To be fair, we probably did see this one coming… Yes, Fifty Shades of Grey author E. L. James has made it to the very top of Forbes magazine’s list of the highest-earning writers of the past year.
The writer, whose real name is Erika Leonard James, penned the trilogy after being inspired by the Twilight series and took everyone by surprise by how popular the novels would become.
Last year, she earned $95m, which is £61.5m to me, you and her, beating crime writer James Patterson to the top spot. Patterson has topped the list for the past three years but has to make do with second place with earning of $91m.
James’ first novel Fifty Shades of Grey sold 70 million copies in just eight months and at the peak of sales she was earning $1m a week. On top of that, she’s also sold the film rights for an estimated $5m. And let’s not forget the two sequels which didn’t sell too badly, either.
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Posted by Amy Power.