For those, like myself, who weren't existent or sufficiently sentient in the 1970s or early-80s, it comes as quite a surprise just how phenomenally popular the Doctor Who Target novelisations were. Here's a quick summary cribbed from David J Howe's The Target Book.
When the three Muller novelisations were reprinted by Target in May 1973, with print runs of around 20,000 each, they 'quickly sold out' and 'were reprinted in October/November 1973 and again in January/February 1974'. Doctor Who even made 'sixth place in W H Smith's top ten books on 20 July 1973' (p.24). By September 1977, the publication of Doctor Who and the Mutants, 'collective sales of the first 35 titles [...] were topping two and a quarter million copies' (p.40)
In the early-80s, 'the print runs for each novelisation's first edition paperback leaped from a not-insignificant 25,000 to 30,000 copies to a massive 50,000 or 60,000 copies' (p.56), Howe implying that the show's emerging cult status in the US was a significant factor in the rise. Taking 1983 alone, which saw first edition paperback runs 'of around 40,000 copies, with an average reprint run set at around 17,000 copies', 'the 2.5 per cent royalty earned by BBC Worldwide on sales of all the W H Allen Doctor Who titles was nearly £36,000 – making net takings of just under 1.44 million pounds' (p.79). In late-1984/early-85, Marco Polo and The Myth Makers received 'the highest first edition print run for any of the Target Doctor Who titles, both having 65,000 copies printed' (p.93).
Whether or not that was quite the peak, I'm not sure - Peter Darvill-Evans talks about a point when 'they were selling 60,000 or 80,000 copies a time' (p.134). Regardless, he calls the Target books 'a publishing phenomenon', which seems about right with estimates that total sales came close to '13 million, taking into account all known reprint editions' (p.134).
Anyway, if you want to find out more, written by someone who's actually put some thought into all this, buy The Target Book. Really do. But if you're not sated on semi-coherent ponderings, here's a look at Doctor Who and the Mutants.
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