Endgame Part 6

[Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstomycar]

A turkey, absolute balls of stuffing or a right Christmas cracker? We'll let you decide. Please keep the discussion interesting, civilised and relevant - the Holiday Armadillo is lurking!

Previous thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_royal_family/4960903-omid-scobie-endgame-part-5?page=1

All present and correct and that thank you 😊

Afternoon. I refer folks to our lovely Caledonian friend above, for a rebuke to the following complaint : "why so many threads?"

Thanks for the new thread.!

@ArcaneWireless yappin aboot royal pish is going to get me through Christmas 🤣

😂

And me probably. 🤣

Thanks for the new thread! It's a bit of a tangent, but I have found the Rest is History podcast with Trevor Phillips about the current accepted story of 'Black Britain' fascinating. It does highlight how racism has universal aspects, but is also very culturally specific - which I think is a huge missing factor in Harry and Meghan's understanding.

Google Podcasts - The Rest Is History episode 401

Bonjour! Ta for the thread!

Hello 👋

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Indeed 😂

I wonder if OS will get together with H &M for a pre-Christmas drink in LA? I’m sure they have lots to catch up on.

Don't forget he's never sat down in a room with her and done aninterview - that must be maintained!

Well if they do get together, they could have a chat about their relative book flops. Because, according to former Page 6 deputy editor, Paula Froelich, despite selling 1.3m copies of Spare, Harry has made a huge loss for Penguin Random House - because he has not sold enough copies relative to the huge advance.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RwcgnZ1NaUs&pp=ygUaTmV3cyBuYXRpb24gc2FsZXMgb2Ygc3BhcmU%3D

Article on the same. Coming after Spare being the most dumped book of the summer and the most traded in (according to one second hand trader), this is all a bit of fall for the fastest selling author of all time. And still 3 books to go, I assume. What are they going to write about to justify the alleged $40m?

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/royals/prince-harry-dealt-bitter-new-blow-as-book-fail-is-revealed/news-story/58452e3adebe54bc758ef9237ae126c3

i was wondering, would you rather spend Christmas Day at Sandringham, with all the fine food and grandeur and royals to ogle, or in laid-back Montecito with M,H and Doria ?

I’d feel a bit awkward at Sandringham, especially with the games (I like a good game but not when you’re the interloper!) . But I do like a Christmas dinner and it might be Clevr coffee and lemon cake round at M&H’s.

I'm surprised by this. If the book broke so many records how did it not make money?

They probably paid Harry too big an advance and although they shifted large numbers I think they discounted it quite early so didn't get full price. I think a lot of the big stories were leaked online which meant people didn't bother to buy it. Also I read that huge numbers were sent to bookstores, and were included initially as "sales", but that bookshops had the option to return unsold copies, which they did in large numbers.

Harry was given a $40m advance for 4 books. If you apportion $10m to Spare, PRH will need to sell that much worth of copies of Spare to break even. Ms Froelich estimates them needing to sell 2.7m copies (I presume at full price) to break even. He has sold 1.2/1.3m. The problem is not so much Spare (which was clearly a huge hit in itself), but the massive advance.

Agree it was a fascinating listen. Always loved Trevor Phillips!

I am definitely looking out for more from Trevor Phillips, had vaguely been aware of him, but now time to read up!

Another good source is David Olusoga, who I have watched/read for years. An excellent combination of personal experience and the broader picture

Spare sold 1.3 million in its first day, but 3.2M in its first week. This has already been widely reported. As well as the publishers saying that sales were "beyond expectations". So I think he's done fine and made more than his advance (not that anyone knows the details of his book deal or how much it was even worth beyond tabloid speculation).

If Harry did indeed give some of the proceeds to WellChild and Sentebale, then we can confirm that he did in fact sell enough copies and make enough to cover his advance.

There's no need for people to spread misinformation or pretend that this book didn't sell well. It's obvious it did.

Of course it sold well - very well. The question is whether it sold well enough to justify the advance