J.K. Rowling (J.K. 羅琳)

 Royalty income: 15 million yuan (US$2.41 million)

Bestseller: "The Casual Vacancy"《偶發空缺》

Country: UK

Age: 47

2011 Ranking: 2

J.K. Rowling, or Joanne "Jo" Rowling, born in 1965 in Gloucestershire, is a British novelist who rose to fame with her amazingly popular "Harry Potter" fantasy series. The series sold more than 400 million copies in 64 languages worldwide, and won numerous awards and global acclaim. The writer, who once lived on government welfare, is the first person in the world to become a billionaire (in U.S. dollars) by writing books, according to Forbes.

Rowling, who conceived the Potter stories in 1990, wrote her first book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" over five years, and finally got it published in 1997. After the initial success of the first book, she then wrote six sequels from 1998 to 2007, all of which also took the world by storm. The film series adapted from the seven-book series yielded high box office returns and worldwide fame.

In September this year, the British female novelist again proved her range with her first book for grow-ups, "The Casual Vacancy." Since its Chinese version appeared in domestic book market in October, it has become a hit among Chinese readers and was ranked second in the market only to Nobel Literature Prize laureate Mo Yan's work.