syndyfrella | The World's Best Paid Authors

by Forbes:

10. Nicholas Sparks
$16 million

This spinner of tragic but tender love stories wrote his first published novel, The Notebook, in just six months when he was 28. His 13th and latest, The Choice, has sold some 1.2 million copies in the U.S. Night in Rodanthe was recently adapted for the silver screen, where it generated $13 million at the opening weekend box office.

9. Janet Evanovich
$17 million

8. Ken Follett
$20 million

7. Dean Koontz
$25 million

6. John Grisham
$25 million

A stint as a trial lawyer in Mississippi inspired his first blockbuster, A Time to Kill. His latest one, The Appeal, features a fictional member of the Forbes 400 embroiled in scandalous litigation.

5. Danielle Steel
$30 million

The doyenne of romance novels released her 71st book, Amazing Grace, last October. Her works have been published in 47 countries and 28 languages. Over 20 of her novels have been adapted for TV.

4. Tom Clancy
$35 million

The master of the political thriller became a publishing powerhouse with novels like The Hunt for the Red October and Patriot Games. He sold rights to videogame outfit Ubisoft for an estimated $100 million last year.

3. Stephen King
$45 million

The king of horror was scraping by on a schoolteacher's salary before his novel Carrie came out in 1974. Since then, he has some 300 million books. Films based on them include Carrie and The Shining.

2. James Patterson
$50 million

The former marketing maven started his Alex Cross series with 1992's Along Came a Spider, and he has sold more than 150 million books worldwide since. He keeps his readers satisfied by turning out at least two volumes every year.

1. J.K. Rowling
$300 million

It was wizardry that transformed J.K. Rowling from a destitute single mother on welfare into a bestselling billionaire. Her adventures of teenage magician Harry Potter and his classmates at Hogwarts became a children's literary sensation in 1998, when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone became a publishing hit. It and the six subsequent books have now sold upwards of 375 million copies worldwide. The final one, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, has sold some 44 million since it came out last summer - including 15 million in the first 24 hours.