Top 10 Highest-Paid Authors

Forbes In Pictures: The Top 10 Highest-Paid Authors. The good news is three of the authors are on the list with "children's books" - two almost exclusively. No surprise they are J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) and Stephanie Meyer (Twilight). (I supposedly write like her!)

     But before you run out to write a kids book thinking you'll hit it rich - here are some statistics you might want to consider:

"81% of the population feels they have a book inside them . . .
20% would do a picture book, cookbook, etc.
6 million have written a manuscript.
6 million manuscripts are making the rounds.
Out of every 10,000 children's books, 3 get published."
- Jerrold Jenkins. 15 May 99.

A common misconception is that all published authors must be rich. So, is there money in it? The stats are as follows. In all the arts:

3% make the 'big bucks' (these are the creators most people have heard of).
12% make enough to live on (and boy is that relative).
85% make under $10-12k a year.

     I'll let you guess where I fall on that scale, but let's just say I'm not laying on a beach in Morocco with my private body guards...
     Here's another way to look at it. Think about how many people play pro-basketball or pro-football. Now (considering you're not a way crazy fan) think of how many you can name off the top of your head. Um, yeah.
     Thanks to Nathan Bransford for the Forbes link.