Does this mean the novels have to change to reflect the show? (No more reprints of Star Trek Destiny?)
First off, they're not gonna stop reprinting
Destiny because of PIC. They didn't stop making copies of
Federation by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens when ST:FC contradicted its depiction of Zefram Cochrane; they didn't stop printing copies of
Strangers From the Sky by Margaret Wander Bonano when FC contradicted its depiction of first contact with Vulcan; they didn't stop printing copies of
Spock's World by Diane Duane when ENT's Vulcan Reformation arc contradicted its depiction of Surak's death; they didn't stop printing copies of
My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane when TNG contradicted her depiction of the Romulans; and they didn't stop printing copies of
The Final Reflection by John M. Ford when TNG contradicted his depiction of the Klingons. Hell, even
Star Wars didn't stop printing copies of their pre-Disney Expanded Universe after they nullified that continuity; they just slapped the label
Legends on them and kept printing it.
Meanwhile, yes, the ST novels will probably have to change to reflect the canon. That's just how it usually happens in these kinds of tie-in franchises; the tail does not get to wag the dog. If for no other reason than that PIC is virtually guaranteed to have millions more fans than the novels, and S&S isn't gonna want someone to pick up a new novel and be like, "Why is Picard's life totally different from what the new show said it was?"
So the present novelverse will no longer continue?
Well, not in its current form, obviously. I'm not convinced the whole thing will be chucked out though.
I think one illustrative example is what the novel line did in 2004-2005, during ENT's fourth season. That season, the NX-01 visited Andoria and established it to be an ice moon instead of a planet proper, and then the show established that the
Constitution-class USS
Defiant from "The Tholian Web" had survived and been transported to the 2150s of the Mirror Universe. This totally contradicted
Andor: Paradigm by Heather Jarman (from
Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), which depicted Andor (no "-ia") as having a tropical climate in at least some areas, and contradicted the
Starfleet Corps of Engineers e-book duology
Interphase by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore, which depicted the
Defiant as surviving into the prime universe's 2370s and being rescued by the crew of the USS
da Vinci and brought back to Earth.
How did the novels cope? Well, they didn't throw out the entire continuity. Future novels just ignored the parts of
Andor: Paradigm that referred to Andor's climate, and
Interphase was ignored but the rest of the
S.C.E. line continued just fine.
So I think it is entirely possible that there may be major elements of the novelverse that get nullified or retconned depending on what happens in PIC, but that entire kit and caboodle may not need to be thrown out the window. Like, yeah, maybe in future books the idea is that Picard's life was different and the Borg Collective wasn't finally dismantled at the end of
Destiny, but maybe a major Borg invasion still happened in 2380 so some key stuff from the novelverse continuity survives. Hell, for all we know the PIC show may
borrow elements from the novelverse continuity -- PIC co-creator Kirsten Beyer is one of those novelists, after all. Maybe we'll find out Starfleet can't help Picard rescue the girl because they're busy fighting the Typhon Pact! Who knows? Lots of options.
We do know one other thing: The novelists have said that they have a plan. They're good writers. I trust them.
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