Highest Earning Authors

So Forbes has posted a list of the highest earning authors. Highest earning – that must mean you’re selling a lot of books. How come I haven’t heard of 3 of the top 6 authors? Take a look at the list:

1. James Patterson: James Patterson publishes books all the time. And every book he writes, is on the top of the bestseller lists. So of course, he’s the highest earning author.
2. Stephen King: King has written 60+ books. A lot of these are really good books. He has a huge audience – and he’s one of my favorite authors. No wonder he’s in the no. 2 spot.
3. Janet Evanovich: Never heard of her …
4. John Grisham: So many of his books has been made into movies – no wonder he’s on the list. I did think, though, that he wasn’t as popular now as he was in the days of The Pelican Brief and more.
5. Jeff Kinney: Never heard of him …
6. Bill O’Reilly: Never heard of him …
7. Nora Roberts: I haven’t read any of her books.
8. Danielle Steel: I don’t know if I’ve read any of her books but everybody has heard of her.
9. Suzanne Collins: Hunger Games – need I say more?
10. Dean Koontz: I’ve never read anything by Koontz. I don’t know why. As a teenager, I really liked King and it was kind of like King and Koontz had a competition going between them. Apparently, I just stayed on Team King and never even tested what his competition are like. I do have some of his books on my wish list so maybe someday.
11. JK Rowling: I’m rather surprised that Rowling isn’t higher up on the list. I guess if we go back 10 years or so, she would be very close to the top.
12. George RR Martin: I’m sorry to say that I haven’t read any of his books (yet), but only watched a few episodes of the series.
13. Stephenie Meyer: Twilight – again, need I say more?
14. Ken Follett: Pillars of the Earth made him. He has a huge following.
15. Rick Riordan: I’m impressed that Riordan has made the list. He writes great ya books, makes Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology cool to kids. Really nice to see him on the list.

So out of these 15 authors, I’ve read books by 5 of them. Other than that, I don’t know what to do with such a list. It’s a popularity contest, I guess – but it doesn’t necessarily say anything about quality. It might even only say something about productivity since the two top spot are some of the most productive authors. On the other hand, that should also qualify Joyce Carol Oates to be on the list – and she’s not (even though she’s a more literary writer than King and Patterson, and therefore, could be considered a better author – depending on how you define ‘better’).

I don’t really know what I want to say with this list – just thought it was kind of fun seeing it …