Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, was released in on January 10, 2023 and became the UK’s fastest-selling non-fiction book, with 400,000 copies sold in the first three days
Royal figure Prince Harry raked in an astounding $27 million from his controversial tell-all book, Spare. The memoir, which landed on shelves in hardback on January 10 in 2023, smashed records to become the fastest-selling non-fiction title in UK history after being published by Penguin Random House.
The Daily Mail reported that Harry bagged a hefty $20 million advance as part of a lucrative $40 million deal for four books inked back in June 2021. Seasoned author Richard Osman, known for his popular crime novels such as The Thursday Murder Club, speculated on earnings during his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment.
Osman asserted: “The book that Harry wrote, it’s impossible to overestimate how much money that has made.”
He divulged further: “I mean, it’s been one of the most successful books. The fastest selling non-fiction book of all time.”
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Delving into the nitty-gritty, he explained: “I’ve done some back of the envelope calculations because I like to. I know what you get paid per book. Got a $20 million advance. Thing with an advance is, you get paid in advance, $20 million in that case, you do not make a penny until your publisher makes back their $20 million,” reports the Express.
He elaborated on the financial intricacies by adding: “And once they’ve made back their $20 million, and there’s all sorts of sliding scales about how that works, what they get, what you get, once you’ve made the $20 million, then you get your royalties.”
Ramping up his expertise, he disclosed: “I think – and his book has not come out in paperback yet. So this book is purely hardback. I reckon he’s made $26 – $27 million.”
“So he’s earned out an advance of $20 million on the hardback of his first book alone. Forget rights to other things and audiobooks and what have you. He has earned that out already. When the paperback comes out, it’s just money rolling into the Sussexes.”
In the literary world, readers were kept on their toes until October 2024, a full 21 months following the debut, when Penguin Random House finally launched the paperback edition of Spare. Despite widespread speculations of added revelations, the paperback turned out to be a mirror image of its hardcover predecessor – no new gossip graced its pages.
