Nanpai Sanshu (南派三叔)

 Royalty income: 8.5 million yuan (US$1.36 million)

Bestseller: "Zang Hai Hua" 《藏?；ā?/p>

Age: 30

2011 Ranking: 2

Nanpai Sanshu, whose real name is Xu Lei, is now the most popular writer of mystery and adventure novels in China. Born in 1982 in Zhejiang Province, Xu once worked in a foreign trade company. Since 2006, he has been publishing his best-selling novel-series "The Grave Robbers' Chronicles" online. In December 2011, the last book of the series came out and this masterpiece went on to sell more than 2 million copies throughout the country.

In August of this year, Xu presented his new novel "Zang Hai Hua" to China-based readers. The work is a prequel about Zhang Qiling, one of the three main characters in "The Grave Robbers' Chronicles". Since being published, the book became popular nationwide and was named the best-selling work on the Chinese book market in October.