So many Netflix shows, so little time
How have book to screen adaptations impacted the publishing world?
Last week, Netflix revealed that it’s latest book to screen adaptation of Bridgerton (2020) had been streamed in over 82 million households since its first release a month ago — making the show the most-watched series to date. Since then, social media has become a vast, never-ending ocean of Bridgerton fanatics. The habitual task of scrolling through Facebook or Twitter has left the media drowning in a series of obsessive posts or infatuated tweets from friends and strangers showing high-definition stills of a shirtless Rege-Jean Page (played by Simon Basset).
It appears that yet again, Netflix has cleverly adapted the pages of a book to form the basis of one of its hit series. Shows such as, The Queen’s Gambit (2020), YOU (2018) and Orange is the New Black (2013) have also all been developed from a book sat on a reader’s shelf. With these continuous releases of book adaptations onto our very screens, will the future of reading be lost to the incredulous streaming services that are taking over our free time? Are these adaptations proving beneficial for readers and publishers alike?
To answer this, we need to see how these covetous Netflix adaptations are impacting the publishing world today.
She’s popular now — “you haven’t seen it yet?”
It can be simple to assume that many Netflix members will stream shows and not give any thought to the source material of the book, however this is perhaps not the case.
Despite being popular on streaming services, Bridgerton has garnered ‘HarperCollins’s Avon a total volume sale of 750,000 copies’ since the series first aired. Secondly, Julia Quinn’s The Duke and I, (2000) the foundational text for the show, has now sat comfortably at number one of the NYT bestseller list for four weeks which has left the publishing house dancing happily.
Similarly, Netflix’s adaptation of The Queen’s Gambit (2020) has also boosted sales of Walter Tevis’ 1983 novel and chess-sets alike, leaving fans desperate for a greater glimpse into this fictional world. Furthermore, Asher’s 13 Reasons Why (2017), which had been published for ten years, became a USA bestseller as a result of the hard-hitting Netflix series. Perhaps these screen adaptations are indeed proving fruitful to the pockets of publishers?
Bringing it back to life
Boog (2019) states that Netflix executives ‘see literary material as an irreplaceable resource’. Books will always be able to provide screen writers with the ability to craft a fictional world. Similarly, as books begin to collect dust on shelves, Netflix takes the opportunity to give an old book a new life.
According to Steerforth Press, the steady development of Charles Brandt’s classic novel — I Heard You Paint Houses(2004) will ensure ‘to be a boon’ for the Press and the covetous reprint with a ‘Netflix sticker on its cover’ is essential in the book’s revival. Additionally, the new adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s YA novel Shadow and Bone (2012) has already seen readers picking up this favourite all over social media. This all points to the conclusion that perhaps Netflix’s reinvigorating of our love for certain stories is a positive outcome after all.
Overall, it is clear that the streaming service will always be looking for new books which showcase ‘worldbuilding that’s really hard to come by in the everyday pitches’ (Thurnell, 2019). It is easy for readers to become disheartened by a bad adaptation that does not align with their own imagining of the story, yet perhaps one is not better than the other, but rather they co-exist in a worthwhile harmony.
