This week Forbes published their annual list of the highest paid writers. Novelist James Patterson leads the pack with $84 million–a $14 million increase from last year.

Here’s more from the article: “The jump comes courtesy of a 17-book, $150 million deal Patterson signed with his publisher, Hachette Book Group, in 2009. The peerlessly prolific Patterson, who works with a team of co-authors to boost his output, published 10 of those books during this period. All told, including his backlist, he had an astonishing 20 titles on PW’s year-end lists of bestsellers, comprising more than 10 million copies.”
Like Patterson, Stephenie Meyer and John Grisham write both children’s and adult books; they both made the cut raking in $21 million and $18 million respectively. The authors on the list who write exclusively for children include Rick Riordan, Jeff Kinney, Suzanne Collins and J.K. Rowling. The list included three members of the Kindle Million Club. Below, you can check out the top five authors.

James Patterson, $84 million - photo above, Rankin.

Danielle Steel, $35 million

Stephen King, $28 million

Janet Evanovich, $22 million

Stephenie Meyer, $21 million