#26 Stephenie Meyer
Thanks to the success of Meyer’s Twilight series, 2008 became the year of the vampire. The low-profile author sold 29 million books last year, releasing two new novels (Breaking Dawn and The Host) and selling hoards of paperbacks of what have become instant classics (Twilight, Eclipse and New Moon). Last November, gothy fans camped out to catch the first film based on the series; Twilight grossed $70 million opening weekend. A partial rough draft of the fifth Twilight book leaked online last August; Meyer published the full draft on her Web site and announced the book wouldn’t be published.

View the list here.

The Children’s Choice Book Awards gave the Author of the Year award to Stephenie Meyer for her novel, Breaking Dawn!

In a gala ceremony in New York City last night, the Children’s Choice Book Awards gave the Author of the Year prize to Stephenie Meyer for her novel, “Breaking Dawn.”

The winners were chosen in six categories, broken down by age groups–220,000 online votes were cast by children around the country. The awards ceremony celebrated the 90th observance of Children’s Book Week, which lasts from May 11-17, 2009. Read the complete list of winners after the jump.

Read it here.

This biography goes beyond a basic examination of the life and success of Stephenie Meyer. Author Lisa Rondinelli Albert’s research led her to fans who provided early e-mail correspondence with Meyer as well as never-been-seen-before photographs, including one of particular interest—Stephenie’s high school prom photo. Meyer herself had not even seen this photo until it was uncovered by Albert, who was able to put the two prom dates back in touch.

View the articlehere, or pre-order it here.

I am not being sued. No one has contacted me or my publisher to inform either of us that I’m being sued. I never had a roommate named Heidi. There is no professor in the BYU English department named Dr. Peter Benton (though there is a character on ER by that name). And most of all, I began writing Twilight exactly the way I’ve told people in countless interviews and events for the past six years: I had a cool dream, I wrote it down, writing it down was really fun, so I kept writing until I had a whole book.

The sad thing about this silly situation is that so many legitimate news outlets reported it without doing any research at all to determine if there was any truth to the story. And at least two of these facts are really, really easy to confirm. Particularly, the one about the BYU professor. A simple on-line search can give you that information. Also, a quick call to my publisher would have cleared up the whole lawsuit story. (Kudos to the fansites who did their due diligence and debunked this rumor days ago.)

I guess the moral of the story is that—big surprise—you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. Seems like it’s April Fool’s Day every day on-line. So no worries, the filming of New Moon continues uninterrupted. And, to end this on a bright note, the filming of New Moon continues to be awesome. It’s all so beautiful! Chris Weitz is brilliant. Kristen, Rob, and Taylor are beyond words. I have gotten choked up more than once on set due to their amazing performances. I can’t wait to see it all put together!

Steph

View her post here.

The Courier Mail talks with Stephenie Meyer from Twilight to the movie process.

Seeing her characters brought to life on the big screen for the first time – Robert Pattinson playing Edward Cullen and Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan – was a surreal experience for Meyer.

“But really, that happened too when I had a chance to visit the film set,” she says.

“That was when that really hit me. I was sitting there at dinner the first night. Everyone came in costume, because they’d just done a photo shoot. I was like, ‘Wait a minute, these are imaginary people and here they are’ – very weird.”

View the article here.

Stephenie has updated her website with a list of the things she’s auctioning at the Book Babe event, which will he held on 4th April, including:

★ Her Eclipse Prom dress (shown above)
★ An epilogue of Forever Dawn
★ Marked up manuscripts of Eclipse and The Host
★ A signed ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of Twilight
★ Lunch with Stephenie

For more info on Stephenie’s site here or the Book Babe’s site here!

Hey guys! This is just a heads up about an event I’m involved with here in Phoenix. The plan was for me to go entirely hermit this year (or decade), but there are always those things important enough to pull me out of my burrow. One of my dear friends and mentors, Faith Hochhalter—a truly gifted book buyer who put together some of my most successful events—was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. I am not the only author who was helped along by her talent and enthusiasm, and all of us who have enjoyed her influence in our lives and careers are eager to help her through this rough time. To assist with her medical bills, several young adult writers are joining together for a fund-raising event: Project Save the Book Babe. The event will be on April 4th in Tempe, AZ; it will include live music, a panel discussion with the attending authors, and an auction of some fun and/or rare items from each author. All the information about the event and the authors attending can be found at ProjectBookBabe.com. Personally, I’ll be auctioning some ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) of my books, an early marked up manuscript or two, my dress from the Eclipse prom, and the fluffy original epilogue to Forever Dawn, along with signed books, of course. We’re still in the process of putting this together, so more info will be forthcoming over the next week. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow (Tuesday the 17th) so if you’re interested in attending and helping us save our Book Babe Faith, hurry over to the site and check it out.

View her post here.