Experts warn the Sussexes risk becoming 'boring'

After you’ve seen the reality show AND bought the book – what else can brand Harry and Meghan offer? Experts warn the Sussexes risk becoming ‘boring’ – but there are still two more books to come as part of Prince’s ‘£18.4m’ deal

• Duke of Sussex was reportedly paid a £18.4million advance for book as part of a three-title deal worth £36.8m 
• It’s set to be published on January 10, just weeks after the couple’s equally controversial Netflix documentary
• Together with a £100m deal with Spotify, the agreements give the Sussexes significant financial firepower 
• But could be at risk in the future if the public begins to tire of their regular pronouncements, a PR expert said  

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are at risk of losing out on more lucrative media deals by being seen as ‘boring’, a public relations expert said today – as he warned the success of Harry’s controversial memoir would be crucial to their financial future.    

The Duke of Sussex’s autobiography, which has the pointed title Spare, was unveiled yesterday. He was reportedly paid a £18.4million advance for the book as part of a three-title deal worth £36.8m. 

The book will be published on January 10, just weeks after Harry and Meghan’s equally controversial Netflix documentary – believed to be part of a £100m deal – is due to be aired.

Together with a £100m deal with Spotify, which includes Meghan’s Archetypes podcast, the agreements provide the couple with significant financial firepower. 

But this could be at risk in the future if the public begins to tire of their regular pronouncements, according to PR and marketing expert Mark Borkowski.  

‘The most important thing in the modern world is that they generate column inches and eyeballs – everything will come down to the success of the book and the deals with Netflix and Spotify,’ he told MailOnline. 

‘If they do well then they could still be attractive to media outlets looking for subscribers. Given they’re no longer connected to the Royal Family with the exposure that brings they need to create their own energy. The danger is they become boring.’

The Duke of Sussex’s autobiography, which has the pointed title Spare, was unveiled yesterday. It is just one of a series of commercial ventures the couple have engaged in 

Mr Borkowski said the couple’s expensive lifestyle – which revolves around their £11million Montecito mansion – could see them partner with a Silicon Valley tech firm such as Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. 

The firm’s share price recently plummeted amid concerns Mr Zuckerberg’s multi-billion dollar investment in the idea of the ‘metaverse’ – a series of virtual worlds where users can engage with each other in virtual reality – would fail to pay off. 

‘There’s a bit of a downturn in tech at the moment but I’d expect that as the dust settles we could see them sign another deal in that industry,’ Mr Borkowski said. 

‘Meta are facing huge problems so who better to generate a conversation around their idea of the metaverse than Harry and Meghan? They could be promoting it or creating their own virtual world themselves.’ 

Meanwhile, brand expert Nick Ede predicted Spare would open up new commercial opportunities for Harry and Meghan. 

‘I think the next step for Harry will be the very lucrative public speaking circuit,’ he told MailOnline. ‘Harry will read extracts from his book at events around the world with a Q&A. 

‘I also think he will make a lot of money through an exclusive sit down interview with a journalist to promote the book. These kinds of sit downs can command in the six to seven figures and I’m sure they’ll be a bidding war.

‘And with the book being so explosive he could even look to sell the film rights to it. Again that would be highly lucrative.’     

Publisher Penguin Random House confirming the £28 book ‘full of insight, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom’ will be released on January 10. The title page shows Harry staring at the camera in a brown T-shirt and a black string necklace

Spare, which is available to pre-order, will cost £28 hardcover, £13.99 as an eBook, £20 as an audio download and £25 as a CD. It will be released simultaneously in the US, UK and Canada, with 15 foreign language editions, including one in Spanish entitled Spare: En La Sombra (Spare: In The Shadow)

The Royal Family’s lawyers remain on standby for Prince Harry’s ‘nuclear’ memoir, amid fears it is ‘critical of everyone and everything’ and that reports of it being toned down are ‘overblown’.

Billed as a work of ‘raw, unflinching honesty’, the controversial book will be eye-catchingly called Spare – a ‘loaded’ reference to his position as the younger brother of the heir to the throne.    

‘It could not come at a worse time’: Royal authors say delayed book will make King ‘nervous’ as he plans coronation 

King Charles will be ‘nervous’ after hearing Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir is slated for release on January 10, royal experts said today – amid speculation the New Year publication date suggests the royal has succeeded in his bid to water down its content. 

The memoir had initially been signed off ready for an expected autumn release as part of a multi-million pound, three-title deal with Penguin Random House. But its publication was delayed following the Queen’s death, and Harry is said to have requested a number of alterations to make it less critical of the Royal Family. 

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams warned the book’s release would be ‘unhelpful’ to King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort. ‘It was never a good idea for Harry, fifth in line to the throne, a Counsellor of State and only 38, to write a memoir which by its nature would be highly controversial,’ he told MailOnline. 

‘All of this will almost certainly be unhelpful to King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla, in the early months of his reign. It may well widen the rift between the royal family’s and the Sussexes in the pivotal period leading to King Charles’s coronation. ‘

Biographer Tom Bower suggested commercial imperatives would ensure the final manuscript still contains plenty of criticism of the Royal Family. ‘To those who have speculated that Harry wanted to dilute his ghost-written text to remove the most offensive descriptions of Charles, William and Kate, one can only surmise that his book can only be a global commercial success if a healthy dollop of poison remains,’ he said. 

Family members were not informed of the Spare title in advance of the announcement yesterday, while the Spanish language version is even more pointed, having been given the subtitle En La Sombra, or ‘in the shadow’.

An initial release date of had been pencilled in for ‘late 2022’ to capitalise on the lucrative Christmas market, but the book will not be on the shelves until January 10 – said to be as a mark of respect following the death of the Queen, and, it is rumoured, due to last-minute alterations requested by the duke.  

Meghan’s biographer Tom Bower suggested the couple’s Netflix series would create useful publicity for the memoir. 

‘The curtain raiser to the Sussexes’ vengeance will be their Netflix series – a lucrative trailblazer to the book, clearly updated to describe their unexpected lengthy stay in London during the Queen’s funeral,’ he told MailOnline. 

‘Viewers and readers can expect scathing comments about their treatment by Harry’s family. Wallowing in self-pity, the Sussexes will portray themselves as victims of uncaring charlatans.’

Spare’s title page shows Harry staring sternly at the camera in a brown T-shirt and a black string necklace. An unabridged audiobook will be read by the prince himself. 

The 416-page autobiography – which some retailers have cut to half-price for pre-order copies – was expected to hit bookshelves this autumn but there has been speculation that the date was pushed back as a mark of respect following the death of the Queen, and, it is rumoured, to make changes to the publication and remove potentially damaging material. 

However, it appears the tone of the book has darkened since it was first announced in July last year. While the memoir was then-described as an ‘inspiring, courageous, and uplifting human story’, today’s promotion calls it a ‘personal journey from trauma to healing’. 

Royal author Richard Fitzwilliams suggested the Royal Family would be ‘very concerned’ by how the book was being promoted. 

‘It is a sensational title and implies that the writer was not valued or certainly that he did not feel at the centre of events,’ he told MailOnline. ‘When the blurb speaks of ”raw, unflinching honesty” the Palace will be very concerned, especially since these are the early months of King Charles’s reign.

‘There will undoubtedly be interviews, serialisation and endless speculation about this memoir, which in my view should have waited many years. Even Edward VIII, by then the Duke of Windsor, waited until 1951 before A King’s Story was published. The consequences of this will be far-reaching and may be highly destructive.’ 

The Royal Family has not been given a chance to see the manuscript before publication, so will be unable to respond to any of its claims through their lawyers.    

William and Kate visit Sandringham to look at tributes and flowers laid for the late Queen last month

It is understood that Harry, seen with his wife Meghan in New York last year, was paid a $20million (£18.4m) advance for the autobiography as part of a three-title deal worth £36.8m

The publication date was announced in a press release yesterday, which referred to Harry as a ‘husband, father, humanitarian, military veteran, mental wellness advocate and environmentalist’ who ‘resides in Santa Barbara, California, with his family and three dogs’. 

‘Spare takes readers immediately back to one of the most searing images of the Twentieth Century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow — and horror,’ the release said. 

‘As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is his story at last. With its raw, unflinching honesty, Spare is a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.’

The memoir, which is available to pre-order, will cost £28 hardcover, £13.99 as an eBook, £20 as an audio download and £25 as a CD. It will be available in English in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and Canada, while the book will also be published in 15 additional languages, including Spanish, Italian, German and Chinese. Representatives for the King and Kensington Palace have declined to comment. 

Publisher Penguin Random House has said the duke had donated $1.5million (£1.3million) to children’s charity Sentebale and £300,000 to WellChild, a charity for disabled children for which he serves as patron. 

Announcing the global publishing deal this year, Penguin Random House described the memoir as ‘intimate and heartfelt’

Archetypes was launched with the aim of investigating ‘labels that try to hold women back’ through conversations between Meghan and historians, experts and women who have experienced being typecast

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