By Alex Knott, CQ Staff

President Obama’s moonlighting as an author is still paying him big dividends. He banked $2.5 million last year in royalties from two bestselling books he wrote in preparation for his presidential run.

The royalties were revealed this morning in new financial disclosure reports Obama was required to file with the Senate because he was still a lawmaker for most of 2008. The reports cover the period Jan. 1 through Nov. 16, the day Obama resigned from the Senate.

The royalties, which do not include signing bonuses, totaled $950,000 for “Dreams From My Father” and more than $1.5 million for “The Audacity of Hope.” Both books are autobiographies. The 2008 royalties, while substantial, were not as good as the royalties generated by the books in 2007 when Obama announced his presidential candidacy. He pocketed $4 million that year from the sales.

The president also disclosed in his reports to the Senate that he approved a $500,000 advance against royalties to create an abridged version of “Dreams From My Father,” that will be “suitable for middle grade or young adult readers.” He also revealed that he has contracted with his publisher Random House for a third non-fiction work on a subject yet to be determined that will be written after he leaves office.

Obama is one of dozens of federal politicians who write books in addition to fulfilling their legislative — or now in the case of the president, executive — duties. According to a 2006 survey, there were 31 senators in the 109th Congress, including Obama, who collectively had written some 74 books.