Courtesy of The Guardian news organization in the UK, we can now all be green with envy of these writers, even the dead ones.
Earnings are "based on recorded sales, box office returns, licence fees and company accounts".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/10/top-earning-crime-writers-uk
The top 10 UK crime authors
Ian Fleming £100m+
Agatha Christie £100m
Jeffrey Archer £70m
Jack Higgins £50m+
Ken Follett £50m
Dick Francis, just under £50m
Ruth Rendell £30m+
Lee Child £30m
Ian Rankin £25m
Alexander McCall Smith £20m
Top 10 US crime writers
John Grisham $600m
Dan Brown $400m
Patricia Cornwell $300m+
Robert Ludlum $300m
Michael Crichton $300m
Michael Connelly $250m
Thomas Harris $150m
Elmore Leonard $100m
Ed McBain $75m
James Ellroy $50m
What happens in the Cave doesn't always stay there... Conversations and news from Ellora's Cave Publishing, an erotic romance publisher.
I'm surprised James Patterson isn't on the list ($150 million?). While he and his factory of writers have branched into YA and other genres, he did become famous because of Alex Cross.
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting. I am not published (not yet), but the genre I write falls within this category, but more legal thriller. I saw many names that I expected, but was surprised that some that i expected did not make the top list.
ReplyDeleteThank you