Target Books
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Image:Target books.png Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of novelisations and other assorted books based on the popular science-fiction television series Doctor Who. In 1975 Universal-Tandem was sold by its American owners, the Universal-Award group, to the British conglomerate Howard and Wyndham; the company was renamed Tandem Publishing Ltd before being merged with the paperback imprints of Howard and Wyndham's general publishing house WH Allen to become Wyndham Publications Ltd in 1976; however, during 1977 and 1978 the Wyndham identity was phased out and until 1991 Target books were published by 'the paperback division of WH Allen & Co.'
The most prolific writer in the Doctor Who range was Terrance Dicks, while actor turned writer Ian Marter, Malcolm Hulke, Philip Hinchcliffe and Nigel Robinson (who was for a time the editor of the range) were also contributors.
All in all, virtually every story from the Doctor Who series was produced in novelisation form; the exceptions being three scripts by Douglas Adams (Shada, The Pirate Planet and City of Death) and two by Eric Saward (Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks). Saward was reluctant to novelise these scripts himself due to the large percentage of the author's royalties demanded by the agents of Dalek creator Terry Nation for the inclusion of the creatures, and other writers were similarly dissuaded for the same reason.
The company also produced novelisations of various other films and television series, again aimed mostly at the child and teenage markets. They also published a number of original children's and teenage novels.
WH Allen was purchased by the Virgin Group in the late 1980s and changed its name to Virgin Publishing in 1991, although the Target name and logo survived on Virgin's Doctor Who novelisations and reprints for a while into the early 1990s.