Forbes has named crime writer James Patterson the world’s highest paid author, and with his earnings of almost £51 million, he rakes in well over double that of the Danielle Steele, the next writer on the list. This year alone Patterson has already published six books, making a total of fifteen since January 2010. Just how can one man think up so many murder plots?!

With more than 80 books under his belt, Patterson’s income last year was boosted by a new publishing contract, signing a seventeen book deal with Hachette in 2009, in addition to fantastic e-book sales and young adult and teen titles.

Patterson has raised over a million pounds for charity by getting people to pay to have their names appear in his books, although in the case of Donald Trump, the businessman actually paid £50,000 to keep this name out of the author’s next book.

With book sales of over 250 million, a record forty five New York Times hardcover Number 1s and five books already made into films with more in the pipeline, Patterson is quite a force to be reckoned with. 

So what is it that’s so attractive about this writing? To bring out titles so frequently (even with the aid of co-authors at times), Patterson must have some sort of formula to his plots and writing. He’s not afraid to experiment with his leads but, to a certain extent, his readers know what to expect. He produces exciting, fast-paced yarns which are quite simply very gripping, and is obviously on to a winning thing. The man himself has been quoted as saying: "I want to entertain. That's a noble thing." And I think his readers would be unanimous in agreeing that he certainly attains his goal.


Highest Earning Authors

1:James Patterson: £51m

2: Danielle Steel, £21m

3: Stephen King, £17m

4: Janet Evanovich, £13m

5: Stephenie Meyer, £12m

6: Rick Riordan, £12m

7: Dean Koontz, £11.5m

8: John Grisham, £11m

9: Jeff Kinney, £10m

10: Nicholas Sparks, £9m