Base royalties

Charity | What do pastor-authors owe to ministries that drive their book sales? | Warren Cole Smith, Rusty Leonard

Rick Warren/Photo by Charles Sykes/AP

Joel Osteen is fond of telling reporters that he hasn't accepted a salary from the church he pastors—Houston's mammoth Lakewood Church—since 2005. When Pastor Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life made bestseller lists, he said on Larry King Live that he had reimbursed his church for all the salary he had ever taken from Saddleback Church, and that he and his wife Kay were "reverse tithing": keeping 10 percent of their income and giving away 90 percent.

Fans and some in the media cheered these conspicuous displays of generosity. The Orlando Sentinel's Mark Pinsky called Osteen's behavior a "sharp contrast" to Benny Hinn, Paula White, and other famous pastors.

But given the realities of the book publishing industry, these pastors' salaries had likely become incidental parts of their incomes. Osteen's first book, 2005's Your Best Life Now, has sold an estimated 10 million copies—enough to get a $13 million advance from his publisher for his second book, Become a Better You. Osteen's new book, It's Your Time, in stores in time for the Christmas buying season, will likely yield another eight-figure payday. So even without his salary from Lakewood, Osteen has likely earned at least $25 million in book royalties since 2005.