Twilight's hidden market

Mother suckers: the hidden market devouring Twilight novels* is an article by Martha C. White on Slate.com.
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It has some fascinating statistics.  One in seven books sold in the US in the first quarter of 2009 was a Twilight novel (one of the four from the series).  Yes, you read that correctly.  One in seven.  The number of best sellers featuring vampires has gone from seven in 2006 to 27 last year (Charlaine Harris, among others, is partly responsible for this - but it's not as suprising a statistic, as the visibility and variety of vampire novels has certainly increased).
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And the hidden market?  Non-teenagers, particularly women, for whom the escapism of the Twilight saga has proved irresistible.  Naw, that didn't surprise you, did it?
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And the article reports (in a correction) that Midnight Sun, the version of Twilight from Edward's perspective, is still on hold with no release date.  After its unauthorised leaking, Meyer posted as much of it as she had written on her website, where you can still read it.
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And from last week's Sydney Morning Herald, the Heckler column had a mother's lament from Kate Wattus that begins:
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I expected motherhood to challenge me physically. And emotionally. I suspected it would try my patience, test my courage and ruin my cleavage. But I never imagined it would affect my taste in literature.

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At uni I was on a strict diet of Bronte and Baynton, Hardy and Huxley. I could proudly display the dust jacket of my chosen read, knowing that I looked the picture of literary sophistication.
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That was until Edward Cullen entered my life.
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Read it all, and chuckle, here. **
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Cheers, Ruth (whose favourite vampire novel is still Robin McKinley's brilliant Sunshine.)
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*Sourced via Nathan Bransford's blog.
**The SMH sometimes removes online content after a fortnight.  If the link doesn't work, try googling "It's bye-bye Bronte, hello bloodsucker" by Kate Wattus.  SMH May 6 2009.
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