The Duggalos: Jinger and the Holy Goalie

[MaryAnneSpier]

Just yesterday I found that Gabby and Cade are going to be in a thriller/ horror movie. And it’s not a director who makes “Christian horror” films, so that is a bit puzzling. I saw Gabby’s name in the cast list and then was both surprised and not surprised that further down, Cade was listed as well.  That dude needs to quit riding her coattails.  

[Future Cat Lady]

5 hours ago, MaryAnneSpier said:

Just yesterday I found that Gabby and Cade are going to be in a thriller/ horror movie. And it’s not a director who makes “Christian horror” films, so that is a bit puzzling. I saw Gabby’s name in the cast list and then was both surprised and not surprised that further down, Cade was listed as well.  That dude needs to quit riding her coattails.  

The controling asshole probably wouldn't let her do it unless he was in it.

[xwordfanatik]

I wish that Gabby would tell PAC that she's done being pregnant.  

3 minutes ago, Future Cat Lady said:

The controling asshole probably wouldn't let her do it unless he was in it.

I see it that way, too.  I think he's purposely knocking her up to keep that control freak fundie thing going on.

I wonder if RAD homie will follow suit with Jinjer?

[Future Cat Lady]

2 hours ago, xwordfanatik said:

I wish that Gabby would tell PAC that she's done being pregnant.  

I see it that way, too.  I think he's purposely knocking her up to keep that control freak fundie thing going on.

I wonder if RAD homie will follow suit with Jinjer?

I don't think there is evidence that Jeremy is as controling as Cade.

[satrunrose]

Yeah, I'm happy to make fun of our Rad homie and there's a lot I don't much care for about him, but they have two kids who are pretty spaced out and not a peep about trying for more (Credit where credit is due, I really expected Jer to keep pushing until he had at least a couple of sons). I'm not saying that their quiver is full (ugh) and they may end up with more, but I don't get the same sense of someone using pregnancy and kids to control their wives with Jer as I do from Cade.

[Gemma Violet]

I saw this article on Jinger and Jeremy that mentions they live in an $830,000 home.  In most places, an $830,000 house would be quite the showplace, but in California, I'm guessing it's just an average house?

https://www.the-sun.com/tv/10470739/duggar-fans-spot-bizarre-detail-in-family-photo-jinger/ 

[Salacious Kitty]

Their house has 5 small  bedrooms. It's hardly a "mansion." $830000 buys very little in the cities and their burbs. 

[floridamom]

How did they qualify for an $830,000 house?

[quarks]

 

15 hours ago, floridamom said:

How did they qualify for an $830,000 house?

They presumably had at least some cash from the sale of their Laredo house, the appearance fees from Counting On, and the advance from their first book. They also apparently spent their first couple of years in L.A. at a house owned by a church member; it's not clear if they were paying any rent. Given all that, they were presumably able to put down a sizeable down payment. 

Jeremy does have some sort of part-time job at that school - I doubt it pays all that much, but, hey, steady employment. And when Jinger testified in that civil trial, she stated that she was earning somewhere in the low six figures from various influencing gigs. 

[Salacious Kitty]

7 minutes ago, quarks said:

 

They presumably had at least some cash from the sale of their Laredo house, the appearance fees from Counting On, and the advance from their first book. They also apparently spent their first couple of years in L.A. at a house owned by a church member; it's not clear if they were paying any rent. Given all that, they were presumably able to put down a sizeable down payment. 

Jeremy does have some sort of part-time job at that school - I doubt it pays all that much, but, hey, steady employment. And when Jinger testified in that civil trial, she stated that she was earning somewhere in the low six figures from various influencing gigs. 

I believe Jinger's income derived mostly from the books. Their online presence h as s never been consistent or frequent. Failed 

Podcast that only lasted a handful of episodes, maybe 5 cooking shows, infrequent YouTube. None of that brought in much 

[zoomama]

from the pics i have seen, its just a typical neighborhood house, nothing out of the ordinary. that price is pretty average for southern cali -- not saying i can afford it -- but it is the norm.

[Salacious Kitty]

Sassy Grandma Vuolo passed away.

[oliviabenson]

Don’t forget their merchandise consisting of hats, candles they quit after a few weeks if that. 

[Salacious Kitty]

2 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

Don’t forget their merchandise consisting of hats, candles they quit after a few weeks if that. 

That's the point. Jinger didn't make 6 figures doing these short lived vanity projects.

[quarks]

21 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

I believe Jinger's income derived mostly from the books. Their online presence h as s never been consistent or frequent. Failed 

Podcast that only lasted a handful of episodes, maybe 5 cooking shows, infrequent YouTube. None of that brought in much 

It's an interesting question, isn't it - how exactly did she reach that six figure income, given in her September 2021 deposition, a statement that, given the timing, presumably reflected her 2020 tax statement/income?

I agree with you that it wasn't the podcast - I don't think they made any money from that, presumably why they dropped it so quickly. Same with the cooking shows.

But I also think it's very unlikely that the income she mentioned in September 2021 came mostly from the books. To start with, in September 2021, she and Jeremy only had the one book - The Hope We Hold - published by Hachette in May 2021. That book is still in print three years later and apparently selling a few copies per month over at Amazon, but I don't think that it earned out in its first couple of years, mostly because Hachette didn't publish the third book. Harper Collins did.

The children's book, You Can Shine So Bright, wasn't published until 2022. It's possible that Jinger was referring to this book as well in her deposition, since she could have received part of the advance for that book in 2022 - but it's equally possible that Hachette held that part of the advance until returns started coming in for The Hope We Hold, which would not have started until September 2021 at the earliest. 

The third book, Becoming Free Indeed, published January 2023, was presumably sold at some point after November 2021, after Hachette's six month review of sales for The Hope We Hold. So any advance for that would not have been counted for her September 2021 deposition. (And there are solid reasons to think that she sold Becoming Free Indeed at some point after a certain criminal trial)

Speaking of those advances: the typical advance for comparative books (memoirs by minor celebrities and/or Christian inspirational books) is somewhere between $60,000 to $120,000. For picture books, usually somewhere between $15,000 to $30,000, regardless of the author. Those books were credited to both Jinger and Jeremy; funds were either paid to them jointly or split. 

Those advances would have been split into at least three payments, more likely four, spread out over at least two years: one payment on signing (presumably 2019), one payment on delivery (2020), one payment on publication (2021) and possibly an additional payment post early returns (2022), which Hachette (and other Big Five publishers) can and does withhold depending upon sales. 

Let's assume, for a moment, that Jeremy and Jinger used their roles as "breakout stars" to negotiate a higher advance of $120,000 here, and that - somewhat unusually for Hachette - it was split into three payments and they received all three payments. That's $40,000 for the first book both of them - or $20,000 for Jinger - each year, before the agent cut of 10 to 15%. 

This fits in pretty well with the income Jeremy reported in his deposition - somewhere around $40,000, which sounds about right for a part time academic job, one or two speaking gigs, and that advance. 

It also fits in with what Jinger said - that she earned money from the show, "brand partnerships," and the book, apparently in that order, suggesting that as of September 2021, the book had earned less than the show and brand partnerships. 

I don't know if Jinger received any payments for the show in 2021. But she presumably did in 2020, when Counting On was still filming and on cable/streaming.  The other big question is the amount.  Presumably - TLC/Discovery/Jim Bob paid both her and Jeremy. Jeremy, though, reported a much lower income. So either they weren't paid the same amount - possible - or, the appearance fees were paid into an LLC, which later paid Jinger one amount and Jeremy another. 

The other oddity is that Jinger was the only one of the four sisters to report a six figure income. Granted, by September 2021 Jill had been off the show for some time, and at the time, Joy wasn't doing as much on social media, but neither of these applies to Jessa, and I don't think the book was enough to explain the gap between Jessa and Jinger.

Those "brand partnerships" though, maybe. Not that any of those partnerships seemed to last long, but Jinger was paid in advance for them, and she had fairly sizeable social media numbers. I expect that did bring in something, which may help explain the discrepancies between her income, Jeremy's income (he was also trying "brand partnerships" at the time, but had far fewer followers on social media), and Jessa's income (lack of access to Los Angeles "brand partnerships.")

For 2022 and 2023 though, after that deposition, and after Josh's trial, things may have switched, with the books bringing in more money than the "brand partnerships," which seem to have lessened considerably post-trial. And of course, the show money is gone. So for those years, her income may not have been in the six figures. 

[Salacious Kitty]

What brands did she endorse? I don't remember her ever giving out a discount code. She probably did, and I rolled my eyes and immediately put it out of mind. 😀

[GeeGolly]

I think in the beginning Jinger was shilling the same products as Jill and Jessa. But from what I read on here, many posters from Redditt were quick to contact the brands to make them aware of Jinger's beliefs. Then she did some local to her shills, but again I guess the Jinger haters were out in full force. So while I think she did make income from shilling, it wasn't likely as much as her sisters did.

As far the continuing mystery of the Duggar kids' finances, I do think J&J negotiated straight out of the gate with either TLC or JB. They went from a tiny apartment to a house pretty quick. A house in which they had a custom library/office built. And then the clothes for both J&J, the books, the fountain pens and pocket squares, the piano, etc.

Then the move to LA and their spending didn't slow down until they purchased their current house.

So I do think J&J were making more from the show than the other kidults, but... I also think Jinger sort of guessed when responding to the question about income. IIRC she first said she wasn't sure what it was and was given income brackets to pick from. I don't recall what the ranges were, but apparently she picked the one that topped at $100,000.

[quarks]

16 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

What brands did she endorse? I don't remember her ever giving out a discount code. She probably did, and I rolled my eyes and immediately put it out of mind. 😀

Influencers can get paid without giving out a discount code. 

She was making a point of shopping at various boutiques and eating at different restaurants. There's a non-zero chance she received some sort of kickback from at least some of those posts.

12 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

 

So I do think J&J were making more from the show than the other kidults, but... I also think Jinger sort of guessed when responding to the question about income. IIRC she first said she wasn't sure what it was and was given income brackets to pick from. I don't recall what the ranges were, but apparently she picked the one that topped at $100,000.

The thing is, asking someone in Jinger's earnings situation in September about what her yearly earnings will be by the end of December 2021 is always, always going to be a guess. So I can't read that much into that.

And it's also a pretty safe guess that her earnings fluctuated not just month by month, but year by year. Counting On aired 22 episodes in 2017; 18 episodes in 2018; 17 episodes in 2019; 12 episodes in 2020, and of course was cancelled in 2021. The "brand engagement' income may have taken a hit in 2020 for Covid-related reasons, creating more uncertainty.

Her lawyers, though, let that six figure number into the deposition record, despite knowing that it was harmful to their case, so I don't think it was completely unfounded.

[oliviabenson]

She probably got a payout like Jill. I’m pretty sure most of the $ is from her in their marriage. Jeremy barely makes $ IMO. All this time they have been living off her $.