The release of an annual list of China's most successful authors both domestic and foreign on Monday revealed a sharp reduction in sales of serious literature and increase in the sales of books targeting teenagers and children.

Topping the 2010 "China's 25 Richest Writers" list were Yang Hongying, a children's book writer, Guo Jingming, a teenage icon and Zheng Yuanjie, another children's author.

The list, published annually since 2006 by Chengdu Shangbao of Sichuan Province, ranks authors on royalties collected, which usually equate to about 10 percent of total sales.

Yang reported revenue of 25 million yuan ($3.68 million) while renowned author Jia Pingwa, received 1.6 million yuan ($235,000).

"It is natural in a mature publication market for the revenue of serious writers to lag behind the popular writers," said Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University's department of Chinese Language and Literature.

Zhang explains that young readers are losing interest in serious literature mainly because they have more choices.

"It takes much more time for a writer to be acknowledged as a literary figure than it does in the popular field," he added.

Xinhua