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Saturday 15 March 2014

Success of Twilight films leads to boom in sales of fantasy novels

The success of fantasy films such as Twilight has led to a surge in the popularity of science fiction and fantasy novels among older children and teenagers, new research has found.

Success of Twilight films leads to boom in sales of fantasy novels among the young
The 2008 film Twilight, which was released on DVD in Britain last April, was based on the series of vampire romance novels of the same name by the American author Stephanie Myers 

Sales of sci-fi and fantasy have grown by almost 20 per cent in the past five years with industry analysts identifying the 'Twilight Effect' as the main reason.

The 2008 film Twilight, which was released on DVD in Britain last April, was based on the series of vampire romance novels of the same name by the American author Stephanie Myers.

It was followed by the release of the second film in the Twilight Saga, New Moon, in November, with a graphic novel due out in March.

Researchers at Mintel found that almost one in three older children and teenagers enjoy sci-fi/fantasy books, up from 18 per cent in 2005. Overall, over one in ten readers go on to read a title after seeing the film or TV version.

Other writers whose sales have increased on the back of the popularity of Twilight include Neil Gaiman, an English fantasy writer whose work includes The Sandman graphic novel. His novel Stardust was turned into a film starring Robert De Niro, Claire Daines and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Pat Neviani- Aston, Senior Leisure Analyst at Mintel, said: "The popularity of Twilight fiction shows just how closely books, TV and film are linked. Different media feed off each other and – while books provide the inspiration for many or most films – overall book sales also benefit greatly from the relationship, even if few achieve the levels reached by the Harry Potter series.

"However, Meyer's Twilight series must be approaching that level of success among teens, with reported total sales to date approaching 5 million, two titles among the UK's top 50 best-sellers in 2008 and more in 2009. The release of the second film, New Moon, in November will have contributed further to the phenomenon, which is also drawing in adult women."

Ironically Twilight was initially rejected by 14 agents, but became an instant best-seller when it was originally published in hardback in 2005. Publishers are now hailing its success as a key weapon in the battle to win new readers among the young.

Ms Neviani-Aston added: "Britain's love of sci fi, in particular Twilight has contributed to a massive boom in sales of the sci fi literature, which is great news for the industry as it is encouraging the all important demographic of young readers back in to reading."

"The success of Meyer is just one example of a wider trend in adult and teen fiction with modern gothic tales galore at all levels of sophistication and sometimes horror. It includes writers as varied as Ted Naifeh, Ramsey Campbell, and Anne Rice as well as the pre-eminent Neil Gaiman and others".

The research by Mintel, published to coincide with the start of National Storytelling week on Saturday, found that over half of consumers have read at least one book in the last month, with over a third buying one. Furthermore, a quarter of those questioned see books as 'essential' to their lives, with just 4 four per cent saying they do not have any time to spare for reading.

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