James Patterson, J.K. Rowling top Forbes list

11:50 - 04 August 2016

Forbes released its world's highest-paid authors of 2016 and James Patterson popularly known for novels about fictional psychologist Alex Cross, ranked highest on the list.

Forbes released its world's highest-paid authors of 2016 and James Patterson popularly known for novels about fictional psychologist Alex Cross, ranked highest on the list.

Forbes compiled the list using official book sales figures and analysis from experts, and Patterson topped the list for the third year running for earning $95m (38 billion Naira) over the last 12 months.

The amount puts the thriller author comfortably at the top of the magazine’s chart: second-placed Jeff Kinney, author of the Wimpy Kid children’s books, earned a paltry-in-comparison $19.5m, with Harry Potter author JK Rowling in third place for estimated earnings of $19m.

Former financial journalist Paula Hawkins known for her award-winning Girl on the Train joined the league of the world’s highest-paid authors, beating Game of Thrones bestseller George RR Martin to claim a spot in Forbes’s yearly ranking of the richest writers in the world.

Forbes said that, in total, Hawkins’s novel has sold 11m copies worldwide, and with a film adaptation starring Emily Blunt due for release this autumn, her sales are likely to continue to grow.

Andy Weir, author of the science fiction hit The Martian, just missed out on a place on this year’s list, as did Dork Diaries writer Rachel Renée Russell, while Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, Hunger Games creator Suzanne Collins and mystery writer Janet Evanovich dropped off the list this year after they “all saw sales of their catalogues take a dive”, according to Forbes.

See full list of Forbes’s highest-paid authors 2016 (in US dollars)

1. James Patterson $95m

2. Jeff Kinney $19.5m

3. JK Rowling $19m