Turning books into movies or television shows isn’t a new thing. Neither is the sales boost the books get when the adaptations air.
But Canadian booksellers are noticing that sales for book-to-screen adaptations are now having a moment like never before.
Kobo, an online retailer for e-books and audiobooks, has reported major increases in sales of books that have recently been adapted for the screen.
This includes hockey romance novel Heated Rivalry by Nova Scotia author Rachel Reid, which was made into the hit Crave television series of the same name, and the classic gothic novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, which is set to release as a movie starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi on Feb. 13.
Other examples are the romance novel People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, which just got a Netflix movie adaptation starring Emily Bader and Tom Blythe, and the period romance An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn, the basis for the most recent season of Netflix’s Bridgerton series.
Fandoms driving sales, and community
“I think what’s shifted over the last few years has been the social media fandoms attached to it,” said Deandra Lalonde, Kobo’s Content Sales Lead of North America, in an interview with CBC Books.
She’s talking about viral press tour moments that are shared religiously, BookTok or Bookstagrammers posting about the adaptations, and the creation of spinoff podcasts, group chats and subreddits around a franchise.
“It’s no longer just a few people wanting to check the book out before they see the movie, it’s everyone wanting to become totally immersed in the world that’s being built.”
This is especially true with Heated Rivalry.
While Crave’s book-to-show adaptation was on her team’s radar, they were surprised by the level of obsession that it spawned.
“I don’t think anyone expected it to blow up the way it did,” she said. “That was all because of super cuts on TikTok and Instagram. You couldn’t open your phone or a social media app without seeing it.”
When the Heated Rivalry show first premiered in Canada on Nov. 28 of last year, sales for the e-book of the same name went up 265 per cent in the first two days it was out, said Lalonde. By Dec. 7, the sales had grown nearly 500 per cent on the website. On the print side, Indigo reported that Reid’s book series has seen a 5,805 per cent lift in sales since the TV adaptation premiered.
What’s more, Heated Rivalry has been the No. 1 book on CBC’s bestseller list, which tracks sales in Canadian independent bookstores, every week since Jan 13.
“Once you’ve finished the series and you’ve read the book that it’s based on, if there’s more there for you to delve into, you want to get into it,” said Lalonde.
Lalonde says it’s also notable how well the book version of Wuthering Heights is selling before the movie has even come out.
“Since the beginning of the year, we have seen a nearly 600 per cent increase in sales, aligning with the media chatter around the upcoming movie adaptation,” she said.
The adaptation, directed by Emerald Fennell, has drummed up controversy over the casting of Elordi as Heathcliff and attention over the showmance displayed by the main co-stars.
“I have heard that people who are big fans of it haven’t liked past adaptations and are skeptical of this one,” said Lalonde. “So I think people want to be in that conversation.”
Vancouver bookseller Mary-Ann Yazedjian of Black Bond Books says interest in book-to-screen adaptations could be becoming more prevalent because of streaming services. Again, Heated Rivalry drives this home.
“In the past, we didn’t have access to movies and TV at our fingertips the moment we wanted them, and now that we do, people can watch Heated Rivalry right away and then learn about it and go out and get the book.”
Another notable recent adaptation she mentioned was Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, which was released as a movie starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal last year.
Yazedijan said that the book already sold well when it came out in 2020, but with the movie adaptation and awards buzz, it’s getting more attention.
“We have a combination of people coming in to say, ‘I’ve seen the movie, now I can’t wait to read the book,’ and as well, we’re getting a lot of people who say, ‘I really am excited to see the movie, but I absolutely want to read the book first,’” she said. “So it does work both ways, which I love.”
Bringing in new readers
Book-to-screen adaptations, Heated Rivalry in particular, are also responsible for bringing new readers into stores, said Yazedijan.
Lionel Zahrai is one of those new readers.
Zahrai read the novel version of Heated Rivalry after watching the show, and loved the extra character development he got from the text.
“I feel like in the book, you could see a lot more of the characters’ inner thoughts … which isn’t necessarily shown in the show,” he told CBC Books in an interview. “So it started with me just really liking the characters and then starting to read the book, which I guess I discovered like a whole different world.”
Now, he’s reading The Long Game, also part of Reid’s Game Changer series, and plans to finish the rest as soon as he can get his hands on some copies.
“They’re all sold out. It’s kind of hard to find and I don’t really like e-books,” he said.
He’s also looking for other enemies-to-lovers, sports romance books that showcase queer joy.
“It’s really hard to find other books that are happy like that,” he said.
Predicting the hype
Book-to-screen adaptations are developed in many ways — sometimes before the book’s even released and sometimes after interest from fans.
But no matter how the projects start, Oneida Crawford, the VP of scripted development for the production company Muse Entertainment, says that adapting a book for the screen means that the story has a greater opportunity to reach a bigger audience.
“The audience who know the IP will likely watch the adaptation, but then there’s the audience who only watches the adaptation who aren’t familiar with the book, who will potentially seek the book as well,” she told CBC Books in an email. “It’s a win-win for everyone to be able to discover and bring new audiences or fans to a story.”
As for the titles we can expect to experience the book-to-screen sales boost, Lalonde and her team have some ideas.
They’re expecting big numbers from Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping, a prequel to the Hunger Games series set to release as a movie in November, Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary, releasing in March and starring Ryan Reynolds, and Marissa Stapley’s Lucky, an Apple TV adaptation starring Anya Taylor Joy coming in July.
Another one to look out for is Carley Fortune’s debut romance novel Every Summer After, which is being adapted as an Amazon Prime show called Every Year After.
Every Summer After, which was already a blockbuster hit and bestseller, is set in Barry’s Bay, Ont., and is likely to generate substantial interest in the book, particularly in Canada, said Lalonde.
“There is something special about that and the Canadian-ness of it,” she said. “I think that will really speak to Canadians again the way Heated Rivalry did, where we got those glimpses of Canada and it felt very Canadian.”
Time will only tell if these predictions ring true. But the age-old question still remains: should you read it first, or wait until seeing the adaptation?
