Following the first week’s disappointing sales, William Boyd’s new James Bond novel has dropped out of the UK’s top ten new publications and sits in 22nd place, according to MI6.
This must question whether Ian Fleming Publication’s can afford to continue with their policy of hiring big name authors to pen further continuation novels. Household names with established followings don’t come cheap, but the hope that their Bond books will appeal to followers of the hired hands doesn’t appear to be working.
What next for literary Bond then? A new author has been brought in to pen further Young Bond novels, but perhaps it is time to look to a regular author again, similar to the days when John Gardner and Raymond Benson wrote continuation novels.
Source: MI6
