Which Authors Will Take Home the Biggest Check in 2013?

What do the top earning authors in the world have in common? If the research Forbes magazine has done is any indication, not very much. Forbes’ recently published list of the top ten earning authors for 2013 illustrates this very plainly.

Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James tops the list at $95 million. As almost everyone knows, this upstart author started out writing the bit of Twilight fanfic that became 50 Shades. How did she accomplish this? Forbes answers: “Simply by selling more copies faster than any other author in history -- more than 70 million in the first eight months they were on sale in the U.S.” (Hey, wait: why didn’t I think of that?)

In stark contrast, the number two spot on the list is owned by thriller author James Patterson. Patterson’s Alex Cross series of books make him as traditional an author to be on this list as possible. Number three, Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins, and number five, popular conservative pundit Bill O'Reilly, show the varied nature of this list. But even within this disparity, there is some connection. From Forbes:

While the big books are bigger than ever thanks to the dynamics of book retailing and the frictionless e-book purchasing environment, the most important ingredients of a blockbuster never change, says Michael Pietsch, CEO of Hachette Book Group. “I think it’s the surprise and originality that lead to the giant scale,” says Pietsch, whose roster of writers includes Patterson. “That’s why there are all these delicious stories of the book that was rejected by 96 publishers – because people are looking at what worked in the past.”

Here’s the list:

#1: E.L. James $95 million
#2: James Patterson $91 million
#3: Suzanne Collins $55 million
#4: Bill O'Reilly: $28 million
#5: Danielle Steel: $26 million
#6: Jeff Kinney: $24 million
#7: Janet Evanovich $24 million
#8: Nora Roberts: $23 million
#9: Dan Brown $22 million
#10: Stephen King: $20 million