'Richest Chinese authors' not rich

The Nobel Prize for Literature has brought Chinese author Mo Yan fame as well as fortune. He placed second on the 2012 list of the richest Chinese authors, taking in more than 21 million yuan in royalties, equal to about 3.5 million US dollars. Children's book writer ZhengYuanjie earned top spot on the list, with an income of around 26 million yuan, or 4.3 million dollars. But as Yuli finds out, most Chinese writers' incomes and rights are lagging far behind their peers in the world.

All of a sudden, the whole world knows him.

The Nobel Prize has brought Mo Yan more fame and many more readers.

Wu Huaiyao, creator of Richest Chinese Author List, said,"Let me show you the figures from Dangdang on-line book store. Only about a hundred books of Mo Yan were sold per month before he won the Nobel Prize. Now, the daily sales volume are about seven to eight thousand."

Wu is the creator of the richest Chinese authors list. It has been published annually since 2006. And it has become the weathervane for monitoring trends in Chinese literature. Although Wu says Chinese authors' incomes have increased every year, they still fall below the international standard.

Just take a look at the Forbes list of the world's richest authors. American writer James Patterson topped the 2012 list, earning 94 million US dollars. That's over 20 times more than China's top author. And it's more than triple China's 30 top-earning authors combined.

Zhao Lihua, China Light Industry Press, said," Book pricing is relatively low in China. We found that a book on professional knowledge in other countries can be sold at more than a hundred dollars. Here, the same books priced at 40-50 yuan are considered expensive."

Apart from lower pricing, copyright infringement also jeopardizes authors' earnings.

Famous Chinese writer Han Han publicly complained about the problem in his blog.

Wu Huaiyao said,"Copyright piracy is a chronic problem in China. I think only law enforcement can protect authors' legal rights, especially for the authors who publish online, because piracy affects them the most."

Online authors are playing an increasingly large role as more people read e-books on smart phones and computers. Wu says their income is growing as more movie and game producers search for material on the internet. But whether in print or online, only effective law protection of authors' works can ensure their words stay valuable.