The 10 best-paid authors in the world

They say that no one's reading these days but that can't possibly be true. At least, not if Forbes is right. According to Forbes, the combined earnings of the 10 best-compensated authors in the world total $270 million over the 12 months to June 1.

In order, here are the top-earning authors:

1. James Patterson ($70 million)
2. Stephenie Meyer ($40 million)
3. Stephen King ($34 million)
4. Danielle Steel ($32 million)
5. Ken Follett ($20 million)
6. Dean Koontz ($18 million)
7. Janet Evanovich ($16 million)
8. John Grisham ($15 million)
9. Nicholas Sparks ($14 million)
10. JK Rowling ($10 million)

You can see the whole Forbes article here.

Marjorie Kehe is the Monitor's book editor.

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