Between 1964 and 1966, three books based on First Doctor serials were published in hardcover by Frederick Muller Ltd.
Between 1973 and 1991, Target Books published 156 books, covering almost every Doctor Who television story that was originally broadcast from 1963 to 1989. The Target Books imprint was also used for five books in 2018 and seven books published in 2021.
In 1996, BBC Books published a novelization of the 1996 TV movie. From 2012 to 2019, BBC Books published novelisations of the 1970s and 1980s serials Target was unable to publish. Most of these books were republished starting in 2018 as part of The Target Collection, which also included adaptations of select episodes of the revived series.
One range of novelisations, the companion range, focused on telling new stories centred around the companions. 2 novels were published in this series.
In 1989, a series of novelisations of unproduced TV stories began. There are 7 books in this series.
Virgin New Adventures: Published from 1991 to 1999, these continued the story of the Doctor from the point at which the television programme went into hiatus from television in 1989. They featured the Seventh Doctor from 1991 to 1997, plus one book with the Eighth Doctor. From 1997 to 1999, they focused on Bernice Summerfield and the Doctor did not appear. 83 books were published in this series.
Virgin Missing Adventures: Published from 1994 to 1997, these featured the First through Sixth Doctors with stories set between televised episodes of the programme. They complemented the Virgin New Adventures range. 33 books were published in this series.
Virgin Decalog: Published from 1994 to 1997, these each contained ten short stories. Volumes 4 and 5 did not feature the Doctor or any other non-Virgin copyrighted characters after the BBC decided not to renew Virgin's licence to produce original fiction featuring the Doctor or any characters featured in the TV series. Five volumes were published in this series.
Past Doctor Adventures: Published from 1997 to 2005, these featured First through Seventh Doctors, following the lead set by Virgin Missing Adventures series. 76 books were published in this series.
BBC Short Trips: Published from 1998 to 2000, these were short story anthologies, following a pattern established by the Virgin Decalog series. Three volumes were published in this series.
New Series Adventures: Published from 2005 (and still active), these feature the Ninth Doctor onwards. The featured Doctor aligns with the active TV series. As of April 2020, 64 standard-length novels and 7 larger "supersize" novels have been published.
Big Finish Books Series
Shortly after they acquired the license to produce Doctor Who audios they also started to produce Doctor Who Books.
Big Finish Short Trips: Published from 2001 to 2009 by Big Finish Productions, these are short story anthologies. The name was inherited the BBC Short Trips series, which was discontinued by BBC Books for cost reasons. Big Finish Productions negotiated a licence to continue producing these collections, publishing them in hardback to allow for a higher cover price. 28 volumes were published in this series.
Bernice Summerfeild: a series of 31 books starring Virgin New Adventures character: Bernice Summerfeild.
Iris Wildthyme: a series of 23 books starring Eighth Doctor Adventures character: Iris Wildthyme.
New Worlds: a series of 2 unrelated books which were released under this imprint and don't fit into another category.
Candy Jar Books
Independent publishing company Candy Jar Books has published five series based on Doctor Who since 2015:
Make Your Own Adventure/Find Your Fate: In 1986, a series of six multiple-plot concept books by several authors was published in parallel by Severn House as Make Your Own Adventure With Dr Who and Ballantine Books as Find Your Fate: Dr Who. Each volume allows for different progressions based on the readers decisions and dice rolls: Search for the Doctor, Crisis in Space,[1]Garden of Evil,[2]Mission to Venus, Invasion of the Ormazoids and Race Against Time.
Faction Paradox: A series of books about the story of faction paradox and the associated "War in Heaven" released by various publishers. 31 books were published in this series.
Over the years two now rather rare charity books have been published: Time's Champion and Seasons of War: Gallifrey
Erimem: a series of books about fifth doctor companion Ermimem by Thebes publishing. There are 16 books in this series.
^Bunnell, John C. (November 1986). "The Role of Books". Dragon magazine. No. 115. TSR, Inc. pp. 71–72. The only safe generalization to be made about this newest twist on the multiple-plot concept is that the idea is certifiably weird.
^Bunnell, John C. (January 1987). "The Role of Books". Dragon magazine. No. 117. TSR, Inc. p. 83. David Martin returns with a solid story that again transcends the multiple-plot form to compete favorably with the full-length novels.
