$20 million in earnings, almost all of it from sales of her “Hunger Games” books, Collins didn’t quite make the most recent edition of the FORBES Celebrity 100. But that was only because she had yet to see her full portion of the proceeds from the first “Hunger Games” film.

To date, it has taken in more than $650 million worldwide.Collins’s cut of that is believed to be upward of $5 million, not including the $1.5 million she was paid for the rights. That will rise still further with sales of the DVD, released this month.

And the gusher is just getting going: The theatrical version of “Catching Fire,” the first of two sequels, is set for release in 2013.The “Hunger Games” books sold more than 9 million copies in 2011, and sales got a fresh boost this year from the film’s release, but they’re not the trilogy of the year.

That honor goes to the “Fifty Shades of Grey” series, which sold 20 million copies in their first four months in wide release.At the height of “Fifty Shades” mania, the erotic novels were estimated to be generating as much as $1.3 million per week for their author, E.L. James.

And that’s not counting the $5 million she received from Universal Pictures and Focus Films for the theatrical rights. Add it all up and James is assured of a place near the top of next year’s top authors list.(Perhaps “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer deserves a cut of that? James’s books originated as works of “Twilight” fan fiction.)

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Source: Forbes