Tie-in

A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, website, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original property, and are a form of cross-promotion used primarily to generate additional income from that property and to promote its visibility.

Common tie-in products include literary works, which may be novelizations of a media property, original novels or story collections inspired by the property, or republished previously existing books, such as the novels on which a media property was based, with artwork or photographs from the property. According to publishing industry estimates, about one or two percent of the audience of a film will buy its novelization, making these relatively inexpensively produced works a commercially attractive proposition in the case of blockbuster film franchises. Although increasingly also a domain of previously established novelists, tie-in writing has the disadvantages, from the writers' point of view, of modest pay, tight deadlines and no ownership in the intellectual property created.

Tie-in products may also have a documentary or supplemental character, such as "making-of" books documenting the creation of a media property. Tie-in products also include other types of works based on the media property, such as soundtrack recordings, video games, or merchandise including toys and clothing.

A novelization is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, comic strip or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the invention of home video, but continue to find commercial success as part of marketing campaigns for major films. They are often written by accomplished writers based on an early draft of the film's script and on a tight deadline.

Tie-in books are sometimes reprints of novels rebranded to tie in with their film adaptation. As an example, after Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever was adapted into the 1988 film Die Hard, it was retitled Die Hard with the film's poster on the cover. The Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was similarly republished to tie in with Blade Runner, the film loosely based on the book.

A tie-in book linked to a film based on short fiction may be published featuring the adapted story, as well as other stories from the same author; for example, while Stephen King's novella "Apt Pupil" was adapted to the eponymous film, King's collection Different Seasons, which featured the story, was reprinted as Apt Pupil: A Novella in Different Seasons. Similarly, novels were published to tie in with the films Minority Report and Paycheck, featuring Philip K. Dick's original short stories "The Minority Report" and "Paycheck". The official organization linked to writing media tie-ins is the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers.

Tie-in works may also tell new stories in the form of sequels, prequels and other spin-offs, creating an expanded universe based on the original work; for example, the many books, comics and video games set in an expanded universe based initially on the first Star Wars trilogy. In 2015, the New York Times noted the flourishing market for TV series tie-in novels, coinciding with the increasing cultural significance of quality television series. The increasing number of previously established novelists taking on tie-in works has also been credited with these works gaining a "patina of respectability" after having previously been disregarded in literary circles as derivative and mere merchandise.

Some video games are tie-in licences for films, television series or books.