Alexandre Dumas

James Patterson released 14 blockbuster novels last year while writing hardly a word. Whether you consider it genius or fakery, his writing franchise has made him a bogglingly wealthy man. Patterson has taken top spot in the just-released Forbes fiction rich list, with an estimated income of $US94 million ($NZ118 million) last year. He outstrips the number-two ranked Stephen King, who settled for making ends meet on a mere $US39 million ($NZ48 million).

MOSCOW, May 10 (RIA Novosti) - Legal sales of e-books in Russia increased almost 2.3 times in 2011, marking a third year of explosive growth, though remaining modest in absolute terms, the Federal Press and Mass Media Agency said on Thursday. Sales of digital books stood at 135 million rubles ($4.4 million) in 2011, compared to 60 million rubles in 2010 and 11 million rubles in 2008, the first year for which statistics are available, the agency said in an annual report on the book industry in Russia. By comparison, the U.S. e-book market stood at $1.3 billion and