Author earnings.........

Publishers Lunch

Forbes has their annual guesses on the earnings of the some of the most successful authors, estimating that 14 authors together earned $269 million. (Though they don't underscore it, that's their lowest total for top authors in the past 5 years: $399 million in 2012; $476 million in 2013; $325 million in 2014; and $355 million in 2015.)

James Patterson $95 million
Jeff Kinney $19.5 million
JK Rowling $19 million
John Grisham $18 million
Stephen King $15 million
Danielle Steel $15 million
Nora Roberts $15 million
EL James $14 million
Veronica Roth $10 million
John Green $10 million
Paula Hawkins $10 million
George RR Martin $9.5 million
Rick Riordan $9.5 million
Dan Brown $9.5 million