J.K. Rowling had trouble getting "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" published. Now, she is one of the world's richest authors.
They also have the power to make their authors incredibly wealthy.
In August, Forbes released data on the highest-paid authors of 2016, looking at their total earnings - from book sales as well as TV and film adaptations, before taxes - between June 1, 2015 and June 1, 2016.
During this time, the authors who made the ranking collectively made £201.8 million ($269 million).
The highest-paid author on the list made almost five times more than the second wealthiest, showing just how lucrative the book industry has become.
From "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown to "Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling, here are the world's highest-paid writers and how much they have made in the last year: