With technology increasing so rapidly, you might think that books sales were on the decline. Well in one respect that is true but it hasn’t stopped the World’s top selling authors raking in the cash.

The savvy ones are turning towards ebook sales (which are digital versions of their books) which are exploding as more devices are being built to be compatible with viewing ebooks. The Amazon Kindle for example has sold millions of units.

According to Forbes, the highest paid author from May 2010-April 2011 was James Patterson. He made an incredible income of $84 Million, which was $14 Million MORE than he made the year before. (Yes, makes you think whether you could write a book yourself doesn’t it!)

A large amount of his income comes from a book deal he signed with Hachette Book Group in 2009. He gets $150 Million for writing 17 books.

Stephenie Meyer who wrote the popular “Twilight” series brought in $21 Million which was $20 Million LESS than she earned the year before.

J.K. Rowling who has previously made Millions from her Harry Potter series of books and films only brought in $5 Million but is said to be creating an online digital bookstore where people can download digital versions of the phenom that is Harry Potter. This could increase her earnings considerably more.