“The Lost Symbol” is a dollar sign for Norpac, which is producing the paper for another top-selling book. The latest tome from Dan Brown, author of “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons,” has sold millions already after its hard-cover release this month.

That’s good news for Norpac, which in recent years has faced declining demand for newsprint, its major product.

“We’re coming in with a new type of paper and printing technology, so this is a new opportunity for us and provides potential to offset newsprint sales,” said Greg French, a Norpac spokesman.

“The Lost Symbol” sold 2 million copies in the first week in North America and the United Kingdom, a one-week sales record for publisher Random House, according to the Wall Street Journal. The book also set one-day sales records for Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

The Longview-based newsprint mill produced the paper for 5.6 million copies in the first run of The Lost Symbol.” Random House bought several thousand tons of paper to produce the book, French said.

The book is printed on 45-pound recycled Norbrite book cream paper, which is used specifically for hard-bound books, said Greg French, a Norpac spokesman. The paper is about twice as heavy as newsprint, and Norpac has improved the paper over the past five years so it’s cleaner and doesn’t distract readers, he said.

Weyerhaeuser Co. and Japan-based Nippon Paper Products each own half of Norpac, also known as North Pacific Paper Co. The company remains one of North America’s largest newsprint producers, but book-paper sales have become about 20 percent of the total business, according to Norpac.

The mill has about 500 employees.

Norpac has inked deals with large New York-based publishing houses, including Simon & Schuster and Random House, and produced paper for the four novels in the hit teen-lit series “Twilight,” said Jack Whitall, the plant’s manager of paper and publishing sales.

“We’ve gone from the small, red-headed stepchild (of the book-paper industry) to one of the big dogs,” Whitall said.

“The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons” were made into Hollywood films starring Tom Hanks, who played Harvard University professor Robert Langdon.

“The Lost Symbol” follows Langdon as he unlocks the secrets behind a series of historical symbols while being pursued by powerful forces.