Clay Aiken coming out of the very shallow closet for People magazine did not earn the singer the multimillions that are typical when negotiating front page deals. While magazines and glossies engage in bitter bidding wars to get a first glimpse of Brangelina's spawn (the final payout was $14.5 million), Aiken's own cover earned the singer around $500k, which is half of what even non-celeb Jamie Lynn Spears was able to negotiate for selling the first pics of her illegitimate child to OK!.

And Clay's cover had both homosexuality admission AND baby pics!

Sign of the depressing economy or gay glass ceiling? More lukewarm responses, after the jump:

The low dollar amount wasn’t necessarily due to waning interest in Aiken — one editor admitted that his magazine had been trying to get the singer to do a tell-all for a substantial sum long before the baby was in the picture. Instead, People, had little competition for the photos, and in turn, no one to drive the price up.

“Gone are the days when any celebrity gets millions of dollars for their photos,” says one magazine editor. “Economically, it doesn’t make sense, and there is only so long that you can keep saying ‘It’s good for the brand.’ People is the magazine that’s most well-off, that has the finances right now to take on these exclusives.”

What horrible news: Pretty soon the lucrative business of whoring out your infant to finance your new house in Dubai might only net you enough to keep your mansion in LA from foreclosure. ::Frowny Face::