Many people told them that a living from writing would never be possible. Fortunately, good ideas, perseverance and the ability to reach the general public at the appropriate time have allowed old dreamers to become successful writers. For proof, the list just published by Forbes with the world's highest paid writers between which surprises and other joys somewhat more predictable sneak in.
The list has been compiled based on the authors who have managed to sell more than 30 thousand volumes of their books in the last 12 months.
The World's Highest Paid Writers
11. Rick Riordan ($ 11 million)
Riordan has become one of the highest paid writers in the world thanks to his two main book sagas: The heroes of Olympus, whose first title The Lost Hero, published in 2010, kicked off 4 other published books, but especially Percy Jackson and the Olympian Gods, composed of 5 books.
10. Danielle Steel ($ 11 million)
The lady of the romantic best-seller in America He has been publishing books since 1973 and has become a benchmark for adult novels. To date, Steel has published 113 novels (plus another 2 scheduled for 2018) making his personal crisis stories timeless.
9. EL James ($ 11.5 million)
Like it or not, the «50 Shades of Gray phenomenon» has marked a literary decade reinventing an erotic literature between Blackberry messages, whips and some sugar thanks to EL James, one of the highest paid authors in the world today.
8. Paula Hawkins ($ 13 million)
The Girl on the Train became something of a virus after its publication in early 2015. Virtually any reader who read the first page followed the story of an alcoholic woman who every day traveled by train spying on her neighbors until the end of it on time record. A boom that has crowned Hawkins one of the most promising English writers of the moment.
7. Nora Roberts ($ 14 million)
JD Robb, Jill March, Sarah Hardesty. . . These are some of the pseudonyms by which the author Nora Roberts has woven a bibliography of up to 213 novels that address romantic themes. A career that has given the author 176 number 1s on The New York Times list and astronomical sales over the last 36 years.
6. John Grisham ($ 14 million)
The Whistler, Grisham's last book, sold 660 thousand copies of the hardcover book in 2016 alone, another example of the good work of the quintessential author of the American thriller whose works include The Client, The Pelican Report and Time to Kill.
5. Stephen King ($ 15 million)
With 55 books behind him, Stephen King continues to confirm that the literary horror genre Has owner. Creator of classics such as Carrie, The Shining or a saga of The Dark Tower whose film adaptation has not completely penetrated, King is one of those authors who has managed to sneak into the masses linked to a genre in which he develops like few others.
4. Dan Brown ($ 20 million)
The publication of The Da Vinci Code in 2003 he established an interest hitherto dormant in religious conspiracies, cryptograms and the rereading of our History. Years later, Brown has managed to hook a legion of followers who have not missed their appointment with titles such as Angels and Demons or Inferno. His next book, Origin, will be published in September.
3. Jeff Kinney ($ 21 million)
Creator of the well-known saga Greg's diary, made up of stories aimed at children and adolescents from newspaper pages and illustrations by the author himself, the writer and cartoonist Jeff Kinney has found in children the main audience to be addressed through his books and his website, Poptropica.
2. James Patterson ($ 87 million)
America's Highest Paid Writers owes part of his fortune to Alex Cross, the FBI agent who starred in his best-selling novels: The Lover's Collector and The Hour of the Spider. Record man, Patterson was the first author to sell more than 1 million ebooks.
1. JK Rowling ($ 95 million)
The publication of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child In 2016, a not so dormant hunger for a Harry Potter universe that has marked the literature of this millennium was resurrected. In this way, the author who at the time was rejected by up to 31 different publishers continues to be the richest writer in the world.
Which of these highest paid writers is your favorite?