The frenzy of activity in the media after Steve Jobs died seems to have rubbed off on the sales of his biography: Steve Jobs — The Exclusive Biography , written by Mr Walter Isaacson and published by Hachette India.
According to sources in the publishing house, the book, written before his death, originally had 512 pages. After his demise, the author added another 150 pages. And, the price too went up by Rs 100 to Rs 799.
Pre-orders were mainly taken by e-portals and some retailers such as Landmark.
Orders keep pouring in, says Mr K. Vaitheeswaran, Founder and CEO of Indiaplaza, an e-commerce portal. The company, three days after Jobs' death, ran a two-day pre-launch promo during which it offered 50 per cent discount on the book and received orders for close to 5,000 copies, he said.. The order book for copies has almost doubled after October 5, he says.
Landmark has received pre-orders for over 1,000 copies in the last few days. “Considering that this book is not a casual read like that of Chetan Bhaghat or the like, over 1,000 (copies) is quite surprising,” says Mr Ashutosh Pandey, Chief Operating Officer, Landmark. “Interestingly,” Mr Pandey says, “going by our order book, the orders are not all from the IT crowd as one would assume.” The appeal is widespread. “We received orders from a lot of people with business background,” he said.
“This is going to be a huge book anyway,” says Mr Thomas Abraham, CEO of Hachette India, “given that Steve Jobs is such an icon and this is the closest thing to an autobiography.”
He says his death brought his whole life into the spotlight in a rather concentrated manner, and this interest in him would for sure rub off on the book.
According to him, the company has received firm orders for over 55,000 copies so far and “they are still coming”.