Jeff Kinney is the second highest-paid author in the world, according to Forbes. The magazine’s list of the top-earning authors of 2016 shows that the Plainville author earned $19.5 million over the past year — even more than “Harry Potter’’ author J.K. Rowling made. “I wrote the first ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ for adults,’’ Kinney told Forbes. “The whole time I thought I was writing comics for grownups, and then my publisher told me I had actually written a children’s series. If you don’t write down to kids, you have a better chance of reaching them.’’ Trailing Kinney in third place on the Forbes list was Rowling, who pulled in $19 million. And No. 1? That would be James Patterson, whose mind-blowing earnings ($95 million!) secured him the top spot for the third year in a row.