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While some people firmly believe that no adaptation of a beloved book can ever live up to the book itself, one increasingly true thing is that adaptations boost the book’s visibility and sales. Netflix, coming off a series of successful adaptations, has offered some insights into where and how its small-screen films and television shows have brought new, widespread attention to the source material.
Before diving into the numbers, some notes. Netflix attributes the popularity of their adaptations across the globe to the books themselves–good source material is key to producing a great adaptation. What’s tricky about adaptations, of course, is that what someone envisions as they read differs from reader to reader. What a producer and team do when developing an adaptation is create an interpretation of the book and build a story from that. There are constraints in the visual medium that don’t exist in the book format. That’s why some favorite scenes or secondary characters aren’t present in the film or television version; it’s also why other scenes or secondary characters take on more prominence.
We’re still in a position where most adaptations are books written by white authors. Though books by authors of color have been successfully adapted, and while more are in the works, the bulk of adaptations over the last year have not been. That doesn’t mean there aren’t talented people of color in the writing rooms, playing roles in the adaptation, or serving in key positions on the production team. Those contributions aren’t as easy to see or celebrate as the author of the source material. The good news is that we will continue to see more adaptations of books by diverse authors in the coming year.
2026 Netflix Book-to-Screen Adaptations Grow Readership in Books
Netflix began 2026 with a literary adaptation bonanza, releasing one adaptation per week in January. This certainly helped many of those adaptations into the Global Top 10 shows. For the week of January 19-25, 2026, four of the top 10 spots were held by adaptations: His & Hers (#1, 17.2M views), Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials (#2, 8.7M views), Finding Her Edge (#4, 5.5M views), and Harlan Coben’s Run Away (#6, 3.6M views).
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Those adaptations are creating big sales for the books, too. The People We Meet on Vacation, based on the Emily Henry novel, debuted on the Global Top 10 at the #1 spot following its January 9 release. The adaptation was among the Top 10 shows in over 90 countries, garnering nearly 50 million views.
“Bringing People We Meet on Vacation from page to screen was really about honoring what readers loved about the book – the characters, their arcs, and the overall spirit of the story – while also accepting that books and movies work very differently,” said the film’s Director, Brett Haley. “The adaptation was never about recreating the book beat for beat, but about finding a cinematic way to tell the same story. Watching the film connect with such a wide audience on Netflix, and seeing the fandom grow and come alive online, has been pretty amazing. I think of the movie and the book as companion pieces – two honest versions of the same story, meant to live side by side.”
And grow it did. Following the film’s adaptation, Spotify shared that audiobook listens for The People We Meet on Vacation increased by 515% and that it saw a global 800% increase in saves.
Sales soared, too. Henry’s novel landed on The New York Times Bestseller list twice for January 25, coming in at #8 on the combined print and ebook list and at #9 on the paperback list. One week later, The People We Meet on Vacation climbed to #6 on the combined print and ebook list.
“Emily Henry’s bestseller, which already has nearly 3 million copies in print, skyrocketed back onto TheNew York Times bestseller list and saw a significant 97% increase in sales across all formats in the two weeks after the film release,” said Ben Lee, Senior Vice President, Backlist for the Penguin Publishing Group. Not bad for a novel that was already tremendously popular!
His & Hers, adapted from the thriller published in spring 2020 by Alice Feeney, was released as a Netflix series on January 8, 2026. It, too, immediately skyrocketed to the top of the viewership charts and saw a simultaneous surge in people seeking out the book it was adapted from. His & Hers ranked #16 on the Amazon Best Sellers list for the next two weeks, rising to #15 for the week of January 29. The book landed at #92 on USA Today’s Best Sellers list for January 29–this after being unranked on the list before.
“It seems that His & Hers has achieved that rare feat of not only satisfying those viewers who haven’t read Alice’s book but also those who have. Clearly it’s hard for any screen adaptation to compete with the version that the reader sees in their mind’s eye, but it seems that fans of the book have loved our adaptation and that Netflix viewers who haven’t read the book have rushed out to buy it straight afterwards (or found it in the local library, as my Dad did!),” said Co-Showrunner, William Oldroyd.
The Spotify bump happened for His & Hers, too. Since the show’s debut on Netflix, Spotify reported a 494% increase in audiobook listens. That’s been recorded as an over 600% increase in US listeners and over 300% in the UK.
Sales and interest in the books inspiring Netflix book-to-screen adaptations in 2026 aren’t limited to adult titles, either. One of the streamer’s most anticipated young adult adaptations, Finding Her Edge, based on the book of the same name by Jennifer Iacopelli, is seeing its source material rise in popularity as well. Netflix’s series was released on January 22, landing at #4 on the Global Top 10 list. It reached the Top 10 in 76 countries and has continued its stay on the Top 10 list for two additional weeks.
Even the anticipation of the adaptation helped boost sales and interest in the title–and not just in Finding Her Edge. Iacopelli’s other titles also sparked reader interest.
“Before the announcement [of Finding Her Edge] we had a US and a German publisher. Within a matter of weeks after the announcement, we had a UK publisher and 13 further translation deals in place. On top of that, the author’s catalogue has gained renewed international interest, garnering translation sales across her forthcoming titles and backlist,” said Alice Sutherland-Hawes at ASH Literary, the author’s literary agent.
Iacopelli’s publisher timed the release of the new paperback edition of Finding Her Edge in the lead-up to the Netflix adaptation, and the decision paid off.
“Originally published as a hardcover in 2022, [the] paperback with a Netflix burst released in December 2025 and has sold 500% more copies in just 8 weeks compared to the hardcover,” said Jen Klonsky, President and Publisher of Putnam Books for Young Readers.
Finding Her Edge was renewed for a second season.
What About Those 2025 Adaptations?
While 2026 is off to a strong start in terms of seeing viewers of Netflix’s adaptations seek out the source material, there was a similar trend in 2025. Viewers of some of the streamer’s biggest adaptations were also eager to get their hands on the books that inspired the shows and films.
Frankenstein, as seen through the eyes of legendary director Guillermo del Toro, not only garnered nine Oscar nominations–including for Best Picture–it debuted at #1 on the Global Top 10 Movies List (English) and stayed there for two weeks. The film garnered over 88 million viewers and reached the top 10 Movies in 93 countries.
Mary Shelley’s book also saw direct sales impact, despite being in the public domain. Penguin Random House said sales of the movie tie-in edition increased by 180% in the week after the film’s release. Spotify also noted a 180% increase in streams that week, and the book was Google’s 6th-most-trending title of the year. The Bookseller attributed this growth of interest directly to the Netflix adaptation.
Among some of the other 2025 successes:
- The Hunting Wives, published in 2021 by May Cobb, saw its paperback edition go back to press twice in the week the adaptation landed. There was a 5000% increase in sales of all formats that week compared to the same week in 2024. Spotify saw over a 600% increase in listeners to the audiobook in the two weeks after the Netflix premiere.
- The Woman in Cabin 10, based on the 2016 book by Ruth Ware, saw its sales increase 150% year over year following the adaptation. The already best-selling book now has over 2.3 million copies in print.
- Cozy mystery The Thursday Murder Club, developed from the book series of the same name by Richard Osman, saw its source material return to the USA Today Best Sellers in the run-up to the film adaptation. It landed in the top five of Amazon’s best-seller lists for mysteries, thrillers, and suspense following the Netflix adaptation.
- My Oxford Year, written by Julia Whelan and released in 2018, saw its sales increase following the film’s Netflix release in August 2025. The same happened with the release of the small-town cowboy romance Ransom Canyon, written by Jodi Thomas and published in 2015. Ransom Canyon has been renewed for a second season.
More 2026 Adaptations from Netflix to Watch
The fourth season of Bridgerton premiered on January 29, and it’s expected to spark even more renewed interest in the beloved Julia Quinn series. Following the third season’s release in 2024, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton saw more than a 300% increase in sales over the next 30 days. The series has continued to appear on The New York Times Bestseller list following the launch of seasons one, two, and three.
There are numerous book-to-screen adaptations on deck for Netflix this year, too. Some of these titles have release dates, and others are still on deck for anticipated 2026 releases. While some of these adaptations are coming from already proven hits, we’ll likely see many, if not all, of these titles receive more attention in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
- February 5, 2026: The Lincoln Lawyer S4 (series), based on the novel by Michael Connelly
- March 5, 2026: Vladimir (series), based on Julia May Jones’ debut novel
- March 12, 2026: Virgin River S7 (series), based on the book series by Robyn Carr
- May 8, 2026: Remarkably Bright Creatures (film), based on the novel by Shelby Van Pelt
- June 11, 2026: Sweet Magnolias S5 (series), based on the book series by Sherryl Woods
- December 25, 2026: Narnia (film), based on the novels by C.S. Lewis
- 2026: Unaccustomed Earth (series), based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story collection
- 2026: Pride and Prejudice (series) based on Jane Austen’s classic novel
- 2026: The Mosquito Bowl (film), based on the novel by Buzz Bissinger
- 2026: Heartstopper Forever (film), based on the YA novel series by Alice Oseman
- 2026: Man on Fire (series), based on the novel by A.J. Quinnell
- 2026: The Hunting Wives S2 (series), based on the novel by May Cobb
- 2026: 3 Body Problem S2 (series), based on the novel by Cixin Liu
Whether or not you’re a fan of adaptations, one thing that they do is bring new or renewed interest in reading. There’s nothing to be sad about there!