Forbes’ Top Earning Authors
Forbes has just published its annual list of the year’s top earning authors, and the results, not unusually, are sure to make aspiring authors of serious literary fiction reconsider their craft. Yes, the big money in 2011 was in genre fiction, with authors of thrillers and YA novels attracting the bulk of the book buyers’ hard-earned dollars. But you already knew that.
In other notable developments, George R.R. Martin makes his debut on the list, thanks to the success of the HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones and the attendant skyrocketing book sales he’s been enjoying. We were surprised (though we shouldn’t have been) by just how much money The Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise has made. J.K. Rowling, whose star had been waning a bit (as far as Forbes lists go, anyways), is back, thanks to Pottermore and her upcoming novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, for which she received a reported $8 million advance. And while the race and age breakdowns haven’t changed much at all, female authors are slowly climbing the rankings. Click through to read the full list and our numerical breakdown.
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The list:
James Patterson: $94 million (He published 14 new titles in 2011!)
Stephen King: $39 million
Janet Evanovich: $33 million
John Grisham: $26 million
Jeff Kinney, $25 million
Bill O’Reilly: $24 million
Nora Roberts: $23 million
Danielle Steel: $23 million
Suzanne Collins: $20 million
Dean Koontz: $19 million
J.K. Rowling: $17 million
George R.R. Martin: $15 million
Stephenie Meyer: $14 million
Ken Follett: $14 million
Rick Riordan: $13 million
By genre:
There’s actually a little more genre variety than we’ve seen in recent years, but the standbys are still holding strong — if you want to make money, write thrillers or books for teens.
Thriller: 5
YA: 4
Romance: 2
Horror: 1
Children’s: 1
Historical: 1
Fantasy: 1
By gender:
Forbes is quick to point out that women are “on the rise” in its annual list, but let’s not get carried away: there’s only one more female author than last year. Then again, the women of the list raked in a collective $130 million to last year’s $93 million, so we’d say that’s a significant step in the right direction.
Male: 9
Female: 6
By race:
No news here, unfortunately.
White: 15
By age:
Or here either, though the 30-50 crowd is making a relatively good showing.
Under 30: 0
30-50: 5
Over 50: 10
http://www.flavorwire.com/317620/forbes-t
I'm trying to red the GOT books because I love the show. I started the first book, but it's so close to the first season (at least in the first like, 3 chapters I've read) that I'm getting super bored. Would I be okay skipping to book 2 (Since I've heard it differs from the show a lot) or do I really need to read the first book?
ymmv but I hate when people shit all over the 4th and 5th books, they weren't that terrible
Season 2 veered off from the book and suffered for it tbh. You can skip ahead if you want, but finish it one day. It's more in depth and contains backstory the show missed.
he fuckin has to
(oh hay jkr.
i need more non-white ppl on this list tho :( )
Edited at 2012-08-11 07:52 pm (UTC)
I'm pretty sure he only writes the Alex Cross & Maximum Ride stuff... everything is is "James Patterson &..." and the other author does all the work/writing, but uses JP's name/story idea to get published.
I can't get through the whole sexy vampire man shit lmao
it's a complete overkill
Say what son...
I kinda wanna murder martin.
It was difficult reading AFFC knowing that it wasn't going to top ASOS.
And, seeing as I'm a sci-fi/horror fan (among others), this prevents me from reading a lot of good stuff. Like, I've only read Altered Carbon, not its sequels. I've only read one Odd Thomas book. I didn't even attempt The Dark Tower (but that was mostly because I was weary of Stephen King endings. I adore his books but omg, it's one thing to be bummed about the ending of 1 book, even if it's a thousand pages, but disappointment after reading 8000 pages? idk if I could live with that.).
/rant
if it's a series that's regularly updated I love getting into it when it's still unfinished, book releases and being part of an active fandom are my fave