Big Week for (and Big Reactions to) 'Breaking Dawn'
By John A. Sellers -- Publishers Weekly, 8/7/2008 8:20:00 AM
Last weekend, Breaking Dawn, the highly anticipated fourth book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga, broke some sales records, but also, it seems, a few hearts. According to Little, Brown, the novel sold 1.3 million copies on its pub date, August 2, the largest single-day sales in the company’s history, while Nielsen BookScan reported that the book sold 834,000 copies last Saturday through the accounts it measures (usually about 70% of a book's sales).
The novel went on sale at the stroke of midnight, and devoted fans crowded hundreds of bookstores nationwide at late-night release parties. However, Breaking Dawn didn’t meet the stratospheric expectations of every fan, and anguished and, in some cases, angry outcry has arisen this week—though the book appears to have no shortage of ardent defenders. The recently reopened message board on the Twilight series Web site has been very active, and on Amazon—where the novel remains ranked #1 in sales—the book has generated more than 1,600 reviews (nearly twice the reviews of the previous book, Eclipse) and more than 1,000 “customer discussions.” Unhappy readers expressed a variety of opinions, including incredulity with certain plot points or the way threads were tied up, while others felt the writing wasn’t as strong as in the previous books.
In one heavily trafficked thread entitled “Unhappy with Breaking Dawn? Don’t burn it—RETURN it!,” commenters debated whether returning the book was a valid way to express unhappiness with the book. “Technically, reading a book and returning it is theft of knowledge,” read one post, while the original commenter, a former bookstore employee, wrote, “I don’t advocate making a habit of buying new books, reading them, and returning them. But once in a while... I do think mass returns are a useful form of consumer protest.” Another poster recounted, anecdotally, returning the book at Borders: “They took back my book with no problem. Got into a discussion with the cashier about how I was the 15th (!!!) person to bring my book back today.”
Oren Teicher, COO of the American Booksellers Association, said that there is no official ABA policy governing book returns by customers. “I can tell you that it’s certainly my experience that most stores will absolutely accept returns provided the books are in good condition,” he said, adding that independent booksellers are more interested in preserving longterm relationships with their customers than quibbling over a return. Regarding books returned because a customer was displeased with it, Teicher said he thought some independent booksellers would be receptive to accepting such a return if they had recommended the book to the customer, though he noted, “I believe there was not a lot of handselling going on Friday night.”
Little, Brown spokesperson Melanie Chang said the company has not received negative feedback from accounts, and that the wide range of reactions among readers is to be expected. “With a book as eagerly anticipated as Breaking Dawn there’s going to be diverse reactions,” she said. “Stephenie Meyer’s fans are incredibly passionate about her books, so it’s no surprise that readers respond with equal passion.” Chang also noted that the paperback edition of Twilight had its best week to date last week, evidence that Meyer continues to attract new readers.
Meanwhile, Meyer continues her four-city concert tour in support of the book. The first concert, which was held at the Nokia Theater in New York City last Friday, was streamed live on Entertainment Weekly’s Web site and iClips.net, as will be Meyer’s appearance this evening at Royce Hall in Los Angeles. And video clips of the New York and Chicago shows have found their way to Youtube as well. Meyer’s final stop will be Seattle next week.
