No, the public is not tired of hearing about Prince Harry. Sales for “Spare” have put the Duke of Sussex in some rare company.
Penguin Random House announced Wednesday that the first-day sales of Harry’s tell-all memoir topped 1.4 million copies, a record for non-fiction from the company that also publishes Barack and Michelle Obama, whose “Being” needed a week to reach 1.4 million. when released in 2018.
Sales for “Spare” include hardcover, audiobook and e-book editions.
“‘Spare’ is the story of someone we may have known, but now we get to know Prince Harry through his own words,” Gina Centrello, President and Publisher of Random House Group, said in a statement.
“Looking at these incredible first day sales, readers clearly agree, ‘Spare’ is a must-read book, and it’s a book we’re proud to publish.”
One of the most anticipated memoirs of our time, “Spare” is Harry’s personal and intimate account of his life in the royal family and his relationship with American actress Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex.
Michelle Obama’s memoir has since sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, sales continuing to grow due to rave reviews. The verdict is mixed so far for “Spare.”
New York Times critic Alexandra Jacob called the book, and the author, “all over the map — emotionally as well as physically,” at times “frank and funny” and at other times consumed by Harry’s anger at the British press. In the Washington Post, Louis Bayard found “Spare” to be “good, rancorous, humorous, self-righteous, self-deprecating, long-winded. And often, confusing.”
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