Mo Yan (No.2 main list)

The eighth China's Richest Writers List was released by Huaxi Metropolis Daily last week, showing that online writers are not only getting more respect from the world of mainstream literature, they are also now earning more money than their more-established counterparts.

Fantasy writer Yang Zhi, who writes as Jiang Nan, topped the list with 25.5 million yuan ($4.2 million) from copyright royalties, beating Nobel laureate Mo Yan and children's book writer Zheng Yuanjie, the previous No.1.

It is the first time that a fantasy author and previous online writer topped the list. No.4 on the list is also an online fantasy writer, Lei Ou Huan Xiang.

"The whole industry of online literature is growing fast, and that guarantees authors like us will benefit," said Zhang Wei, also known as Tang Jia San Shao, who came first on the newspaper's Richest Online Writers List, earning 26.5 million yuan, more than Yang.