 Plenty of times, writers come up with an idea for a novel that could translate visually to film. The good news is that if you want to see your manuscript converted into a screenplay, there are two different routes that would make an adaptation possible.
Most books that get released by a major publisher or are repped by an established agency get passed to an agent who tries to drum up interest in film/TV rights for a project. This makes total sense. A writer creates a good story, so the obvious goal is to sell it through every means possible, be that print books, e-books, foreign rights translations, serial excerpts, audio books, or, yes, movies/TV. If your new book-to-film agent (usually brought onboard by your book agent) can generate adaptation interest from producers, your work gets bought/optioned by Hollywood, and you’re off and running. This exact thing happened to my humor book, How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack. Sony optioned the book and hired a screenwriter to adapt the work. But what if you want to see your work adapted into a screenplay, but are either indie-publishing it or the work hasn’t sold yet? The obvious option is to... ADAPT IT YOURSELF: 7 IMPORTANT TIPS FOR BEGINNERS  One of the biggest distinctions between book publishing and other creative industries like music is that the author always retains the full copyright and ownership over their work. Look at the front matter of any book, and you'll find a line that says something like "Copyright © 2025 by Dean Winchester." Sometimes, authors have an LLC or other company they use to handle proceeds from their work, so it might say "Copyright © 2025 Winchester Productions Inc." What's more important than the name next to the copyright is the fact that the author, not the publishing company, owns the publishing rights.
Because they own their works, authors do not actually sell their books to publishing companies. They sell the rights for the publisher to publish the book in certain formats. Any right an author grants a publisher to publish a book in a format other than hardcover and ebook in North America (assuming the publisher is headquartered in the USA) is called a subsidiary right. What subsidiary rights can authors sell? |