Forbes magazinehas come out with its
estimates of how much money the most successful authors made in the year June
2007 to June 2008. I guess it’s a glass-half-full/glass-half-empty question whether
this depresses you or inspires you…The shocker on the list was Ken Follett—he’s
on there because Oprah catapulted his 1989 thriller, Pillars of the Earth, onto
the 2007 best-seller lists.
1. J.K. Rowling, $300 million
2. James Patterson, $50 million
3. Stephen King, $45 million
4. Tom Clancy, $35 million
5. Danielle Steel, $30 million
6. John Grisham, $25 million
7. Dean Koontz, $25 million
8. Ken Follett, $20 million
9. Janet Evanovich, $17 million
10. Nicholas Sparks, $16 million
What should they do with all that money? I think J.K. Rowling should buy Starbucks and provide free coffee and muffins to anyone who comes in with a half-finished novel. Stephen King should fund free phobia therapy to all. John Grisham—how about free legal aid to writers suing publishers? (Feel free to add your ideas in a comment…)
I can’t guarantee you’ll end up on the Forbes list, but you will certainly find creative ways to market yourself and your work in my two books, “Your Writing Coach,” published by Nichoals Brealey, and “Do Something Different,” published by Virgin Books. Both available online and in good book stores.
