‘Breaking Dawn’ Breaks Hachette Records

By Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 8/4/2008 7:55:00 AM

It didn’t hit Harry Potter numbers, but Hachette Book Group USA estimated that it sold 1.3 million copies of Breaking Dawn, on August 2, the day the eagerly awaited final novel in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga was released. The figure is a record first-day sales performance for an Hachette book. To meet the strong demand, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers went back to press for a second printing of 500,000 copies just prior to publication of the title, bringing the total number in print to 3.7 million. Among the major bookselling outlets, only Borders reported first-day sales figures for Breaking Dawn, announcing that it sold about 250,000 copies of the book. The first three titles in the Twilight Saga have sold 8.5 million copies in the U.S.

Borders, like hundreds of other booksellers, held midnight parties to celebrate the release of Dawn, and Hachette launched the book with a spectacular event in New York headlined by Meyer and Blue October frontman Justin Furstenfeld, the first of four sold-out appearances.

And while Breaking Dawn is the last book in the Saga, Little, Brown announced that it will publish The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide on December 30. The $19.99 hardcover will include new material, character profiles and genealogical charts to provide Twilight Saga’s many fans with more insight into the series. (Meyer has also announced that she is working on a book called Midnight Sun, which tells the story of Twilight, the first book in the series, from vampire Edward's point of view.)

Click here to see one teenage fan's account of waiting for Breaking Dawn on Friday evening.