Target Books is a British

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback

publishing company Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult

Tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of novelisations and other assorted books based on the popular

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''. Their first publications based on the serial were reprints in paperback of three novels which had been previously published as hardbacks by

Frederick Muller Ltd Hutchinson Heinemann is a British publishing firm founded in 1887. It is currently an imprint which is ultimately owned by Bertelsmann, the German publishing conglomerate. History Hutchinson Heinemann began as Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd ...

: ''Doctor Who and the Daleks'' and ''Doctor Who and the Crusaders'' by David Whitaker, and ''Doctor Who and the Zarbi'' by Bill Strutton. As these sold well further novelisations of the show were commissioned. 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 W. H. Allen Ltd to become Wyndham Publications Ltd in 1976. However, during 1977 and 1978, the Wyndham identity was phased out and, until 1990, Target books were published by 'the paperback division of WH Allen & Co'. The most prolific writer in the ''Doctor Who'' range was

Terrance Dicks Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English author and television screenwriter, script editor and producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fiction series ''Doctor Who'', working as a ...

, while actor turned writer Ian Marter,

Malcolm Hulke Malcolm Ainsworth Hulke (21 November 1924 – 6 July 1979) was a British television writer and author of the industry "bible" ''Writing for Television in the 70s''. He is remembered chiefly for his work on the science fiction series ''Doctor Wh ...

, Philip Hinchcliffe and Nigel Robinson (who was for a time the editor of the range) were also contributors. The company also produced novelisations of various other

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

s and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

series, again aimed mostly at the child and teenage markets. They also published a number of original children's and teenage novels. In 1973, the company produced a successful paperback edition of Tim Dinsdale's book, ''The Story of the

Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster (), known affectionately as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protrud ...

''. In 1977, Target published the novelisation of the

Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of both fields. In a career spanning more than 40 ...

film, '' Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger''. W. H. Allen was acquired by

Virgin Books Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing ...

in a process that spanned late 1986 to late 1987. In 1994, the Target imprint was closed down and the last three novelisation published by Virgin were under the Doctor Who Books imprint. They did, however, feature the Target logo inside and were numbered in Target's "Doctor Who Library" on inside pages.

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, through its United Kingdom division, acquired a 90% stake in Virgin Books (including Target) in March 2007.Joel Rickett
Random House UK buys Virgin Books
''

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddes ...

'', 5 March 2007 (via archive.org) In November 2009, Virgin became an independent imprint within

Ebury Publishing Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Cent ...

, a division of the Random House Group. Ebury Publishing having acquired a majority shareholding of

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidia ...

in 2006, BBC Books published reprints of several of the Target ''Doctor Who'' novelisations starting in 2011 . In 2018, BBC Books started publishing novelisations of select post-2005 ''Doctor Who'' stories and a new abridged version of ''City of Death'' using the Target branding in a range of books called the ''Target Collection''. This range also included novelisations of stories not published by the original Target Books, as they were unable to secure rights as well as print versions of audiobook exclusive novelisations previously released by BBC Audio.

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* {{Authority control Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom Publishing companies established in 1973 1973 establishments in England Publishing companies disestablished in 1994 1994 disestablishments in England 1976 mergers and acquisitions

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