


Originally set for release on December 30, 2008, The Guide 's release date was indefinitely postponed in 2008 due to Meyer not having enough time to write because she was immersed in the production of The Twilight Saga films. The Guide includes character profiles, outtakes, a conversation with Meyer, genealogical charts, maps, extensive cross-references and nearly 100 illustrations and photographs by several artists, including Young Kim. However, it turned out to be 192 pages in print which was too long to fit into The Guide, so her publisher suggested publishing it as a stand-alone novella. In the press release of The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, Meyer said that she started writing about Bree when editing Eclipse and intended to publish the story in The Guide. She spoke of it saying that it was interesting because there were many unauthorized guides getting published containing a lot of misinformation, and she saw it as her mission to correct those wrong ideas and therefore write the guide. On September 11, 2010, Meyer announced in a fan junket with the fansite that she was still working on the Guide since 2008, and that it keeps evolving. The Guide includes exclusive new material about the world Meyer created in Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, and nearly a hundred full-color illustrations by illustrator Young Kim, who previously illustrated Meyer's #1 New York Times Best Seller Twilight: The Graphic Novel, and several other artists.

The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (previously titled The Official Guide) is a spin-off encyclopedic reference book for the Twilight Saga book series, written by Stephenie Meyer and was released on April 12, 2011.
