Marketing and release

Entertainment Weekly magazine released an excerpt of Breaking Dawn on May 30, 2008.[5] Stephenie Meyer also revealed a 'Quote of the Day' from Breaking Dawn for about three weeks prior to its August 2, 2008 release. The first quote was released on Stephenie's website on July 12, 2008.[6] The first chapter of Breaking Dawn, "Engaged", was released in the special edition of Eclipse.[7] Breaking Dawn was officially released on August 2, 2008 through midnight release parties in over 4,000 bookstores,[1] most of which involved costume and trivia contests, crafts, and face painting.[8]

Godiva also made a Twilight-themed chocolate bar, which was released in Barnes & Noble book stores at the release parties.[9] A four-city Breaking Dawn Concert Series, featuring Stephenie Meyer and Blue October's Justin Furstenfeld, coincided with the novel's release. The concert series sold out three of its four locations on the day that tickets went on sale,[10] selling out in under an hour in one city.[11]
Publication

Prior to the novel's release, the first three Twilight books had already sold 8.5 million copies throughout the US[2] and over 2 million copies in the UK.[12] Breaking Dawn was one of the most anticipated book of 2008 with The Guardian noting, "Teenagers across the world are anxiously awaiting the next instalment of author Stephenie Meyer's vampiric series of novels."[1] To meet the high demand, Little, Brown Books added a printing of 500,000 additional copies just prior to publication of the title, bringing initial print run to 3.7 million.[2]

The book sold 1.3 million copies in the US[2] and 20,000 copies in the UK in its first 24 hours of release,[13] as well as 100,000 copies in Canada during its first weekend.[14] Breaking Dawn debuted at #1 on USA Today's top 150 best sellers list and has gone on to spend over 58 weeks on the list.[15] It was also the biggest-selling children's book of 2008 with over 6 million copies sold.[16]

A special edition of Breaking Dawn was released on August 4, 2009, containing a DVD of the Breaking Dawn Concert Series and a poster of Bella and Edward.[17]