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Prince Harry’s long-awaited memoir Spare must sell around 1.7 million copies for publisher Penguin Random House’s $20 million deal to pay off, according to expert analysis.
Achieving sales, a mix of print and e-books, would require Harry’s Tell-All to break into the annual top 15 list in the US and become a bestseller in Britain.
But some observers say the public may be tired of hearing Harry and Meghan’s incessant rants, first in their interview with Oprah and then in their Netflix documentary, which failed to impress critics.
Penguin announced their deal with the prince in July 2021 with a gushing announcement that promised “intimate and candid memoirs from one of the most fascinating and influential global figures of our time.”
The promotional material for the memoir, which will be released on January 10 and already tops some pre-order lists, prominently refers to the death of Princess Diana in 1997 and the worldwide broadcast footage of Harry and the prince. William walking behind his mother’s coffin.
The book has a sticker price of $36, but several large retailers sell it for $22.40. In the UK some stores sell it for £14 which is around $16.85.
The deal with Penguin Random House is for up to four books, including one or more that could be co-written with Meghan. Others might refer to ‘wellness’, leadership and philanthropy.
Penguin Random House paid Harry $20 million under a deal that could include four books. His long-awaited memoir, Spare, is likely to sell far more than any subsequent book.
An analysis by former Hollywood Reporter book editor Andy Lewis, published on his Substack The Optionist, predicts that Spare must sell 1.3 million print copies and 400,000 e-books worldwide for the Penguin Random House deal to turn a profit. .
With those sales, Penguin would also rely on relatively modest sales of other books included in the deal. The deal reportedly also includes three more books, possibly including one or more co-written with Meghan.
But they are likely to be far less successful than the debut memoir, which will further shed light on Harry’s broken relationship with the British royal family, including claims of racism and bullying that Meghan says caused him to have suicidal thoughts. Later books on “wellness,” leadership, and philanthropy are rumored to be written.
Spare’s sticker price is $36, but retailers like Amazon and Walmart are offering the book for pre-order for $22.40.
Spare will need to sell about 1.7 million copies for Penguin Random House to turn a profit, according to an analysis. But observers say the public may be sick of hearing Harry and Meghan, after their Netflix docuseries and explosive interview with Oprah (pictured)
Spare vows to further lift the lid on Harry’s broken relationship with the British royal family
The wholesale price for the printed book, which Penguin stays with, is probably around $18.
The eBook is $17.99 and Penguin gets 70 percent of that, $12.60, with the rest going to the app store.
But Penguin then must pay Harry more royalties for each sale, estimated at $5.40 per print copy and $4.50 per eBook.
A crunch of the numbers suggests that Penguin will fetch around $12.60 per print book and $8.09 per e-book.
The publisher also faces printing costs and business overhead, not to mention the $1 million it paid to Harry’s Pulitzer-winning ghostwriter, JR Moehringer.
To recoup your $20 million from Spare alone, you’d probably need to average around 2 million print and ebook sales combined.
The tell-all memoir, Spare, took second place on Amazon’s pre-order best-seller list in North America and the UK on Wednesday morning. The Duke of Sussex book is £14 on the UK site.
Spare is published in 16 languages, including. The title of the book varies according to the language: for example, the Spanish version is In the shadow, while in French The substitute
The privacy-conscious couple have already spoken at length about their lives within the royal family. Pictured: The couple appears in their Netflix docuseries.
Ultra-secure agreements are in place to keep your content private prior to release, and the Duke and his publishers go to great lengths to ensure it is released simultaneously around the world.
Spare is published in 16 languages, including Chinese, Finnish, Hungarian, Spanish, and Portuguese. The book’s title varies by language: the Spanish version is In the Shadow, while the French version is The Substitute.
The title Spare is a play on the term ‘the spare for the heir’: Harry’s position as brother William’s second-in-command to the throne.
Spare tells Harry’s story with “raw, unflinching honesty,” according to Penguin Random House.
Publishing sources said that the arrangements for the publication of Harry’s ‘explosive’ memoirs were closely guarded and handled in detail, with only a handful of top executives privy to the exact details.
Deliveries to bookstores are being scheduled at the last minute to prevent the leak of unauthorized copies. Guarded sites around the world have been secured to house copies of the book prior to distribution.