John Stott’s books have reached many countries and have been read by hundreds of thousands of people. In total, they are translated into nearly sixty languages. As new books came out – and sometimes even before they came out – publishers around the world would buy the rights to publish them. John’s second book Basic Christianity grew out of his addresses at the Cambridge University Mission. This book alone sold over two million copies.
Book authors earn a ‘royalty’. A royalty is a small payment for each book which is sold. All John Stott’s royalties were (to use his own expression) ‘recycled’. That is, the money he gained from writing books was given to what is now known as Langham Literature, to be invested into purchasing books for more people to read (See Fact File 20). He could have lived very comfortably on his royalties alone, but he chose not to. He accepted only a modest living allowance.
