According to Forbes magazine, who was the highest-earning author in the world in 2013?

Erika Mitchell (born 7 March 1963), known by her pen name E. L. James, is an English author. She wrote the bestselling erotic romance trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed, along with the companion novel Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian; and under Snowqueen's Icedragon the Twilight fan fiction "Master of the Universe" that was the basis for the Fifty Shades trilogy.

James has spoken of her shock at the success of the books. "The explosion of interest has taken me completely by surprise" she said. James has described the Fifty Shades trilogy as "my midlife crisis, writ large. All my fantasies in there, and that's it." She did not start to write until January 2009, as she revealed while still active on FanFiction.Net: "I started writing in January 2009 after I finished the Twilight saga, and I haven't stopped since. I discovered Fan Fiction in August 2009. Since then I have written my two fics and plan on doing at least one more. After that... who knows?"

In August 2013, sales of the trilogy saw James top the Forbes' list of the highest-earning authors with earnings of $95m which included $5m for the film rights to Fifty Shades of Grey. On 1 June 2015 James announced the upcoming release of Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian, which was released into stores on 18 June 2015. Fifty Shades Darker as Told by Christian Grey is set for a 2017 release.