How is Prince Harry's memoir Spare actually selling?

Harry's controversial autobiography Spare went on sale on Tuesday (January 10).

While many independent bookshops in the borough are selling the hardback for the recommended retail price of £28, bookshops such as Waterstones and WH Smith are selling it for £14.

"We've sold a few copies since it went on sale on Tuesday," said an assistant at West End Lane Books in West Hampstead.

He said only four copies had been sold by Thursday tea time.

"We're doing really well at the moment. People have come in and not mentioned it," he added.

Asked which titles were outperforming the memoir, he said: "The majority are doing better".

Prince Harry's controversial autobiography is being sold at the recommended price of £28 in smaller bookshops (Image: PA)

Daunt Books has stores in Belsize Park and Hampstead and also Owl Bookshop in Kentish Town.

Manager Rose Cole was unable to say how many copies had been sold.

"We've sold a fair number of copies but we are obviously not selling it at a discount, which probably means we've sold a few less than others but we've sold a fair few, " she said.

"It's a big book in the amount of coverage that it's had and the build up to it means that there has definitely been interest.

"I suppose it's at the forefront of people's minds with all the interviews running up to it and that it's been leaked last week means even if you weren't interested, you knew it was out."

Spare was first leaked in Spain, where it mistakenly went on sale last week, and a host of revelations and private details about Harry’s life and family have since emerged.

Allegations from the book include Harry's brother, the Prince of Wales, physically attacking him, and Meghan upsetting the Princess of Wales by saying she must have “baby brain” in the run-up to the Sussexes’ 2018 wedding.

Spare publisher Penguin Random House’s imprint Transworld said on Tuesday that 400,000 copies had been sold across hardback, ebook and audio formats on its first day of publication, making it the fastest selling non-fiction book ever.

Larry Finlay, managing director of Transworld Penguin Random House, said: “We always knew this book would fly but it is exceeding even our most bullish expectations.

“As far as we know, the only books to have sold more in their first day are those starring the other Harry (Potter).”