Prince Harry's Memoir: A World Publishing Phenomenon

[MrsMaxDeWinter]

There will likely be several bashing threads on Harry's memoir before it is published, but I am interested in discussing with anyone who is interested in the very interesting marketing choices of the publishers and their approach.

English language editions of SPARE will be published on 10 January 2023 in EIGHT territories: the US, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and Canada.

The book will also be published in translation in 15 additional languages:

SPANISH Plaza & Janés/Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial
GERMAN Penguin Verlag/Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe GmbH, PORTUGUESE BRAZIL Objetiva/Grupo Companhia das Letras
PORTUGUESE PORTUGAL Objectiva/Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, SIMPLIFIED CHINESE Penguin Random House China
DANISH Politikens Forlag
DUTCH Hollands Diep, an imprint of Overamstel
FINNISH Otava Publishing Company Ltd
FRENCH Éditions Fayard
GREEK Pedio Books
HUNGARIAN Corvina Kiadó
ITALIAN Mondadori,
POLISH Wydawnictwo Marginesy,
ROMANIAN Nemira Publishing House,
SWEDISH Albert Bonniers Förlag.

This is absolutely sensational as it means it will be simultaneously published in 23 territories on the same day.

There are not many books where simultaneous release occurs in different markets. From this, I would say that the book will more than earn its advance, just from the foreign sales alone.

They also chose a banger of a title as it puts focus on the troubling notion of the Spare in a system based on primogeniture, and one that imbues both intrinsic and extrinsic value based on a person's birth order.

Imagine growing up knowing that no matter how loved you may be, your constitutional role is ultimately to be the spare to the heir.

Can't wait to read it!

His only source of income now is talking about the Royal Family, their secrets, and how they ruined his life. He can't keep away, because there's nothing else he has to sell, no skills, no trade, no education, only how he has been hard done by. He talked of William being trapped. For him, the RF will be a hamster wheel. Round and round we go.

Did MM employ a Fact Checker ?

The trouble is that people do remember things differently. I used to work for the police, one of the things I did during my time was preparing files for court, the number of witnesses who would have a completely different view of what happened was surprising and these weren't people who were involved.

What really brought it home to me was with an incident that happened in the police station with a violent prisoner. I witnessed what happened, I'm adamant that I recorded exactly what I saw but none of the officers included something important that I saw and heard. They weren't trying to cover something up, what I saw and heard was very much in favour of the officers involved.

Memory really is a strange thing. No sympathy for genuine lies but there will always be a difference of opinion about how things are remembered.

@MrsMaxDeWinter Not all books are published in translation. It is almost always the case that any book published in translation is published a year or so after it was first published in the original language. Sometimes many years after.

Not all books are in translation but most celebrity books are. Many novelists are in translation. My books are in six languages. True, they didn't all appear on the same day but then, I'm not a celebrity and not even a best-selling author in English.
Harry's memoir at the moment is number one in the uk in non-fiction print books.

I am more interested in Matthew Perry's memoir (currently No 6), and I would bet anything that is has more lasting power! There is only so much wingeing about unresolved past trauma that people can take., and they'll head about free it on social media if they're interested.
I wonder what his next two books are going to be about?

Agree @ancientgran and also people's interpretations of even the most innocuous remark.

Quite a few years ago I had a minor op, and it being minor it was scheduled to be done by the registrar. But I was staff and as soon as my favourite consultant saw my name he took over and came to see me pre-op to reassure he'd be doing it. He always took a personal interest in staff. Tbh I think I'd have preferred to keep it all private from him as I worked with him but I couldn't fault his care and consideration.
After he had seen me the anaesthetist came round. My face probably fell as he was a member of staff I heartily disliked. A real back stabber, he would suck up to surgeons during an op and as soon as the surgeon left the room start spouting his bile about them.
Anyway he said to me "you can be assured I will treat you just like any other patient" (or similar, can't recall the precise words).
At the time I took it that he was trying to be reassuring and I did feel reassured. After I woke up I wondered if it was his way of having a subtle dig and giving me the message that whilst charming Mr X might be dancing attendance on me I needn't expect any special treatment from him. That would be just like him too.

Trust me it's not something I lose sleep over, but if I think about it I do wonder. I'll never know. And if he was asked about it at the time I'm sure he would give a different account, and after all this time I doubt he would remember at all.

So recollections and interpretations vary, and a quite different spin can be put on a very straightforward few words.

Going through a lifetime of such recollections, and with perhaps therapists teasing out different interpretations, or with someone more finely attuned to spotting an insult where none was meant - well all I can say is this will be his version.

There will be other versions but we probably won't get to hear them.

Memory really is a strange thing. No sympathy for genuine lies but there will always be a difference of opinion about how things are remembered.

This is very true. In fact there was a tv documentary in which they tested witnesses. Some saw a robbery with men wearing balaclavas. Others saw sunglasses. It was balaclavas but their memories had transposed the dark and light sections and had remembered it differently.

But do you ever forget your wedding date? Well, maybe if you have had more than one marriage, I guess.

So the British were exploring
as far back as 12,000 to 30,000 years ago?

BTW, First Nations Australians have been owners of the land since approximately 60,000 years ago. The British colonised (invaded) there 234 years ago and ‘discovered’ it some 18 years earlier than that. The Dutch and Spanish explored there before the British. Asian countries traded with Australia long before the Dutch, Spanish or British.

BTW, i think the OP so what said she was African so not sure why you are bringing America up.

@Morestrangethings what a strange way of twisting someone's post. Who was talking about who were first, and who mentioned they were there thousands of years ago. You are away from the point made and in a very inelegant simplistic way.

It gets a bit complex when we go that far back. MM and I as do many people have Neanderthal genes in small part (and our homo sapien genes all come from Africa). In a sense we are all one people.

I am sure the book will have had lawyers all over it on behalf of the publishers which may mean it is not so interesting, but we shall see what appears accurate in it and anything that may not appear to be. If it is part 1 of what will be 3 books I suppose it might just cover one stage of Harry's life.

America is often used as a short cut for USA so that's my simple explanation. I brought up America because OP said that memoirs are popular in America but not in the UK, and she question whether there were any literary British memoirs at all. Nothing to get one's knickers in a twist about; it's just surprising that as a translator she didn't know that memoirs have been popular for -- like forever.

coronateachingagain

**The pp said that ‘the British were explorers long before America existed’

My response is acknowledging that these lands and the people that occupied them existed long before the British started with all their exploring.

As to my way being inelegant, yes my writing skills are not the best, but I’m definately not pompous.

What was the question again?

Memoirs are usually deemed by historians to be unreliable. I won't be reading as I can't bear all the He Said She Said.

My words have been maliciously twisted, and still it continues.

This is what I actually said, back on page 5.

Could you please share with me some popular UK memoirs as I only ever read those by American and other writers. Can't think of any good contemporary UK memoirs outside Orwell and Bruce Chatwin, then again I read literary memoirs, not celebrity ones, so there's that. I have preordered Harry's because of who ghostwrote it.

I also said the only memoirs I was seeing wen I searched UK memoirs were political memoirs.

As a writer, I hope you understand the meaning of contemporary.

At no point did I say UK writers don't write memoirs, I simply said I tend to read Americans. Thanks.

@MrsMaxDeWinter

you were quite happy to twist my words

That's a good point, @ancientgran.

My normal recollections are no doubt flawed, eg about what people look like and said and even what side of the road buildings are on, unless I'm paying attention for a reason and then my recollections are razor-focused. I may even take notes.

I do have concerns about how much of Meghan's 'knowledge' has been passed on to her by Harry, and how much Harry has filtered the narrative her gave her. There are cracks in their mutual narrative, that posters have identified; and the media will fire cannonballs at them when it suits.

Harry and Meghan met and became serious very quickly, like a mutual 'love bombing' in the current parlance. It happens. It's been clear from the start he didn't and doesn't want to lose her, and he may (i'm saying may) have over-egged a few things here and there, and played down others. This would explain some of those narrative cracks, but it's Meghan whose been exposed out there with this stuff in front of a media - especially the Mail and the Murdoch empire - looking on waiting for what's in this memoir in order to roll out the big guns.

Harry will never be put in a class-based box by the UK media. It IS a class thing, and he's outside all that by birth. Meghan has nothing but purgatory ahead. I don't understand how Harry can't see this. It's as if he does and he doesn't simultaneously. He had it right when they left for California. But this fight ... whose door is it really bringing trouble to? Who is the most vulnerable really in that couple, class-wise, in the UK? Spoiler: it's not the King's son.

I think the memoir is very poorly advised and will serve his wife ill.

Your words were clear.

i guess the publishers don’t want anyone asking Harry question as he’s probably going to struggle to answer them

i love literary festivals, but he’s not going to be able to answer detailed questions, and I do enjoy round table themed discussions, he’s not going to be able to join one of those without embarrassing himself

You only backtracked when I and others pointed out that it is neither kind nor clever to sneer at people you don't consider academic. On this and other threads you have been pretty vile in your sneering at how unintelligent you think Harry is. You even said on another thread that he would be unable to read the "big words" in his own book.

I said he would have one of his ‘guttural reactions’ to them, why don’t you quote me properly instead of the dramatics, Meghan said he used them when he was unable to express his feeling about Roe v Wade

Forgive me, you did indeed he would say he would have "guttural reactions" the he came across any "big words" in his book.

Happy to correct the record.

CORRECTION:

Forgive me, you did indeed say he would have "guttural reactions" if he came across any "big words" in his book.

Happy to correct the record.

Does anyone think being SPARE is more desirable than being heir?

Much of the same privilege, the wealth, the opportunities. But less of the pressure and expectation and scrutiny.

Seems to me in many ways Harry got the better deal than Wills. And yet he seems to moan and feel sorry for himself quite a bit.

I know some people who had intense therapy and at their ‘breakthough points’ said some
really awful things which looked like they were coming from a place of real hate. they overshared and were incapable of holding anything back and a torrent of issues were released.

luckily though time gave some perspective and they’ve repaired their relationships and have a sense of understanding of the other peoples perspective and there is forgiveness and the relationships have been largely rebuilt

But if these people wrote a book while in that hatred filled over sharing zone, it would be a very different book to one written a couple of years later.

I wonder which zone Harry’s book will be written in ?

Well, I feel really sorry for him because he always looks so very sad. He has made a huge mistake, writing this book and it will come back and bite him!

I never said you had inelegant writing skills. You missed the point.

As for America, she was clearly referring to America as in the country, the USA.