Prince Harry makes ‘eleventh hour attempt to change tell-all memoirs’
The Duke of Sussex is worried that some of the revelations in his book “might not look so good” following the public outpouring of support for the monarchy, both at home and abroad, it is claimed.
The book, part of a three-title deal worth £36.8 million, is expected to be published this autumn, but the Duke is now said to be worried that it will be ill-timed as his father the King begins his reign.
He reportedly wants to make “refinements” to the manuscript, which had already been signed off by publishers Penguin Random House, though industry sources have questioned whether it might be too late.
The book, part of a three-title deal worth £36.8 million, is expected to be published this autumn, but the Duke is now said to be worried that it will be ill-timed as his father the King begins his reign.
He reportedly wants to make “refinements” to the manuscript, which had already been signed off by publishers Penguin Random House, though industry sources have questioned whether it might be too late.
Almost dramatic, isn't it? Surely not dramatic enough to induce many people buy his ridiculous book though - nothing could be lurid enough for that.
There is an interesting theory about celebrity books such as this. The theory says that every single copy is bought as a present for someone the buyer doesn't really like. It's why they end up in charity shops so quickly. Only the other day I saw one of Michelle Obama's books in a charity shop. Seems appropriate somehow.
7 comments:
And when you find them in charity shops they are pristine. Other than the cover and a few first pages, never touched by human hand of scanned by human eye.
I find autobiographies pointless. At best they are one person (or their ghost writer) justifying the reasons for the author being as they are. At worst they are spin and lies.
The best time to judge the truthfulness of an autobiography is 50 years after publication - when all the biographies, anti-biographies, and mature reflection biographies have been produced. And by then, who cares?
The 30 odd million value of the contract would probably drop considerably if he does change it. People who would buy it, would probably be a lot less inclined if they knew it was just watered down bollocks
Doonhamer - the Michelle Obama book was certainly pristine. It looked unread.
DJ - and professional ghost writers know what sells. When we add in likely contributions from publicists, we can be pretty sure that such books aren't autobiographies at all, but just another form of publicity material.
Bucko - and buyers don't necessarily want it to be strictly true.
Re that pristine book: I didn’t even get as far as the first pages - the cover legend of ‘Becoming [pause] Michelle Obama’ was too much for me.
Having received not one but two copies for Christmas - either my two new relatives-by-marriage don’t know me very well yet or they have disturbingly sadistic tendencies - I took them to my local charity bookshop early in the new year and was invited to add them to a substantial stack of clearly unread volumes of the same; I may be a reprehensible ingrate but at least I’m not alone.
As for Harry, I’m struggling to square the much-proclaimed ‘he will donate the proceeds of the book to charity’ with ‘he has received a multi-million pound advance for his memoirs’.
Macheath - interesting that the charity bookshop had a stack of ‘Becoming Michelle Obama’. On checking the cover online, I think you have triggered a reminder that this was the book I saw too.
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