You might be surprised to hear this, but that annoying pudgy guy on CNN Headline News is one of the most cash-flush pundits around. Not only is he picking up a fee for hosting his nightly show, but he also re-upped with Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks last year, for which he hosts a conservative talk show, signing a $50 million/5-year deal that makes him the third highest paid radio star around.

Now add another $3 million to Beck's coffers, courtesy a two-book deal with Simon & Schuster. And if you thought his obnoxious 7pm show fed America's appetite for this sort of thing, you'd be wrong: Beck's books sell. In huge numbers.

Last fall's An Inconvenient Book shipped over a half million copies, with no returns yet, and debuted at No. 1 on the NYT Bestseller list. His new deal will have him trafficking in 750,000 copies for the initial run. [NYO] Only this time, it'll be a work of fiction, drawing heavily from Beck's own childhood, and will hit this fall. It'll be titled The Christmas Sweater, making it the appropriate stocking stuffer for your nephew who you never really liked but couldn't tell anyone about.