BTS official book ‘BEYOND THE STORY’ group. 2023.07.20. (Photo = Provided by Big Hit Music) photo@newsis.com *Resale and DB prohibited
Reporter Lee Jae-hoon = The official book of the global super group ‘BTS’ (BTS) is creating a craze in the US book market.
According to ‘The New York Times Best Sellers’ published by the New York Times on the 19th (local time), the official book ‘Beyond the Story: Ten- Record of BTS (BEYOND THE STORY: 10-YEAR RECORD OF BTS)’ took first place (non-fiction hardcover category).
The ranking announced on this day is the sum of the weekly sales and reservation sales of books published since the 9th. As soon as ‘Beyond the Story’ was published, it went straight to No. 1 in the ‘Best Seller’ list selected by the New York Times.
According to Big Hit Music, “Beyond the Story” is the first time that a book by a Korean author has ranked first in “The New York Times Bestseller.”
On the 15th of last month, ‘Beyond the Story’ went straight to No. 1 in the weekly best sellers of online bookstores in Korea, such as Yes24 and Aladdin, as well as pre-orders for the Korean version. After publication, the official book also reached the top of Kyobo Book Center’s comprehensive weekly bestseller list. On the 9th, the day of publication, it was ranked #1 on Amazon bestsellers in many countries/regions, including the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, and Japan. In particular, in Brazil’s Amazon, ‘Beyond the Story’ set a new record for the highest number of pre-orders ever.
‘Beyond the Story’ is a book that sheds light on the story of 10 years since the debut of the ’21st century pop icon’ BTS. It was produced through years of planning and preparation, including direct interviews with BTS members. Kang Myeong-seok, editor-in-chief of Weverse Magazine, who made his name known as a pop culture reporter, organized it.
This book, which contains stories from the BTS members’ trainee days, is a history of the K-pop industry through the team that became a turning point for K-pop, as well as a humanities book that looks into the minds of those who became world-class artists.
‘Beyond the Story’ was published in a total of 23 languages, including Korean, English, and Japanese. The English translation of this book, which was first written in Korean, was led by Korean translator Anton Heo (Heo Jeong-beom) and assisted by American writers Clare Richards and Slin Jung. Translator Anton Heo is also famous as a publisher who has been in charge of translating Jeong Bo-ra’s ‘Curse Rabbit’ and Park Sang-young’s ‘Love in the Big City’, both final and first candidates for the British Booker Prize, one of the world’s three major literary awards, and publishing them overseas.