Donald Trump Receives $5.75m in Royalties for Coffee-Table Book Featuring Photos Already in Public Domain

Former US President Donald Trump collects millions in royalties for Our Journey Together, a coffee-table book of images from his presidency. The Republican forerunner utilized a private family corporation to publish a work that contained materials that were primarily subsidized by taxpayers, then used donor monies to encourage sales.

Forbes reported that in financial documents filed last week, Trump disclosed $5.75 million in royalties related to a publishing deal for A MAGA Journey. That was the original name for Our Journey Together, which mostly features images taken by Trump's official White House photographer. Trump reportedly wrote captions for each image himself.

Sergio Gor, a former campaign worker and representative for his publisher, said that Our Journey Together sold 500,000 copies. However, the person was unable to provide any supporting documents for that sum, and Forbes was unable to independently verify the figure.

An industry statistics provider called NPD BookScan monitored 10,200 retail sales through January 2023, but it does not monitor purchases made directly from a book's website, which would seem to have been a substantial source of revenue for Our Journey Together. The book's initial price was $75, with signed editions retailing for $230. 

Trump's political operation helped to increase sales, and in 2022, his joint fundraising committee and political action committee gave $231,000 to Winning Team Publishing, the company that published the book, Forbes reported on Sunday. 

Trump acknowledged collecting additional royalties over the previous 18 months, but Our Journey Together's $5.75 million are the highest among them. The 1987 book The Art of the Deal, which cites the sales of Trump's earlier books in broad ranges, earned between $100,000 and $1 million, according to the filing. He made $5,000 to $15,000 from four other books, $2,500 to $5,000 from one, and less than $200 from ten others. Among important books, Trump gets revenue from Think Like a Billionaire, ranging between $2,501 and $5,000; The Way to the Top, which gains him between $1,001 and $2,500.

The payments for Our Journey Together were revealed to have come from a business called Gold Standard Publishing LLC in Trump's financial report.

Trump also revealed that his wife Melania received $250,000 in licensing fees from Winning Team Publishing. According to a spokesperson, the payment was made to promote Our Journey Together. “The payments were made from Winning Team Publishing,” said a spokesperson for Winning Team. “We have alerted those who filed the paperwork.” 

Letters to Trump, a follow-up book from Winning Team Publishing, was published in April and sold for $100; versions that were autographed cost $400. The 320-page book includes Trump's criticism and letters over the previous 40 years. Hillary Clinton, Alec Baldwin, and Kim Jong Un are among the unintentional contributors.

References:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/2023/07/23/donald-trump-received-575-million-in-royalties-for-a-book-that-largely-features-photos-in-the-public-domain/?sh=3bc5ee5a4f80&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ForbesMainTwitter&utm_campaign=socialflowForbesMainTwitter

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/05/16/donald-trump-books-tv-movie-appearances-he-gets-royalties/616133002/