Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Steve Jobs bio debuts at No. 1 spot on bestseller lists

News of Apple co-founder's death provided publicity bonanza, says expert

Steve Jobs, the only bio ever authorized by the iconic CEO, led bestseller lists on its release. (Image: Simon & Schuster.) The biography of Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs debuted today at the top of both Amazon's and Barnes & Nobles' bestseller lists.

Steve Jobs, the first biography of the iconic entrepreneur written with Jobs' cooperation, was penned by Walter Isaacson, a former editor at Time. Isaacson has written bestselling biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Henry Kissinger.

The book currently heads the Kindle, hardcover and audiobook bestseller lists at Amazon, and the hardcover, Nook and audiobook categories at rival Barnes & Noble.

However, sales figures from the industry's main metrics firm, Nielsen BookScan, won't be available for more than a week.

Earlier this month, Simon & Schuster moved up the publication of Steve Jobs from Nov. 21 to today. The New York-based publisher confirmed the new release date a day after Jobs died of complications from a rare form of pancreatic cancer.

At one point, the biography had been slated for a March 2012 launch.

The push to get the book out sooner was no surprise to Jim Milliot, editorial director at Publishers Weekly, the book-selling industry's leading journal.

"Publishers do this all the time, take a news hook," said Milliot today. "Not to be crass, but that's the sell."

Although the biography would have done well in any case because it was the only one ever authorized by Jobs -- who conducted more than 40 interviews with Isaacson -- Milliot said the news of Jobs' death and the resulting flood of accolades were publicity bonanzas.

"[Simon & Schuster] has received tons of free publicity, so it's working out great for them," said Milliot.

The publisher may have incurred additional printing costs when it shifted the release date from March 2012 to November of this year, but the follow-up four-week advance would not have been a problem, said Milliot.

Jobs was 56 when he died Oct. 5.

Last Wednesday, CEO Tim Cook led a company-wide celebration of Jobs' life on Apple's Cupertino, Calif. campus, and the company closed its retail stores worldwide for several hours to allow those employees to watch a live broadcast.

An 80-minute video of the celebration is now available to the public on Apple's website.

On the same day, Apple launched a tribute page that cycled through some of the one million condolence messages the company received from customers and former employees.

Steve Jobs sells for $17.88 in hardcover at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and $16.99 in e-book format.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer , on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is gkeizer@computerworld.com .

See more articles by Gregg Keizer .

Read more about it industry in Computerworld's IT Industry Topic Center.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nielsen, Schuster, Topic
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Apple, Barnes & Noble, IT industry, Macintosh, Mac OS, nielsen, operating systems, software
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Reconciling Datacenter consolidation and security: It starts with an integrated approach
    There is no question that datacenter consolidation has gone mainstream. A recent IDG Research survey of IT managers found that three out of four organizations are in the midst of, or just completing, consolidation of multiple applications or systems onto a smaller number of servers. Improving performance and availability was the key driver of consolidation efforts for 85% of those surveyed.
    Learn more »
  • Implementing Energy Efficient Data Centres
    Electrical power usage is not a typical design criterion for data centers, nor is it effectively managed as an expense. This is true despite the fact that the electrical power costs over the life of a data center may exceed the costs of the electrical power system including the UPS, and also may exceed the cost of the IT equipment. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • The Top 5 Server Monitoring Battles—and How You Can Win Them
    The role of servers in your organization has changed substantially—with their uses, requirements, and complexity all increasing dramatically in recent years. Many of the traditional tools and techniques that worked in the past don’t suffice any more. Consequently, server monitoring presents several critical battles in today’s demanding environments. This guide looks at some of the most pressing challenges administrators face in ensuring optimal server performance, and it offers insights into the tools and strategies required to address these demands.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments