How Wool set Hugh Howey on the road to Hollywood

When American bookshop employee Hugh Howey wrote a short story called Wool two years ago, he could never have predicted it would become a publishing phenomenon that is being lined up for a Hollywood movie.

Howey’s dystopian tale sees humanity confined to a gigantic subterranean silo split into 150 levels. The only view of the outside world is via a screen that transmits an image of a ruined landscape.

The ultimate punishment is “cleaning” – in which the condemned individual is sent out to polish the camera lens. The poisonous atmosphere on the surface means certain death.

When Juliette, an engineer from the lower levels, becomes Sheriff she makes a discovery that makes her rethink the world as she knows it.

Howey self-published his short story as an ebook in July 2011 – priced at under $1. He had already self-published several novels, but Wool gained a momentum of its own.

Howey expanded the story into a five-part novel, got a publisher, quit his job, and sold the film rights to 20th Century Fox with Sir Ridley Scott, whose films include Alien, Bladerunner and Prometheus, as a partner on the project.

With two more Wool-related novels – Shift and Dust – due out later this year, Howey explains his extraordinary journey from bookseller to best-selling writer.