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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 151-200 of 281 (281 new)
message 151:
by
L
(new)
Aug 14, 2016 09:24AM
Please note that the list is a tad slanted (for example, Patterson's earnings are partially logged "pre-tax") so take it with a grain of salt.
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James wrote: "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 ..."
Ha! I totally thought the same thing.. Sorry to break it to the man but The britster and 50 Cent (no s) need to be removed from his "current pop culture" vernacular.
My sister likes James Patterson but she flies a lot & reads to pass the time waiting in airports. Patterson was in advertising so he has a business model that emphasizes marketing & the product, the actual book, is secondary. It is however a brand, & there is a market for Patterson's brand, even if he co-writes most of his books now. Stephen King is critical of Patterson's writing, & probably has a valid point, but Patterson makes it a point to never knock other authors. I also hear through the grapevine that Dan Brown is a bad writer but I am interested in the subjects he writes about, the secret societies & so forth. I like Umberto Eco who writes about some of the same stuff, but in a more literate way, I would assume, never having read anything by Dan Brown. I like Jazz. Kenny G sold more records than John Coltrane. Does that mean Kenny G is better than Coltrane? Getting back to the question, which is, of the best selling authors, who, if any, do you like, I would say Stephen King because I read The Shining and his book on writing, entitled On Writing. I liked both of them. I might read more by him some day, but have a long and illustrious list of other books that I have to get to first. None are by James Patterson, in spite of my sister's endorsement.
I really like Rowling though I don't care too much for the others that much.
Chandré wrote: "The fact that E. L. James makes more money than George R.R. Martin is appalling. What a message about the fools around us."What's worse is that she makes more than all but seven authors.
I should try reading more James Patterson. Ive only read one of his book and I liked it but it didnt make me want to read more, so I need to try a few more. TO BOOK OUTLET I GO!!!But my favs are Stephen King and Dean Koontz (Which is not on the list) and Kay Hooper (Which isnt on the list ether).
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..."Wish I could upvote this.
Don't really care because I haven't bothered to read a best seller nor a best selling author in years.I figure they got enough money and don't need my help to keep up their idiotic lifestyle.
Best thing I can say about Paterson is his guest appearances on Castle.
Worst thing to say about Paterson is the stupid TV program The Zoo.
I'm amazed George R.R. Martin isn't higher on the list.I knew James Patterson would be high, but didn't know/think he'd be at the top
DRNM = dearreadingnichemindMy favorite author presently is
HARUKI MURAKAMI
I am engrossed in
> Kafka on the shore
> The windup bird chronicle
I adore the authess J.K.Rowling but not all of her books though
Female and male authors write from different realms although language is non gender...
smiles from the digital publishing person
teresa hewesufa bencinic and
the digiloonbookler with the white gloves
Martin wrote: "Why is James Patterson making so much more money than number two on the list? I've hardly ever heard of him."It's quite simple. He hires other people to write his books for him. By doing this, he is able to publish 15-30 books a year. He pays his ghost writers a wage, the publishing house puts his name on the cover, and he keeps the royalties. Because he has an established audience, he is able to sell a lot of books this way.
His books are also deceptively short. If you pick one up in the store, you'll notice the font is extremely large and the margins are very wide. His books probably have half the word count of a typical adult novel. This works because he writes thrillers and the short word count makes his books seem fast-paced.
Larry wrote: "None of these are among my 40 favorite writers. I like Steinbeck, Tony Hillerman, Bill Bryson, David Rosenfelt and many others."I agree!
Lorenzo wrote: "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..."Ha Ha!
Rowling, Roth, Green, Riordan, and Patterson.
Ugh. Patterson has turned into a total hack. He's too rich to even be bothered to write his own books anymore.
John wrote: "So.... everyone who has ever made a TV or a Movie deal off their books. Good to know that's the only way to make big money as an author. *snark*"I was just noticing that too. So is it getting known gets you a movie deal or getting a movie deal gets you known?? None of these would be in my top list.
Shujana wrote: "None of them...... mine is Suzanne Collins for Hunger Games"I'm kinda surprised she's not on here, considering how successful they were.
Mine's either John Green, Rick Riordan, or J.K. Rowling!
I'd totally have to say that Rick Riordan is my favorite one on this list. Coming in at second would be either Veronica Roth or Jeff Kinney.
Monique wrote: "Lorenzo wrote: "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..."Glad you got it! x
My favourite author off all time is Rick Riordan, and on this list George RR Martin comes second :)
Moose wrote: "Ugh. Patterson has turned into a total hack. He's too rich to even be bothered to write his own books anymore."It is true that Patterson has become more an industry than a literary figure — if he ever was one. However...while I know he is not especially good for me...like an occasional sugar-hit for my sweet tooth I have to read his — or whoever's — novels.
Teresa wrote: "DRNM = dearreadingnichemindMy favorite author presently is
HARUKI MURAKAMI
I am engrossed in
> Kafka on the shore
> The windup bird chronicle
I adore the authess J.K.Rowling but not all of her..."
Highly suggest 1Q84! I want to read both of the books you mentioned. I also hear Norwegian Wood is very good.
None of those Authors are my favourite :(
"Topping the list—no surprises here—is James Patterson, whose fiercely prolific output..."Establishing your name as a marketing device doesn't equate with prolific, but the man does know how to move product.
C.E. wrote: ""Topping the list—no surprises here—is James Patterson, whose fiercely prolific output..."Establishing your name as a marketing device doesn't equate with prolific, but the man does know how to m..."
I agree!!!!
Annette wrote: "J wrote: "I read for the story content. I occasionally scan the best sellers lists but rarely find anything that interests me. I guess I'm a bit of a rogue reader since I pretty much ignore the lat..."I agree with you Annette. I love historical fictions and memoirs where I learn something new all the time. I will also scan the bestseller lists but lately nothing interests me. With very little time and too many books I want to read, I choose my books wisely.
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 ..."I agree. At least 2 of them are very formulaic. Same outlines, different names and places. I haven't read all of the authors though.
Kristy wrote: "My favorite of these (and just a favorite in general) is John Green. I'm a bit surprised on James Patterson, especially being the highest. I know he's very popular, but he co-writes almost all of t..."It probably happens more than we think but it takes down the respect level a notch. I was naive until I found out about Patterson. I actually thought writing was kind of an art. Not these days apparently. I bet a lot of authors are genuine but who can tell the difference?
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..."
Can't agree more! comparison to music business is what came instantly in my mind!
I've read books by a few of the authors on this list and I am pretty surprised that King is so far down, and that the gap is so substantial between Patterson (who I am not a huge fan of) and the "second place author". But what is more surprising is that some great authors with some great novels and series are not on this list. John Connolly, Joe R. Lansdale, Jefferey Deaver, John Sanford and Jonathan Maberry are just a few that jump to mind that have long standing and fairly well loved series' to their names, most of which have been translated to some kind of movie or television show. Beyond that it's also sad to see that some of the more "underground" genre writers aren't "Making Bank" with their novels that sell well and are very well regarded by fans. Brian Keene, Ronald Malfi, Edward Lee, Nick Cutter/Craig Davidson, Matthew Reilly, and James Rollins are again just a few that come up to me, each one being somewhat of a staple in their individual fields of writing. Granted some of them are far far far less mainstream then the ones listed above, but they still crank out a very respectable output of novels and they have all made their place in the profession. It's a shame and pretty disheartening to see a lot of those names and realize, as another comment on here voiced, that if its not an easy read and an expected formulaic book it probably won't be making much waves. That obviously doesn't apply to everyone on the list, but it can't be ignored that it fits with many names on there. As someone who would love to be able to one day have a novel published with my name on it (fingers crossed for a horror novel that doesn't sink the genre even further) all these lists really do is violently rip not only the wind from the sails but the whole damned mast from the ship.
I'm surprised that Veronica Roth is on this list. Yeah her Divergent trilogy was all right but that's it. The adaptations of her books sucked so much that it brought down my level of adoration for the books. But, I'm obviously not the only one who thinks the movies sucked because they're not even making part 2 for the big screen. I haven't even read any of George R.R. Martin's books or seen much of his HBO TV series Game of Thrones, but I definitely think he deserves more banking than Veronica Roth.
Sorry for the rant guys!
This is pretty awesome. I love James Patterson and Danielle Steel. They are two authors that I never have to read the synopsis of their books to purchase them.
Veronica Roth is amazing, and of course J.K Rowling is fantastic!
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."SO true!
From this list, I really love Rick Riordan. I enjoy his retellings/twists on the myths. I have other favorites not listed like Vera Nazaria and John Patrick Kennedy.
