Forbes has revealed their top ten list of the highest paid authors. 'Twilight Saga' author Stephenie Meyers comes in second place with a massive $40 million while crime novelist Jame Patterson hit the top spot with a whopping $70 million.

By looking at these pay checks you would never know that the publishing industry has been seeing a decline in the purchasing of novels. It seems that the purchasing of e-books is enough to keep these authors very well paid.

The top ten money makers are :

1. James Patterson ($70M)
2. Stephenie Meyer ($40M)
3. Stephen King ($34M)
4. Danielle Steel ($32M)
5. Ken Follett ($20M)
6. Dean Koontz ($18M)
7. Janet Evanovich ($16M)
8. John Grisham ($15M)
9. Nicholas Sparks ($14M)
10. J. K. Rowling ($10M)