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(NewsNation) — This year it felt like we could not escape gossip about Prince Harry, Britney Spears, and most recently, Barbra Streisand. But, unlike other celebrities who rely on others to spread the word about their lives, this trio generated it themselves by publishing memoirs that spilled the tea on a grand scale. Filling not just the gossip sites but the front page of the New York Times, we learned that Harry always felt like second fiddle, his brother William once shoved him into a dog bowl, he felt goaded into wearing the infamous Nazi costume by William and Kate and even detailed losing his virginity to an “older woman” (TMI).
As for Britney, she revealed she started drinking with her mother (!) at age 13, started driving at 11, and had an (unwanted) abortion when she became pregnant with Justin Timberlake’s baby… and Barbra, well, she took 900 pages to tell us of her climb to the Hollywood heights and the nitty-gritty of all the men she’d loved before she met her husband James Brolin.
But while Harry, Britney and Barbra’s memoirs gathered the public’s attention… was it worth it for the publisher? The answer depends on how much these celebs got paid (which is rarely revealed, but in cases like Prince Harry and Britney Spears leaked to the media).
Dan Strone, CEO of Trident Media, a full-service literary agency, told NewsNation:
“An advance for a celebrity memoir can range from high five figures to high seven figures,” Strone said, “An advance is a risk the publisher is willing to pay. If you pay too much and it doesn’t sell it’s not good. If they sell well, it is worth it. If they overpay and it still sells well they may lose money still but a loss leader with high publicity.”
“The more popular the celebrity is the more publishers tend to be interested, providing they are handle-able. Some celebrities won’t promote or do anything to help book sales,” Strone added.
So we did the math on the top five bestselling celebrity memoirs and the bottom five.
The sales numbers are according to BookScan, which accounts for hardcover copies sold, not including audiobooks or e-book downloads. But hardcover sales account for 80% of book sales, so it’s a good determinant of whether a book did well or not.
Using this calculator, which takes into account the price of a book versus the advance given, we can tell if a book has earned back its advance – thereby justifying the price the publisher paid for it – or if it bombed and the publisher will have to mark it as a loss.
Paul Bogaards, the former marketing head of Knopf who now runs his own firm, Bogaards PR, is regarded by many in the industry as the guru of book publicity and has worked with celebrities like Tom Hanks, Sharon Stone, Barbara Walters, Sheryl Sandberg, Jim Carrey, and Andre Agassi said, “The numbers here suggest that some celebrities shouldn’t be writing memoirs at all.”
“Celebrity memoirs are one-shots (for the most part) – all hardcover sales with no backlist life to speak of. If the publisher doesn’t earn out with the hardcover, they don’t earn out at all… in the end, it’s a question of math: What they paid vs what the book sold and the math will not be good for some of these publications.”
HIGHEST SELLING BOOKS
1. Prince Harry: “Spare”
1.2 million hardcover copies sold
VERDICT: FINANCIAL FAIL (but publicity win)
According to Entertainment Tonight, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle signed a four-book deal with Penguin Random House worth $35 to $40 million. This makes his advance for Spare one-fourth of the amount, roughly $9 – 10 million dollars – although some reports say he got as high as $20 million (his ghostwriter J.R. Moehringer also reportedly received $1 million as an advance). Either way, Penguin Random House over paid. According to calculations, Harry would have had to sell more than twice the amount of books (2.7 million copies) at the original price of $36 than he did to earn back his advance.
2. Britney Spears: “The Woman in Me”
1.1 million multi-platform copies sold
VERDICT: FINANCIAL FAIL (but publicity win)
According to Forbes, Britney got $15 million for her book deal. While she did sell over 1.1 million across mediums (While Bookscan shows only 750,000 copies sold, Gallery Books, announced in November that in the United States, “The Woman in Me” sold 1.1 million copies across print, digital and audio formats in its first week), she would have had to sell 4.5 million hardcover copies at the original price of $32.99 to earn out. Even with the additional 260,000 ebook or audio versions sold, the book is still a financial flop. And, as Spears refused to do any press for her book (with the exception of posting on Instagram) it must have been frustrating for the publisher — however, overall, I am rating this a publicity win as it was on the covers of most major papers around the world.
3. Barbra Streisand: “My Name is Barbra”
152,000 hardcover copies sold
VERDICT: LIKELY FINANCIAL FAIL (and PR fail)
It is not known what Barbra got for her book – she signed her initial deal in 2015 — but lesser stars like Lena Dunham received $3.5 million for their books and industry insiders say Streisand “definitely” got mid-seven figures for her tome. So let’s be generous and say Barbra got paid what Dunham did… $3.5 million. With a heftier price tag ($47) than other books on this list, Streisand would have had to sell 744,000 copies to make it worth the publisher’s while… almost six times less than she sold. However, if she had only been paid $750,000 for her book (a low figure insiders scoff at), she would have earned out.
4. Arnold Schwarzenegger: “Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life”
127,000 hardcover copies sold
VERDICT: LIKELY FINANCIAL FAIL
Arnold would have had to have sold his self-help book for “just” $350,000 in order to earn out in hardcopies… which is hardly believable considering he got “multi-millions” for his autobiography, “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story.”
5. Elliott Page: “Pageboy”
70,000 hardcover copies sold
VERDICT: FINANCIALLY UNCLEAR but Publicity win
Page’s book follows his journey from Ellen to Elliot, and the “Juno” star was everywhere promoting it this summer, helping out the book company’s PR machine. Page would have had to accept only $220,000 for his life story for the publishing company to break even, but with all the PR work he put in, it was great publicity not only for the book company but Page himself.
LOWEST SELLING BOOKS (all likely financial fiascos)
5. John Stamos: “If You Would Have Told Me”
42,000 hardcover copies sold
4. Kristin Chenowith: “I’m No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts: Mini-Meditations for Saints, Sinners, and the Rest of Us”
20,000 hardcover copies sold
3. Julia Fox: “Down the Drain”
19,000 hardcover copies sold
2. Leslie Jones: “Leslie F*cking Jones”
15,000 hardcover copies sold
1. Keenan Thompson: “When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown”
2,000 hardcover copies sold (to be fair, this book only came out a week and a half ago but most book sales are in the first week so, either way, it ain’t good).
