Bestselling author Stephenie Meyer has given up work on her highly successful Twilight series after a draft of the current installment was stolen and posted on the internet. Books in the series include Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and  Breaking Dawn. The series, widely popular among young teens, is a “riveting vampire love saga” according to the publisher, Little Brown & Co., a division of Hachette Book Group USA.

Meyer had carefully distributed the fifth and final book in the series, Midnight Sun, to only a few people.

“I have a good idea of how the leak happened as there were very few copies of Midnight Sun that left my possession and each was unique…”

she said, indicating that the recipients of the draft were not directly responsible for the leak. Meyer is no longer in the frame of mind necessary to continue working on the story and has posted the partial draft on her website. However, she reiterated that the leak was not only upsetting but an illegal violation of copyright law.

“I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being. As the author of the Twilight Saga, I control the copyright and it is up to the owner of the copyright to decide when the books should be made public; this is the same for musicians and filmmakers. Just because someone buys a book or movie or song, or gets a download off the Internet, doesn’t mean that they own the right to reproduce and distribute it. Unfortunately, with the Internet, it is easy for people to obtain and share items that do not legally belong to them. No matter how this is done, it is still dishonest. This has been a very upsetting experience for me, but I hope it will at least leave my fans with a better understanding of copyright and the importance of artistic control.”

Meyer has put the story on hold indefinitely, but the film version of the first book is due in theaters on the 21st of November. A new hardcover collector’s edition of Twilight is available for pre-order now.