US author takes Rowling's rich-list crown

Patterson's £45m puts him top of the Forbes highest-earning authors list, but he admits to not writing his books
By Victoria Richards in The Indpendent
Sunday, 22 August 2010

An American author at the centre of a controversy over whether or not he writes his own books has knocked British stalwart J K Rowling off the top of a list of the world's highest-paid authors.

Two years ago, Rowling, the publishing phenomenon behind the books-to-theme park Harry Potter franchise, was revealed to have earned a staggering £150m between 2007 and 2008, putting her in the hallowed number-one spot – and placing her closest rival, James Patterson, second.

But Patterson trumped the British author in the year to 1 June 2010, topping the list, which is compiled by the American business magazine Forbes, for the first time. The tables turned after Patterson scooped £45m in book sales, helping him to see off competition from Britain's newest highest-paid author, the master of suspense Ken Follett. Sales of £13m propelled Follett to fifth place on the Forbes list.

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