Journalism of Courage
Even as Twilight mania sweeps the country,it has spawned a resurrection of all things vampire
Trends dont mean very much — Peabo Bryson
Today,surely Byson would disagree with his own platitude. Trends have been becoming more and more relevant in recent years,often guiding consumer markets and keeping suppliers and consumers happy for months. The most relevant of these amongst the youth,at the moment,is the resurrection of vampires,brought about by the famed Twilight series,written by Stephenie Meyer. The series has not only inspired a series of blockbuster movies — The second installment,New Moon,released in India this week — but has also set off a trend in the publishing and reading industries. Books in the same genre — teen vampire romances — have flooded bookstores,some even making it to bestseller lists.
Some of the books doing exceedingly well are the House of Night series by P C & Kristin Cast. We brought in the books because of readers demands and they are now selling like hot cakes. As it is a longer series than Twilight,readers still have the anticipation and are hence awaiting the release of the next books in India soon, says Balki Singh of Landmark,Pune.
Similar books,like The Vampire Academy novels by Rachele Mead,The Night World Series by L J Smith and Sarwat Chaddas Devils Kiss have made it to the stands. However,as Matthew Chells,manager,Manneys Bookstore explains,they havent made that much of an impact. The sales of these is nowhere close to the Twilight series which are still extremely popular. But in trends like these,where the initiating series is already over,reader interest is likely to diversify. Like when Harry Potter got over,the interest shifted to similar books like Johnathan Stroud,Christopher Paolinis Eragon series and now,Percy Jackson, says Chells.
Even as vampires are becoming the new Potter,Arya Raje,a student at ILS says,A section of people were always avid readers of Vampire books. As the new genre portrays Vampires into a new light,its bringing more readers into the fold. Also,earlier it was mostly men who were into Vampire fiction which has drastically changed. Says Gayatri Bhalerao,a faithful follower of Twilight and the House of Night series,I have just begun reading the House of Night series and I think they are more gripping than the Twilight series as it makes for fast,easy and interesting reading.
Sameer Mahale,regional sales manager,Harper Collins India elucidates,We are receiving a very positive response from the readers for books in this genre. Release of the Twilight movies is also helping sales to a great extent. Critics and lovers of the classic Dracula might turn their noses up at the more domestic vampires of this new fantasy fad but the books and consequently,the trend is here to stay for a long time….
