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!

Ah...Wasn't this episode presented as romantic in the book? <confused>

Part of Harry's problem is that he's spent his whole life being told that he's much cleverer than he actually is. Once he steps outside of his comfort zone, there are constant reminders that this isn't the case; he's been lied to his whole life.

Meghan, on the other hand, is very clever.

I don’t think she is very clever at all. The way they have both handled things is disastrous. I think she acts from her ego without much thought about the consequences . She is often talked about as very bright but I fail to see why. She talks well, but the content of her uttering is very insubstantial. She is wordy but isn’t saying much when you break it down. She presents herself well on the whole, but I see no evidence of extraordinary intellect at all. Acting is not a profession that requires a lot of brains. It’s a skill, but that skill depends on more than academic prowess, which she lacks.

I think she’s clever at identifying an opportunity and going for it. She’s dogged and she likes her own way. Persistence and single minded pursuit of a goal often pays off. That isn’t intelligence necessarily.

Clever is relative, she wants to move in exalted circles where the IQ range and achievements far outweigh hers. They are Rhodes scholars, Harvard graduates, Nobel winners.

Shes good at self promotion which is more a Kardasian level skill.

If she’s modelling herself on Michelle Obama she’s way out of her league. That is a VERY clever woman.

Princess Diana allegedly had concerns that Eton was not the right school choice for Harry as she knew he wasn’t academically suited to it. Harry has also said he was the stupidest guy at Eton.

I suspect he is a few sandwiches short of a F&M picnic hamper.

What Harry had going for him was a real ease with people, an ability to connect with children too. He didn’t seem stuffy or standoffish, he was relatable and fun. He’s lost all that completely. Now he’s just an angry, sour looking man with a grudge.

According to Jane Goodall , Harry told her he wanted to raise his children in Africa .
BP had arranged for the couple to take on a major role in Africa but it never happened .
Shame as Harry always claimed he was happiest in Africa.

This is based on pure conjecture, but I get the feeling that in M's world, Hollywood is the pinnacle of aspiration for human achievement. The conspiratorial reveal in The Cut interview that she may be coming back on... Instagram , was rather sad.

She is not clever by my standards. Even her degree subjects are phony baloney ones. Northwestern, while respectable, initially filters out candidates based on their ability to meet the hefty fee requirements which is useful if your family is loaded (or if your father won the state Lotto 😉) . A couple of scholarships are thrown in to prove they are not tone deaf to the needs of the poor but really insignificant compared to elsewhere.

Therefore, it has a concentration of clubby, rich, intellectually mediocre students which was precisely the social step up she was after, I suppose. My Ivy League-educated friends/family never gave it any consideration.

It just reminds me of Ivanka Trump strolling up to world leaders with her insights.

MM’s appearances too purely down to nepotism and I’m sure equally she’s equally keen to share her insights too.

Northwestern, while respectable...

Not that tables are the be all and end all, but the only UK universities above Northwestern in the THE world rankings are Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and UCL. Average SAT scores there are the same as or better than Brown, Cornell, NYU, Stanford. Obviously just a tiny bit of evidence but I think it's probably not bad.

M probably took the blueprint from Ivanka. She interviewed her for The Tig and was fawning over her like she was the second coming. The interview is still online.

Northwestern is a top uni for many subjects. Not sure what subject she took but not a point really. Good on her she went to uni. Bad on her she doesn't seem to have gained a lot of perspective in life there or anywhere after that.

There's an interview with Diana in which she says straight up that she worries about how Harry will get on in life because he's not too bright, unlike William who will be OK. Sadly her fears of Harry being taken advantage of have been entirely justified, and he has been manipulated into the sustained devaluation stage of the cycle that goes lovebomb - devalue - discard - hoover - rinse - repeat. IMHO.

I am quite excited and I'm a Republic member 😳 going to get it on my kindle so dh doesn't know what I'm reading 😂

Imagine saying that in an
interview. Great to have those labels slapped on you at a young age.

I seem to remember she said that we were lucky to have William but that "Harry is an airhead like me". Even then I thought that was a strange thing to say publicly about your own child.

It certainly is.

She mentioned this several times about herself publicly (wasn't there something about being 'thick as two short planks'", 'I only got one 'O' level', and other similar phrases?). H seems to have followed the same blueprint ('I have been a spare all my life' - type of thing).

A wise mum once said to me that ‘ children always try to meet your expectations ‘

Well if that was true my very bright bone idle son would be doing very well instead of going from job to job. I really don't think he's meeting my expectations not that he needs to as an independent adult.

And people blame his father and his family for Harry's mental health issues. Mystifying although both of them going on TV and talking about their marriage/affairs etc won't have helped.

And people blame his father and his family for Harry's mental health issues. Mystifying although both of them going on TV and talking about their marriage/affairs etc won't have helped.

Yes this is what surprised me about him choosing to do his various interviews - it can't have been easy for him and William when their parents did the same kind of TV confessional.

I thought it was Princess Diana who choose Eton as it was her father and brothers old school. I don't think Charles was happy at Gordonstoun so he probably wasn't pushing for his old school.