What do you prefer — the book or the movie? If you answered movie, you’re right there with the majority of people. Most people say they like the film adaptation better than the book — and authors are taking notice of this trend. Based on data from Goodreads and Netflix, adaptations are proving to do better with audiences. 

 Why It’s Newsworthy: The relationship between books and movies is altering. Netflix and other movie adaptation are becoming the choice format, changing how the literary community works.  

Even though movies may be the preferred choice, that doesn’t make books altogether unwanted. Movies need books to have a storyline and books need movies to get publicity. In fact, according to one case from the Association of American Publishers, almost half a million books were sold after a movie adaptation.

“A series of books can be sold to Netflix but that doesn’t stop it from being read,” UK-based author Carrie Gibson said. “It’s not an either-or situation.”

Not only is the relationship between these formats changing, but the writing itself. Many authors no longer look at a novel as a singular story, but more as a stepping stone to a major motion picture.

Grady Newsource’s Erin Wasserman, a senior majoring in journalism and minoring in English, shows you how this relationship may impact what you see and read in the future.