We’ve often said that the only way in which the Twilight novels and Harry Potter novels can be compared is the fact that they were books directed at younger audiences, written by previously unpublished women, they have tremendous sales totals, and they have fanatic fan followings. In fact we just turned down participating in an webevent that wanted a faceoff to determine which was better, because it’s not a contest. Reading, in our opinion, shouldn’t be a contest. Especially since the books are differnt genres, it would be like asking what’s better a cubist Picasso or an impressionist Monet.
USA Today just announced that the Twilight Saga broke a record previously held by Harry Potter. So you can see how the sales total comparison is an interesting one.
According to USA Today:
“The four-book Twilight series has sunk its fangs into USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list — with no signs of letting go. Meyer’s domination of the list for the past 12 months has smashed records that until now had belonged to J.K. Rowling.
Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the teen-vampire romance series, entered the list at No. 1 on Aug. 2, 2008. Its sales and those of Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse, the first three books, have remained staggering.
This week, Meyer’s novels are Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7 on USA TODAY’s list.
Rowling, overall, has sold more books than Meyer — her seven-book series about boy wizard Harry Potter has 143 million copies in print in the USA, while Meyer has sold 40 million copies of her four books. But Rowling can’t match Meyer’s control of the list.”
Check out the whole story on USA Today. It doesn’t take sides in which novels are better, but it provides an interesting insight into their respective sales patterns and histories.
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