Earnings

[Srbo]

Found a very interesting article on the net: ( Forbes)


The Highest-Paid Authors

Dirk Smillie, 08.19.10, 06:30 PM EDT

Times may be tough for book sellers, but for Stephen King, James Patterson and Stephenie Meyer, the money keeps rolling in.

Publishers are feeling the heat, with hardcover sales weak and the rise of e-books promising to upend their business models. But the world's 10 top-earning authors are making out just fine, earning a combined $270 million over the 12 months to June 1.

James Patterson's $70 million in earnings vaults him to No. 1 on our list, up from second place two years ago. The prolific thriller writer's latest deal, signed last fall, involves penning a carpal tunnel-risking 17 books by the end of 2012 for an estimated $100 million.


Patterson's literary empire includes television, comic book and gaming deals. His foreign sales alone bring in well over $10 million a year. Patterson's e-books are posting respectable numbers, too. I, Alex Cross alone has sold 160,000 units digitally. Ironic, given that there's no computer in his home office--Patterson writes all his novels in longhand. To date he has published 51 New York Times best sellers.

Vampire romance author Stephenie Meyer ranks second this year. Her Twilight series has become such a juggernaut that despite not releasing a new title in 2009, she earned $40 million over the year. About $7 million of that came from the movies adapted from the Twilight series. In June the third Twilight installment pulled in $175 million in its first six days, the most successful first week of any movie of 2010.

The bad climate for brick and mortar bookselling hasn't hurt prolific horror maven Stephen King, either, who placed third on our list with a take of $34 million, $8 million of which we estimate came from backlist sales. His 51st novel, Under the Dome, was released in November, selling 600,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan. It was optioned by DreamWorks TV.
King is prolific, and not just in books: A recent profile noted that over the course of a few weeks this year he had a story published in the New Yorker, a review of a Raymond Carver biography in the New York Review of Books, an article in the horror magazine Fangoria and a poem in Playboy.

Never knew that about Patterson. ALL his novels are being written longhand?:eek2:
How the heck does he write so fast then?
I don`t like him as a writer, but I do respect that fact.
And I find it unreal that he will write 17! novels untill the end of next year.
It`s about quality, Mr Patterson, not quantinty, in my opinion anyway.
But, why do you care, the money is unreal.

The teeny-bopper Meyers isn`t doing to bad either, also not her fan.

But I am proud of Sai King.
Forty years in the business, doing his thing, and still making money like nuts and selling 600 000 copies of UtD in the States alone is really making me proud.

Rock on, Sai King, many more years of writing and good health to you, Sir!:smile2:

[tuttle300]

Srbo
There is an interesting, if minimal, similarity between the two men

James Patterson has an absolute definitive style that makes his books read like potato chips. You really can't help but turning the pages because the chapters are so short and each one ends in a cliffhnager.
But unlike King, Patterson farms out much of his work to other writers, probably handing them a cookie cutter blueprint to follow (my opinion though).

Thus.... I don't feel the need to read every new book he rolls out. I'd be more interested in one of these 17 new books if he'd break off and REALLY write something of substance. Something where he has 10 page chapters that go into detail about the characters lives and their surroundings. I dunno, maybe he might one day do that for the challenge of it. Cranking out 17 books in 2 or 3 years seems like just an act of ego in order to get a footnote in the record books. That doesn't mean he is a good writer.

For one thing, I do feel his popular Alex Cross series is starting to get a little long in the tooth. Maybe he could stretch them out a bit more so that they are more of an event than something that can be relied upon to come out like clockwork.

Now King, does allow other writers to handle some of his work. Peter David and Robin Furth on the Dark Tower comics. But he is looking over their shoulder because HIS name is on the cover. Despite this... all of his mainstream annual books (aside from the Talisman series) are written by him and him alone (some of them in longhand).

As you said, QUALITY is what counts. Not quantity. But then again, there are a few million readers out there who follow everything Patterson does, who might disagree with that. And maybe half of them DO read Patterson's books because they ARE (in a way), easier and faster to read than other books.

But I for one won't be boycotting his works. People are buying and reading books (even Patterson's)
In today's market...money is money and it all helps keep the industry going.
But i'll still be buying MORE from King than from Patterson long after Patterson has reached his 17th book- he can have his mark in history, but how many of his books will still on the shelf 20 years from now?
I dare say that we can all rattle off at least 5 King novels that'll be around in 20 years.

[king family fan]

Well put,very interesting article. I must say I don't know how any writer does it. However,I only follow Kings books and movies.Glad to hear he still has it.Go King!