Fantasy author Jiang Nan tops 2015 China Writers Rich List again

By Xiong Yuqing Source:Global Times Published: 2016-3-22 19:23:01

Chinese writer Jiang Nan (birth name Yang Zhi) topped the China Writers Rich List with 32 million yuan ($4.9 million) in royalties for 2015, the West China Metropolis Daily announced on Tuesday.

Jiang Nan, famous for his Dragon Raja and Eagle Flag series, announced earlier this month that he was establishing a new company, Smart Dragon, to explore the expansion of his IPs into other mediums, including film, TV, games and virtual reality experiences (See March 2's Writer Jiang Nan sees VR as an opportunity for Chinese fantasy).

In addition to Jiang Nan, the top three was dominated by fantasy novelists: Leon Image, author of the best-selling Charlie IX series of children's books, ranked second with 20 million yuan, while fairy tale master Zheng Yuanjie ranked third.

"In Western countries, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter books are still best-sellers. The reason why fantasy novels are so popular is that before a teenager enters the real world, he wants to experience a fantastic world. People demand stories with exciting and inspirational elements, which indicates that the Chinese reading market is very similar to the international market," Wu Huaiyao, the founder of the China Writers Rich List, said.

The king of 2014, Zhang Jiajia, ranked seventh on the list with 14 million yuan with his bedtime stories for adults.

Guo Jingming and Han Han, two of the most talked about post-1980 writers in China, dropped out of top 10, ranking in at 20 and 55 respectively. This drop in royalties most likely stems from the duo's interest in other fields.

Last year, Zhang was busy working on adapting his works to the big screen, while both spent time working as a scriptwriter and film director.

Boosted by the popularity of the controversial The Legend of Mi Yue TV series, Jiang Shengnan, the author upon whose book the series is based, came in at No.8.

Other newcomers to the list include Liu Cixin, who won a Hugo Award in 2015 for his sci-fi novel The Three-body Problem.

For the past decade, the China Writers Rich List has been released annually by the Huaxi Metropolis Daily and author income is calculated based on book sales.  

The list further breaks down into several categories including an online writers list, comic book authors list and scriptwriters list. These categories have helped shed light on the rise of online literature in China by demonstrating how online writers can end up earning more than traditional authors. 



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