if it's barely literate crap like 50 Shades, you can get published. Wooooo!
Di wrote: "I guess if you churn out books by formula and on schedule you get paid more. So many good authors that deserve more pay are missing from this list."Agreed!
Ann wrote: "Some of the best books I have ever read were by unknown authors who have never made it to the best selling list of books and authors. Great authors write for the joy of storytelling and passing on ..."So true!
Now...as far as this list, I like Nora Roberts and King. I have most of JK Rowling's books, but believe it or not - I haven't read any of them yet!
Di wrote: "I guess if you churn out books by formula and on schedule you get paid more. So many good authors that deserve more pay are missing from this list."If your formula works in the market. Patterson is a weird one, he switched to the teen or younger market and it worked.
Di wrote: "I guess if you churn out books by formula and on schedule you get paid more. So many good authors that deserve more pay are missing from this list."that is so true... this list is just wrong on many levels
All that money James Patterson gets and he doesn't even write his books anymore, just outlines them. Ridiculous.
I thought the point of Goodreads was to help readers discover authors who are more than mainstream...
I have read none of his books, but John Green deserves some credit for CrashCourse, which is great edutainment. When you are procrastinating, you watch one of their vids, stop feeling that bad about yourself because you learned something, and start doing good things.As for books, I have only read a few Harry Potters and The Da Vinci Code. Not a huge fan of either, though both are page-turners.
Martin and King sound fairly interesting. Martin has a complex character scheme, a rich setting, and tries to be realistic about morality. King's books seem highly diverse and he doesn't appear to be milking a single successful idea.
Stephen King is my favourite, followed by George R R Martin. Now to just get him to finish that damn series!
Out of those, it would have to be J.K. Rowling. She is the Queen.
Stephen King. No contest. A true story-teller.
It's always amusing to read lists like this. It's interesting when they do any kind of list based on the aquisition of wealth. But i think we need to understand that most of the top earning authors make money from things other than selling copies of their books. King makes a fortune in movie rights, as has JK Rowling. James Patterson is a conglomerate, and actually has a team of writers putting the nuts and bolts-or nouns and adverbs-together from a basic story he has laid down. George R.R. Martins' sales have no doubt grown due to the popularity of the television series. The article even states that the only new comer has made millions from a movie deal as well as book sales, which more than likely tipped her into this list. I love Harry Potter, but none of my favourite authors are on this list. King once stated that a movie being made of your novel is a win/win for the author. If the movie is awful, everyone will eschew how the book is far better and go get a copy. If the movie is a success, they'll say the same thing.
It becomes a problem for the same reason certain movies genre's bloat the cinema landscape.
No-one thought a boy who goes to a wizarding school would sell. After Harry Potter blew the lid off that statement, all we get are copies of that genre as publishers want to capitalise on the craze. Meaning someone with an original, strange novel that doesn't fit into the same sales pitch, won't get a look in until the dust settles. And it could be too late then. Thrillers are everywhere it seems as that is what's popular. After Gone Girl, thrillers with the word 'Girl' in the title seemed to be everywhere, with an almost carbon copy blurb on the back of every one of them.
King obvioulsy loves the craft, but does he stick to his blessed formula because he just happens to still love that genre or does he stick to it as he knows it sells?
On the other hand, without these massive selling authors to bring the bookstores profits, then there is an argument for it meaning that publishers would be less likely to take on a risk.
There are writers out there that earn a decent living that will never be house hold names, but they earn enough of an annual income to keep it as their main income. Imagine, all you would have to realistically earn is what so-called London monetary experts call an average wage of £23,000 per Year. A lot loss then Rick Riordan's figure (whom i genuinely had never heard of).
I'm not going to berate these authors, however, as if someone wanted to pay me millions of pounds for writing fictional stories, i would be more than happy to ablige.
almost all my favorites are on the list!rick riordan, jk rowling and veronica roth:)
Marzio wrote: "I know it sounds snobby, but it's like music business. Audience used to address the highest remunerations towards Led Zeppelin or Beatles and now it's Britney Spears and 50 cents.I don't mind as l..."
Did you just use Britney Spears and 50 cent as pop icons in 2016? This isn't 2004 lol.
David wrote: "Oy, where to start, GR forcing us to focus on rich authors on our own home pages... and the relationship of the 1% authors to the rest of us who are authors and readers... though I do know they are..."Uhhh the point of the list is the highest paid authors, nothing to do with quality.
J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin and Rick Riordan, you guys totally rock!!
David wrote: "Oy, where to start, GR forcing us to focus on rich authors on our own home pages... and the relationship of the 1% authors to the rest of us who are authors and readers... though I do know they are..."He's right, y'know. Thus the rich get richer.
My favourite author? Me, of course. I may not be as well-paid as those purveyors of dumbed-down, populist, disposable mass-market banalities listed above, but Damn! I'm good! What's holding me back? Lack of ego, of course. (Those on irony-free diets please ignore the above comment.)
Ann wrote: "I don't follow the best selling list of authors, what truly matters is that you enjoy what you read and that on some level the words of the author touched you.We all have different tastes and opini..." That is so true!
I've never read a single book Patterson has written and with the work I do as a paramedic, where I actually see (working) people starving or needing to choose between health care and food, I don't give a damn that one person is making millions a year - and I'm not jealous.l also treat the "fabulously wealthy," as someone called it, usually because they fell through their glass table while drunk & high on cocaine. When I worked on the life squad in Los Angeles County (more than 20 years ago) we got calls like that on a regular basis, especially in the middle of the night, which are the hours I worked when I started in EMS bc the powers that be were hoping what they thought were terrible hours would made you want to quit the job. Women didn't work in Emergency Services then the way they do now. Too bad they didn't know I was a night person but never mind.
Just a week ago someone I work with was all upset about the idea of people on food stamps taking drugs and wanted them to have mandatory testing for it even though I have a friend who's a Constitution Attorney who said it was unconstitutional to do that. This co-worker obviously can't recall all the wealthy people killing themselves from "recreational" drug use and a lot of those people work for the state and are paid with the taxes we work to give to the government. Then maybe he doesn't even know it; until I met someone who works in high finance I wasn't aware of even half of what I've learned since I've known him. I met him because he had a fund for Families of Sep-11 victims. He used to work at the World Trade Center and was injured, so he started a fund for victims and their families. Otherwise I'd have never met someone like him but I digress. I had no idea of the things "fabulously wealthy" people were willfully doing to try to keep other people in abject misery. I'm not impressed with a person just because he's wealthy, not after finding out this information, but I like J.K Rowling bc she's NOT like that.
Serewyn wrote: "Who cares"This Troll's profile says they don't like contemporary literature. So there was no reason to even read this post. Also your profile suggest your best friends are cats so F your opinion on anything
I was thinking that Sara J.mass would be here ...
James Patterson always felt a little sketchy to me the way he tags his name onto books with lesser known writers which no doubt adds to his prolific nature (not to mention profits.) Glad to see JK Rowling still pulling a strong third place. Diary of a Wimpy kids was a bit of a surprise to me but glad a kid's book is selling so well. As for the others, like other members have mentioned, no surprises but no real favorites here. My only real dog in the race so to speak is JK Rowling because I'm a Harry Potter fan since childhood and generally think she deserves her success.
Or have a consortium of writers writing for you (franchise)