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Little, Brown has a print run in excess of 150,000 lined up for US young adult fiction sensation Stephenie Meyer's latest novel Breaking Dawn. The title is out in the UK on 4th August, two days after its début in the US, where Little, Brown has a 3.2 million initial print run.
Breaking Dawn (£12.99, h/b) is the fourth in the Twilight series, which centres on the story of teenager Bella and her relationship with Edward, a vampire. Meyer has enjoyed a monopoly at the top of the US children's fiction charts for the past four weeks, with Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse occupying the top three positions since the beginning of June. Her US sales so far this year total 2.1 million.
The UK launch will be accompanied by a major publicity push, including an early opening of the Borders branch on Oxford Street in London, and a range of events in other branches of the chains, principally revolving around late or early openings. Waterstone's is also holding a series of instore events. Fiction buyer Claudia Mody said: "[Meyer] has built up a huge fanbase of readers, including loads of our booksellers, and we think her new book is going to be one of the biggest of the year."
Little, Brown is providing marketing collateral in the form of T-shirts, posters and point-of-sale material. Ursula Mackenzie, c.e.o. and publisher at Little, Brown, said: "The word 'phenomenon' is overused in modern popular culture, but I really do believe that this is what we have in Stephenie Meyer. Although we've yet to reach the incredible heights enjoyed by our American sister company, the British readership is impressive and growing rapidly. We've sold more than a quarter of a million copies of our editions of Twilight, and the paperback is still selling more than 1,500 copies per week through BookScan—well over a year after publication." She added: "This is not simply a book release, it's an international event."
As for advertising, 220,000 covermounts are planned for Sugar magazine, and there will be targeted activity on Facebook and a promotion on Lovereading.co.uk. Hachette has a worldwide campaign in place, with interviews lined up with several Australian papers, retailer promotions in India, special events in Germany, and coverage in French and South African media.
In January, British Meyer fans will be able to feed their craving with the première of the "Twilight" movie. The publisher is also printing new tie-in editions of the Twilight series for release in November.