Top-Selling Authors Move into the Franchise Era

As for everyone else in this career category........

The World's Highest Paid Authors. (Forbes, 8/17/2011)

Excerpt: The golden era of books is over. Sales of adult hardcovers, the most expensive and lucrative category of books, were down 23 percent in the first half of 2011 after falling 5.1 percent in 2010. Yet the world’s top-selling authors — people like Stephenie Meyer, Stephen King, Janet Evanovich and, especially, James Patterson — aren’t exactly hurting. In some cases they’re doing better than ever. How? By riding the strong updraft of the fast-growing e-book category while aggressively diversifying their personal brands with multimedia deals and franchises aimed at young adults.