Prince Harry’s bombshell book Spare is heading for the bargain bin - before it has even been released.
Industry experts believe the book officially priced £28 will go on sale in Tesco for as little as £8 a copy.
Waterstones and Amazon have already slashed the price in half to £14.
Its title appears to be a nod to Harry’s place in the line of succession.
A source said: “It’s more a case of spare change than Spare. In fact it wouldn’t be a huge shock if Harry’s book ends up even cheaper at a store like The Works.”
Some small bookshops are not bothering to stock the Duke of Sussex’s memoirs Spare - fearing no one will buy it at its £28 full price.
Spare, which the 38-year-old Duke describes as “raw, unflinchingly honest” and “full of revelation”, will be released on January 10.
Tesco, slogan Every Little Helps, is preparing to sell the 416-page hardback for a rock bottom price to Clubcard holders - according to experts.
Adam Barclay, of Argonaut Books in Edinburgh, said: “The large Tesco around the corner from us is almost certainly going to be selling it for £12/£8 with a Clubcard.”
He said: “Even with favourable margins, £28 is too high a price for us to be able to compete with Amazon and other big chains such as Waterstones, and, more pressingly, supermarkets.”
Phil Davies, of Pigeon Books in Southsea, Hants, told trade magazine The Bookseller: “I don’t think I’ll be stocking it, and haven’t yet had any requests to order it.
“I’m assuming it’ll be another title that the likes of Smiths and Waterstones will be heavily discounting from the go, so it’s really not worth our while trying to compete.”
The US-based Duke is understood to be “contractually obliged” to use his fame to promote the book ahead of its release.
It was this month reported that he may publicise Spare in an lengthy sit-down interview with ITV news anchor Tom Bradby.
But he is unlikely to hold an open press conference, public question-and-answer session or conduct TV and radio interviews.
Publisher Transworld described Spare as “a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.”
Its release comes after the Duke and wife Meghan, 41, criticised the Royal Family in their six part-Netflix series.
In July 2021 Meg’s highly-anticipated childrens book The Bench was spotted on sale at a discount at The Works, which bills itself as “Britain’s leading discount books store”.
Transworld was approached for comment, as was Tesco and Archewell, the Sussex’s foundation.
Waterstones said it needed to compete against heavy online discounting.
