Patterson, 64, the dominant mass market fiction author who
has published more than 80 books at a prolific rate with the help of
collaborators, earned $84 million for the past year, according to the survey
based on sales from May 2010 to April 2011. Figures were supplied by Nielsen
SoundScan and Forbes considered input from numerous agents, managers and
editors.
Steel, also 64, earned $35 million, according to the Forbes
survey at www.forbes.com. The magazine said the top earning authors were
successfully tapping into e-books, which is the fastest growing section of book
publishing, while hardcover sales are in long-term decline.
Landing at No. 3 was horror and suspense writer Stephen
King, earning $28 million, while coming in fourth was romance adventure author
Janet Evanovich with $22 million and fifth was “Twilight” novelist Stephenie
Meyer with $21 million in sales.
Even though hardcover books are in decline, Patterson
increased his sales from last year’s $70 million by releasing 10 books in the
past year and branching into the young adult and teen market in the past few
years — as well as e-books.
Patterson, who this year also has several books being turned
into films, told Reuters in a recent interview that it was inevitable there
will soon be a time “when most everything is on some form of e-book.”
But he said larger retailers needed to act responsibly and
consider the future of the declining number of independent book stores as well
as books’ role in educating young people.
“The responsible thing is, what are we doing, and what are
the consequences of it and what’s the best way to do it?” he said, suggesting
that publishers and others consider both “the best way both for your company
and the people of this country, who need to read and learn and be able to talk
to people about what’s going on in the world.”
The entire list can be found at
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2011/08/17/the-worlds-highest-....
