Stephenie Meyer & James Patterson Top Authors

Stephenie Meyer and James Patterson have topped Forbes magazine's best-paid authors list.
 
The Along Came a Spider writer earned an estimated $70 million (GBP46.7 million) in the last year, while Meyer, whose vampire novels have been transformed into a hit Hollywood franchise, was paid $40 million (GBP26.7 million).
 
Horror author Stephen King was third on the list with $34 million (GBP22.7 million) and Danielle Steel placed fourth, with $32 million (GBP21.3 million).
 
They were followed by Ken Follett, Dean Koontz, Janet Evanovich and John Grisham.
 
Meanwhile, The Notebook writer Nicolas Sparks and Harry Potter's J.K. Rowling rounded out the top 10.

Meyer has seen her stories wnjoy huge box office success in recent years as the Twilight series has been brought to life, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was released earlier this year.

The three movies have grossed over $1 billion at the box office and Breaking Dawn, which will be split into two movies, has been given the go ahead.