White received a salary similar to that paid to ministers. Minister's Salary - The Whites each received a salary from the SDA church. Exact figures are unknown, but the book likely sold over a million copies in Ellen White's lifetime, generating her an enormous income. In 2020 dollars, that is $236,485, or about $47,000 per year for just a single book. I shall place more books in his hand.for I can receive better satisfaction than I have received from the Battle Creek publishing house." 7ġ0 percent royalties on 100,000 books selling at 75 cents is $7,500. more than has come to me from some books and I think more would come to me if he had more of my books to handle. White was well-pleased with this royalty-arrangement. 6 After battling with SDA publishers for years over her cut of the royalties, Mrs. White a sweet deal: "5 percent royalty on the first 1,000, with 10 percent on all subsequent issues." 5 The book sold for 75 cents and within five years, 100,000 copies had been sold. Fleming Revell, the non-Adventist puslisher, offered Mrs. Perhaps Ellen's greatest wealth-maker was the book Steps to Christ. In one letter he wrote to his wife saying: "Our financial matters stand well, and there is wealth yet in our pens." 4
ELLEN WHITE ESTATE HOW TO
James understood how to generate wealth from their writings. "With the increased demand for our writings.there will be an income of several thousand dollars annually, besides the immense amount of good our writings will do." 3 He wrote a letter encouraging Ellen to write more books, holding out the prospect of increasing their income: James was known as a shrewd and gifted businessman. In addition, James wrote books, and although we have no figures on his royalties, it can be presumed the Whites enjoyed the income from his writings as well. That type of income would easily place her among the top 1% of wage-earners in the world. In the 1890s and 1900s she was making $8,000 to $12,000 a year in book royalties. Yet these were still lean years compared to what she would make later on. In terms of year 2020 dollars, that is $334,312, or over $33,000 per year. White earned $11,435 in the decade of 1856 to 1866. By the late 1850s, she was making over $1,000 a year on royalties. She may have started out penniless in the 1840s, but that situation was soon reversed. In today's (year 2020) dollars, that is approximately 3.1 million dollars! 1 She made well over $100,000 in book royalties in her lifetime.
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How did Ellen White amass her great fortune?īook Royalties - The vast majority of her income came through royalties on her books. White enjoyed the luxuries of the "rich and famous." In terms of today's dollars, her income was literally in the millions of dollars! This page will present evidence that Mrs. What few SDAs realize is that her early years of poverty were quickly erased as she and James amassed an enormous fortune in money, assets and real estate. White's writings are filled with lessons of self-denial and sacrifice. Most Seventh-day Adventists have heard stories of how the Whites started their ministry "penniless," and how Mrs.