General Authority Books

[Alan]

I noticed on Deseret News today that President Packer has writen another book; which, of course, is available from Deseret Book.

It got me wondering regarding royalties. Will Pres. Packer receive payment for the book? Do any profits go to the church etc?

Does anybody know the answer?

 

[Kenngo1969]

Deleted.

Edited December 17, 2013 by Kenngo1969

[Duncan]

I know Elder LeGrand Richards put all the money he got from "A Marvelous Work and a Wonder" to the missionary fund of the Church. If Pres. Packer wrote the book I don't see a problem with him receiving money for it. This book is a collection of talks that he has given over the years.

[Buzzard]

It's my understanding that many GA's make enough off of book royalties that they do not need the "stipend" trotted out by our enemies as proof that we pay our leaders. Doggoned if they do, doggoned if they don't, I suppose.

[thesometimesaint]

I don't know, but in either event it doesn't bother me a bit.

[Bob Crockett]

I'd say, more power to him.

A very close relative of mine, who died when he was in his 80s in the 1980s, was very wealthy and paid the living and car expenses for over a dozen general authorities at a time the church didn't offer stipends. I used to know some of their names but now I can't remember.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Bob Crockett

[Kenngo1969]

It's my understanding that many GA's make enough off of book royalties that they do not need the "stipend" trotted out by our enemies as proof that we pay our leaders. Doggoned if they do, doggoned if they don't, I suppose.

Deleted.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Kenngo1969

[Calm]

DB may not follow the same rules with GAs as they do other authors and may have their own rules with royalties as well since they dominant the LDS market, but for purely informational purposes here is a summary about royalties in the greater book market:

 

Generally speaking, hardcover books pay standard royalty rates of 10%, 12%, and 15% of the cover price --- 10% on the first one to 250,000 copies sold, 12% on the next 250,001 to 500,000 copies sold, and 15% on anything sold above 500,000 copies. So if an author's hardcover book has a cover price of $25.00, then the author will earn only a $2.50 royalty on every copy sold, up to 250,000 copies.

This means that if only 10,000 copies of the author's book are ever sold, then the author will earn only $25,000. This sum may indeed be fairly lucrative if the book took only a short time to write. However, if the author spent several years writing the book, then obviously, it was not very financially productive.

You would think the standard royalty rates for hardcover books would also be the same for mass-market paperback books, since because the cover prices for paperbacks are much lower, the royalty rates would be comparably much lower, too. However, this is, in fact, not the case.

Generally speaking, the standard royalty rates for paperback books vary from a low of 1% to a high of 10%, with the average royalty rate falling at 6%. So if an author's paperback book has a cover price of $6.50, then at a 6% royalty rate, the author will earn only a $.39 royalty on every copy sold.

This means that if only 10,000 copies of the author's book are ever sold, then the author will earn only $3,900. At that rate, a paperback author might have to write three books a year, just to earn an annual income of less than $12,000!

http://www.brandewyne.com/writingtips/authorspaid.html

 

I have read reports from LDS authors that their royalties are typical of the greater book market.  This may be different through for the contracts that DB makes with GAs.

Edited December 12, 2013 by calmoriah

[cinepro]

I dunno.    President Packer's personal, financial circumstances have always been pretty modest.  While it's worth asking the question whether General Authorities profiting from their books might approach priestcraft, it wouldn't really knock my world off of its axis if he received any profits from his books.  Even if he did, such profits likely are pretty modest themselves. My $0.02.

 

Have you seen his house?  If that's what "modest financial circumstances" can get you, then may I ever be so modest.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

I noticed on Deseret News today that President Packer has writen another book; which, of course, is available from Deseret Book.

It got me wondering regarding royalties. Will Pres. Packer receive payment for the book? Do any profits go to the church etc?

Does anybody know the answer?

Yes he will. The question I pose is; why wouldn't he? Writing is hard work

[Duncan]

Have you seen his house?  If that's what "modest financial circumstances" can get you, then may I ever be so modest.

  I know where one emeritus Seventy lives and it isn't a big house by any stretch and he has written some books in his lifetime-For him, possibly, having a smaller house and paid off is better than a big horking house and and in debt

[Nevo]

.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Nevo

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

I don't begrudge general authorities their living allowance but I do find the "modest" label a bit much. Sure, it's "modest" by the standards of executive compensation in Fortune 500 companies but it's still way above the median household income in the US. Not to say it's undeserved though. General authorities do work hard.

Do you have a CFR for "way above"?

[Nevo]

.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Nevo

[cinepro]

I don't begrudge general authorities their living allowance but I do find the "modest" label a bit much. Sure, it's "modest" by the standards of executive compensation in Fortune 500 companies but it's still way above the median household income in the US. Not to say it's undeserved though. General authorities do work hard.

 

It's also important to remember that until the 1990's, Apostles typically sat on the Board of Directors for different Church-owned businesses.  So their official stipend may have been quite low, but they could presumably make a decent amount for these positions.

 

For example, in the Ed Kimball bio of President Kimball, it says:

 

 

 

As Church president, Spencer found himself automatically elected chairman of the board in many of the various enterprises which the Church owned or in which it had a large interest:  ZCMI department store, Zions First National Bank, Beneficial Life Insurance Company, Utah Home Fire Insurance, KSL radio and television, Utah Hotel Corporation, Zions Securities Corporation, and Utah-Idaho Sugar company, among others.

 

Lengthen Your Stride, Working Draft, Chapter 28, page 7

 

 

President Hinckley ended the practice in 1996, so Elder Packer could have been on a board (or boards) for 26 years.

 

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1996/04/news-of-the-church/general-authorities-to-leave-business-boards?lang=eng

Edited December 13, 2013 by cinepro

[JAHS]

I have received a few general authorities books before as gifts and was a little disappointed when all they were was a reprinting of all their conference talks (free on the internet) assembled into one book. Glad I didn't pay for them myself. 

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

Do I have a CFR?

 

I don't know how much current general authorities are paid. It's a closely guarded secret. But the Wall Street Journal reported in 1983 that Paul H. Dunn's "church salary is $40,000." Adjusted for inflation, that would be around $90,000 today. Perhaps the current stipend is lower than that but I doubt it's below $70,000/year.

OK, two things, when I was working if I made less than $90 to & 100,000...I was not working hard enough. GA's give the rest of their lives until death. Many of their duties are also to deal with the business of the Church.

[Stone holm]

Don't begrudge them their royalties. Some like LeGrand Richards , Marvelous Work and A Wonder and Pres Kimball's Miracle of Forgiveness were used extensively by members, missionaries and local leaders.

[Calm]

Marvelous Work and Wonder gained no royalties for Richards....just FYI.  (I see Duncan already mentioned this)

Edited December 13, 2013 by calmoriah

[Duncan]

I have received a few general authorities books before as gifts and was a little disappointed when all they were was a reprinting of all their conference talks (free on the internet) assembled into one book. Glad I didn't pay for them myself. 

 

 

yes....stinks to find that out after the fact.....

[David T]

I like having them bound and shelf ready. Can't wait for the eventual Uchtdorf collection.

[thesometimesaint]

I don't begrudge general authorities their living allowance but I do find the "modest" label a bit much. Sure, it's "modest" by the standards of executive compensation in Fortune 500 companies but it's still way above the median household income in the US. Not to say it's undeserved though. General authorities do work hard.

 

Unless they put away the fancy suits after GC. I'd say they are pretty modest(in the $500 range). Certainly not the $2000 range of the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. I wear my suits for about 10 years before they have to be replaced. So for about a dollar a Sunday I don't look much different than a GA.

[Alan]

Thanks for your responses.

I never buy GA's books. What can they tell us, of importance, that they can't tell us at General Conference?

To me it does, very much, smack of priestcraft.

[sunstoned]

Good point, if true.  (Not saying I have any reason to doubt.)

 

P.S.: And if it is true, it's pretty good evidence that neither the book profits nor the stipends are going to make anybody filthy rich.

And yet President Packer, who's only employment has been the church has a home worth over a million dollars.  Many GA's, including President Monson  have second and a third holiday homes.  I don't begrudge these people their salaries, but I think it is a little disingenuous when members claim their leaders are not compensated well.   

[Tacenda]

One only needs to see the advertisement in the mail, all the books put out by GA's and others and see that it is something to think about. I still get their mailer, I'm a former card carrying member of DB's book deals. And the local libraries in Utah have hundreds of these books on the shelves. It was a great way to do my Christmas shopping at one time.