The spin is definitely not going Paul Barry’s way.

The investigative journalist got a fair drubbing in the weekend papers for his unauthorised biography, Shane Warne — Spun Out. “At least Warne hasn’t squandered his talent so utterly as Barry has here,” was Gideon Haigh’s take in The SMH.

But Warne himself has dealt the cruellest blow, labeling the book inaccurate and worse, not worthy of legal action.

“The 1,000 women thing — an exaggeration,” he told the Herald Sun. “There are just so many inaccurate facts in there that are totally untrue.” Warne said he wouldn’t read the book: “It just looks like articles from other things that have all been put together.” As a final sign-off, Warne called on Barry to make a donation to the Shane Warne Foundation charity as penance.

It’s “not a bad little googly” from Warne, says Inside PR CEO Michael Smith, notwithstanding the internal inconsistencies — Warne says he hasn’t read the book, but still claims it’s full of inaccuracies.

The leg spinner has adopted a “pretty good tone”, brushing the biography aside by not taking it too seriously. Meanwhile, the “tongue in cheek” call for a donation to his charity is a nice bit on the side which serves to highlight his community responsibilities.

As for the 1,000 women claim, Barry “left himself wide open with that estimate”, says Smith. After all, it’s “impossible to prove, but easily denied”.

But enough talk of facts (or not), and to the real question: how’s the book faring? “It’s selling very well thank you”, says Dymocks buying manager Meredith Drake. Spun Out is number ten in Dymocks’s top ten at the moment — and that’s before the Father’s Day boost kicks in. While Drake can’t talk exact numbers, this position could mean the book seller is shifting “more than 500 copies a week”.