Sparefoot Investor: Scott Pape rules over Prince Harry in Australian book sales figures

Prince Harry’s racy royal revelations in Spare broke book sales records overseas – but new figures show Aussie readers are far more interested in a homegrown hero.

Exclusive: He may be king of the world when it comes to flogging his book overseas, but Down Under Prince Harry is less of a hit – officially being smashed TWICE on a like-for-like basis by Australia’s very own Barefoot Investor, Scott Pape.

Figures out Thursday from Nielsen Bookscan show 64,148 copies of Harry’s controversial memoir Spare were sold in its first week here, compared to 128,641 first-week sales of finance guru Pape’s Barefoot Kids.

And Pape’s 2018 book, The Barefoot Investor For Families, sold 74,602 copies in week one.

Spare change ... Prince Harry's memoir Spare was beaten in first-week Aussie sales by Scott Pape’s Barefoot Kids.

The book by the Duke of Sussex has made headlines all over the globe with its angles on the turmoil in the House of Windsor, insights into his relationship with wife Meghan Markle and racy personal anecdotes about how he lost his virginity and (in a separate incident, thankfully) suffered frostbite to his private parts on military service.

It has broken records overseas, becoming the fastest-selling non-fiction book in the UK since records began in 1998. Over there, it sold more than 467,000 copies in week one.

News Corp columnist Pape – known as the Barefoot Investor – clinched the same record in Australia late last year when his third No1 book, Barefoot Kids, was published by HarperCollins on November 7.

Sitting pretty ... Scott Pape, pictured with wife Liz, has seen off Prince Harry’s threat to his first-week sales title.

Despite being on shelves for less than two full months, it went on to become the highest-selling new release title published in Australia for 2022, selling 204,352 copies in eight weeks, according to Nielsen Bookscan.

Pape’s purpose in writing Barefoot Kids was to speak directly to children about money; to help them learn and even grow enterprise empires, while maintaining core values about giving and kindness – to “roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty, and learn the value of a buck the old-fashioned way”, according to one of his team at HarperCollins.

Frozen out ... Prince Harry discusses how things went south for him and Meghan (left) when it came to relationships with other members of the family, including Prince William and wife Catherine.

It is a world away from the subject matter of Spare – although given widespread media and public fascination with Harry and Megan’s finances, some might argue the couple could do with some hot tips from Barefoot.

“Who’d have thought decent financial advice would outperform frostbitten todgers,” joked one publishing source when the figures emerged on Thursday.

Pape himself avoided direct comparisons between the titles on hearing the news, simply saying: “When I finished this book I sat down and thought this is the best book I’ve ever written. I’m glad that Aussie families have got behind it.”

Helping kids help themselves ... Scott Pape’s book for children.

To be fair to Spare, the Penguin Random House title was the top-selling book in Australia for the week ending Jan 14, with internet cooking sensation Nagi Maehashi’s RecipeTin Eats: Dinner in second place. And it has become the fastest-selling memoir here since records began in 2002, beating out NRL legend Darren Lockyer’s autobiography.

Book industry sources say it will be interesting to see how Spare continues to perform after the initial rush of interest.

Move over, Harry’s here ... Darren Lockyer’s sales record for a memoir was overtaken by Spare.

Earlier this week HarperCollins CEO Jim Demetriou paid tribute to Pape and Barefoot Kids, calling it “an incredibly important and timely book”.

He added: “It’s the book we all need for our kids right now and it’s clear that children and families around the country are really connecting with Scott’s message. I have no doubt that we’ll continue to see incredibly strong sales throughout 2023 and beyond.”