Dan Brown (丹? 布朗)

 Royalty income: 1.6 million yuan (US$257,300)

Bestseller: "The Da Vinci Code"《達? 芬奇密碼》

Country: U.S.

Age: 48

2011 Ranking: 10

As one of the most renowned American thriller fiction writers, Dan Brown was born in 1964 in Exeter, New Hampshire. With a strong interest in cryptography and symbols, the writer always weaves elements of codes, keys, puzzles and secretive organizations into his exciting treasure-hunting stories, often set in a 24-hour time frame.

Since 1993, when the former singer and songwriter started writing thrillers, his work has included "Digital Fortress," "Angels & Demons," "Deception Point," "The Da Vinci Code" and "The Lost Symbol." Among all these, his most famous work is undoubtedly the 2003 mystery-detective novel, "The Da Vinci Code," which sold about 80 million copies by the end of 2009 and has been translated into about 44 languages across the world.