From the linked article…

So here’s what this essentially is: fans who love TNG filling in the gaps of the original story they love with the unexplored rest of the universe of people who would have been impacted by that storyline. That’s important for two reasons. First and foremost, this doesn’t take anything away from Paramount’s Star Trek production, and in fact does the opposite. The project doesn’t replace the original episodes, but rather builds upon them. In other words, this project could only possibly serve to draw more interest to Paramount’s product, since the book isn’t going to make much sense to anyone who hasn’t seen the original episodes.