Foreign writer rich list reflects influence of movie adaptations

[Photo from the Internet]

The List of Richest Foreign Writers of 2014 was released today, showing a rivalry between paperbacks and e-books and an intimate interplay between the original works and their adaptations.

The sub-list of the China’s Richest Writers List of the Year crowned Khaled Hosseini as the richest foreign writer because his debut novel, The Kite Runner, has got 7.6 million yuan ($1.22 million) in the past year. Keigo Higashino’s Unworried Store was the runner-up, followed by Joanna Cole’s Magic School Bus.

When comparing the list with those of the past two years, it is hard to ignore the increasing gap between the top winners' royalties. J.K Rowling successively scooped the first prizes for two years by earning 8.5 million yuan last year and 15 million yuan in 2012.

The decline in royalties might result from the readers' shifting attention to digital books that are more easily accessible and generally cheaper, Huaxi Metropolis Daily explained after releasing the list.

The newspaper also points out that some good works didn't catch Chinese readers' eyes until they were brought onto the big screen.

Not everybody would be interested in Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time if not for the recent blockbuster Interstellar.

Michael Douglas’s books would not become popular in China if Game of Thrones and House of Cards had never been shown on Chinese online TV websites. The Chinese version of House of Cards has reaped 1.65 million yuan since its publication in February.

The China's Richest Writers List has been released annually since 2006. It includes several sub-lists, such as the lists of Richest Writers, Scriptwriters, Celebrity Writers and Foreign Writers.