Bree TannerPublisher Little, Brown tells me Stephenie Meyer’s novella “for the fans” has sold 226,589 copies so far in the UK. Waterstones, the largest bookshop chain, expects it to be the biggest-selling book of the year.

The £11:99 ($17.8) Twilight novella is mostly selling at less than half price, mostly due to heavy supermarket discounting. What’s remarkable is that you can read The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner for free on Meyer’s website until midnight on July 5. But then Meyer turns everything she touches into witchy gold, from movies to books to internet traffic. The Twilight Saga has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, translated into nearly 50 languages.