Low book sales are giving the publishers tough times but some authors are still raking in the Benjamins by the millions.

Forbes has done a survey to find out which authors have made it big from June 1, 2009 to June 1, 2010. And here they are:

James Patterson – $70 million. He is under contract to write 17 books until 2012 for an estimated $100 million. No ebooks for this author as there’s not even a computer in his office as he writes his novels in the longhand.

Stephenie Mayer – $40 million. Though she did not publish a book this year, her Twilight series and the films based on it placed her on the 2nd spot of the list.

Stephen King – $34 million. The horror and suspense bestseller is in 3rd helped by $8 million from backlist sales.

Danielle Steel – $32 million. Part of the romance bestseller’s income for this year includes the $1 million settlement from her former assistant convicted of embezzlement.

Ken Follet – $20 million. His highly acclaimed novel “The Pillars of Earth” has been turned into a TV series in the US.

Dean Koontz – $18 million. He has 44 New York Times bestselling novels under his belt.

Janet Evanovich – $16 million. According to Forbes, her selling power is comparable to James Patterson (about 20 million of her titles sell annually).

John Grisham – $15 million. His first crack at the tween market with “Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer” has received mixed reviews.

Nicholas Sparks – $14 million. He has sold 55 million books and movies made from Sparks’ books have grossed $300 million, says Forbes.

J. K. Rowling – $10 million. She may be down at 10th place but make no mistake. She’s become the 1st billionaire author thanks to her Harry Potter books.

I have one confession though, of all the authors in the list, I’ve only read a book by just one author: John Grisham’s The Appeal. But it’s a perfect excuse to go get a book or two by all of them.