We're preparing a new batch of Advance Information sheets (AIs) for the next batch of titles due for publication between January and March next year. These tell the booksellers well in advance, what our publishers are planning to launch on an unsuspecting public next year.

We try to work on the principle of less-is-more when finalising AIs because it's common knowledge that the Sales Rep. has between 2 and 5 seconds to catch a book buyer's attention and once the page has been turned over, that's it for a title that someone has worked long and hard to produce - at least, on that particular sales call.

Sometimes bullet points or 'pull quotes' work really well. Writing these is just so difficult that we blench at the thought of 40 or so AIs needing to be polished up each quarter. The words simply dry up and I'm full of admiration for people who can write copy.

Was it Fay Weldon who dreamed up the slogan 'go to work on an egg'? Whoever it was, it was masterly. The other one I like (whilst not liking the supermarket itself) is 'You shop we drop'.

Perhaps once we get the next stage of our website built, we should put together a volunteer 'buyers' team amongst the people who buy books from our site regularly. They may be able to help us decide what to say about new titles. Perhaps our books would then all become bestseller! Watch this space for information about our plans for new website modules.