By Chadwick H. Saxelid

The media novel has changed in the last 20 to 30 years.Now, instead of adapting a movie or TV series into book form, licensors offer original novels based on the premise and featuring characters from a popular movie or television show.This is due in large part to the dramatic shifts in the market brought upon by video and DVD, coupled with the near constant repeated programming found on most syndicated cable network channels.

Sales figures show how popular these spin-off novels can be.The six Resident Evil paperbacks penned by S. D. Perry sold over 750,000 copies in five years. Greg Bear’s Rogue Planet, a Star Wars prequel, 200,000 in hardback alone.Three million copies of Buffy the Vampire Slayer books flood the market.

But even the smaller franchises, such as Doctor Who or Murder, She Wrote, have had success with novel spin-offs.“The buys are not massive.”Micha Hershman, Borders’ buyer for science fiction, graphic novels, and games, told Publishers Weekly.“But there is a loyal core audience.It’s money in the bank.”

Because that “loyal core audience” seems to be insatiable for this kind of product, licensors and publishers seek out established writers to keep feeding a steady supply of it to them.“Nobody is looking for one-book authors.”John Vornholt, author of several books set in the Star Trek and Earth 2 universes, warns visitors to his website in his “Advice to Writers” section.“[They want] writers who will be dependable, professional, and write them a lot of books.”

Yet writing a media novel requires more than just a vivid imagination and the ability to deliver more than just a publishable book.The hired writer needs to understand just what it is that makes the universe work for the fans, and be able to deliver a story that manages to capture that feeling without altering it.Being a fan is not only considered helpful, but essential.

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