J.K. ROWLING – EST. $1.5 BILLION

Did you know that the Harry Potter books have since sold more than half a billion copies and have been translated into different languages? For authors such as J.K. Rowling, this must be quite a fulfilling achievement, both personally and financially. In fact, the widely beloved fantasy series has even taken credit for becoming the best-selling book series in history. Before she became successful, however, she went through several years of difficulty—living in relative poverty and needing loans before publishers picked up the first Harry Potter book back in 1997.

Since then, Rowling has continued her career as a writer, releasing new works like The Casual Vacancy and The Ickabog. For her work on the Cormoran Strike series, Rowling writes under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Her rags to riches story is an inspiration to many. She is also the world’s first billionaire author but gives to charities so much that she tends to lose this status quite often.