J.K. Rowling: ~ $1 Billion

You may not have heard of her name, but you’ve surely heard of her most famous literary work, the Harry Potter series of books. Once a single mom who was struggling financially, Joanne Rowling gave it one last shot and came up with the books on a teen wizard and it eventually sold over 500 million copies and was turned into a popular film series.

The author would eventually write several other books, all bestsellers, and she would eventually increase her net worth to $1 billion, making her the world’s first billionaire author, as declared by Forbes. Rowling, though the years, had supported many charities, and eventually launched her own charity, Lumos. She’s also a grand spender, but in 2017, she put up her $19 million luxury yacht for sale.