The Korea Herald

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Steve Jobs biography flies off shelves in S. Korea

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Published : Oct. 26, 2011 - 16:50

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SEOUL, Oct. 26 (Yonhap) -- The Korean translation of "Steve Jobs," the authorized biography of the late co-founder of Apple Inc., has repeatedly set daily sales records for most of the country's online and offline bookstores since its release earlier this week, industry data showed Wednesday.

"The fever is expected to stay here for some time," said an official from Kyobo Book Center, the biggest local bookseller, after the biography topped best-seller lists.

According to Yes24, the country's leading Internet bookstore, "Steve Jobs" sold more than 4,700 copies on Monday and 7,500 copies the following day, setting record highs for daily sales of a single book. The previous record was 3,500 copies per day set by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in November 2007, it added.

Kyobo Book Center said it sold more than 5,000 copies online and 4,500 in stores on Tuesday alone.

"It marks the first time that we've sold more than 10,000 copies of a single book in one day since we started compiling that data some 30 years ago," the company official said.

Written by Walter Isaacson, the biography was based on dozens of interviews with Jobs and scores more with family members, friends and fans. The death of the legendary figure on Oct. 5 moved up the book's simultaneous worldwide release from Nov. 21 to Oct. 24.

The official weekly chart reflecting data from the country's nine online and offline bookstores will be available on Friday.

The biography on the Apple CEO has drawn keen interest across the world, with Amazon.com spokeswoman Brittany Turner being quoted by media as saying it could be the top-selling book of the year.