Top 10 most popular foreign writers in China

（China.org.cn）  09:25, December 01, 2012

During the past 15 years since "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was first published in China in 1997, J.K. Rowling and her "Harry Potter" series has no doubt become the best-known foreign name in Chinese mainland book market.

This year, the British female novelist again proved her writing power by earning 15 million yuan (US$2.41 million) royalty income in Chinese market, making her the most marketable foreign writer in China of 2012, according to a sub-list of the China's Richest Writers 2012 rankings released Wednesday by Huaxi Metropolitan Daily.

This is the second time J.K. Rowling was named the most popular foreign writer in the country. In 2010, Rowling topped the ranking with a record royalty income of 95 million yuan (US$15.276 million).

In the 2012 list, last year's winner Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez, author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude", fell to second place. Walter Isaacson, the writer of the biography "Steve Jobs", edged himself into the top three for the first time.

According to the newspaper, the annual list is based on the foreign writers' royalty revenues in the Chinese mainland from November 2011 to October 2012. The list has been compiled by Wu Huaiyao, a literature enthusiast, on a yearly basis since 2006.

The following are this year's top 10 most popular foreign writers in China according to the sub-list of the China's Richest Writers 2012: