Staying up after ‘Twilight’

On the first Saturday in August, at midnight, Wordsmiths Books in Decatur, Ga., will be decorated in black and red. Prizes will be handed out and special cookies -- some with a filling the color of blood -- will be served.

Dozens of teens, dressed like vampires, werewolves and other characters, are expected at Wordsmiths to celebrate the release of Stephenie Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn,” the fourth and final book of her “Twilight” series, and a novel that has remained at or near the top of Amazon.com’s bestseller list for months.

Harry Potter’s story has been told, but booksellers, anxious as ever to bring readers to their stores, haven’t given up on the midnight party. Thousands of sellers, both independents and superstores, will host events for “Breaking Dawn,” which has a first printing of 3.5 million copies. Another round of midnight gatherings is scheduled in September for the release of Christopher Paolini’s “Brisingr,” the third of his million-selling “Inheritance” fantasy series.

“As the book industry gets tighter and tighter, bookstores, especially independent bookstores, have to start doing more outside of the box just to stay alive in today’s market,” says Wordsmiths marketing director Russ Marshalek.

Booksellers no longer need Potter-like sales for a Potter-style opening. Worldwide sales for Meyer’s books top 8 million, less than the first weekend’s take for the last Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” But Meyer’s rise is still miraculous for a series that began in 2005 and was little known even to obsessive fans just two years ago.

The initial printing for the first book, “Twilight,” was just 75,000, increasing to 100,000 for the next, “New Moon,” and 1 million for “Eclipse,” which came out last summer. The “Twilight” books have the symptoms of a phenomenon: a cluster of bestsellers on Amazon.com (all four are in the top 20), hundreds of fan websites and YouTube videos, and anticipation for the first “Twilight” film, coming Dec. 12.

“Our sales have been increasing every week on her older titles, and that’s unusual,” says Kim Brown, a vice president at Barnes & Noble Inc. for specialty businesses.

“We’ve learned so much from Harry Potter over the years, and one of the things we learned was how effective it was to have a release timed to Friday night-Saturday morning. I really encouraged Stephenie Meyer’s publisher [Little, Brown and Company] to release it that way,” says Diane Mangan, director of the children’s department at Borders Group Inc.

Meyer’s books center on a triangle involving Bella, a teenager who loves a vampire classmate named Edward, and her best friend, Jacob, a werewolf.