This is quite an interesting list and one thing I immediately noticed which is different from so many other lists is that it is a diverse list — five white women and five women of color. And the list is about power and influence not necessarily about money, but they are all incredibly successful. To me the women of color on the list are more substantial and the white women, more commercial.

Here they are:
1- JK Rowling: Claim to fame- having sold $50 million books and given all of us who have read them and seen the movies immense pleasure

2- Danielle Steel: She has sold over 800 million books and the 8th best selling author of all time.

3- Toni Morrison: Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes

4- Stephenie Myer: 100 million books sold; and the movies are the most successful girl-led franchise grossing about $2 billion with two films still to go.

5- Mary Higgins Clark: 100 million books sold and every one of her 42 books has been a best-seller.

6- Maya Angelou: Nominee for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award

7- Alice Walker: First African American Woman to win the Pulitzer Prize

8- Jhumpa Lahiri: Pulitzer winner for fiction

9- Joyce Carol Oates: Pulitzer Prize nominee and National Book Award Winner

10- Isabel Allende — the world’s most widely read Spanish language author

The 10 Most Powerful Women Authors (Forbes)