The problem with reading

Perusing the bookshelves in Edinburgh airport last week gave me the chance to consider the appearance of my own books. The books on offer all had quotes about how good they were, sometimes from papers that I don't read or from people I'd never heard of. Some had "International Bestseller", "No 1 Bestseller" or "His/Her Latest Bestseller".

Obviously I can't put any of this stuff on my book cover. Well, I could but I'd be lying. I believe getting independent endorsements must be very important for any book but I don't think they're independent any more. Journalists rave about their friends' books in the literary sections of the newspapers even without reading them, as was recently proved.

I could put Amazon bestseller on my cover I suppose but I wouldn't be entirely comfortable with it. That's because although it got as high as number 60 in the Top 100 for Contemporary Fantasy it isn't in the Top 100 right now. How is a bestseller defined?

I was also struck by the prices of the books on offer. They were about the same size and the same price as my own book, The Horsepower Whisperer.

There were new books by Terry Pratchett (25 years of the Discworld) and another motoring title from Robbie Coltrane. If you like their earlier stuff you'd like their latest offerings. That's the importance of branding.

So what did I come away with?

Nothing.

No book appealed to me sufficiently for me to buy it. I would much rather look out of the window at the wings waggling and the tyre smoke when we land.

At the same time I would love to be absorbed completely by a good read but it seems to be happening less and less. Quite why this is so, I have no idea. I have started and not finished so much rubbish I exercise caution instead of diving right in. My reading buds have become jaded.

So I am now thinking as a reader as much as an author. Does my book have shelf appeal? Does it entice its prospective audience into picking it up, looking it over, dipping into it and buying it?

As I examine the proof of The Wormton Lamb and work on The Grey Ones, I must somehow check that I'm enjoying reading it as well as writing it. I'm not quite sure how to manage this. The reader/writer thing is like a dual personality. I often write becasue I can't find anything I like to read.

I think the books on offer in the airport lacked real enthusiasm. That's one of my strengths. I've got bags of enthusiasm and it could be a USP - a Unique Selling Point. I don't think any book I saw in the airport had a USP.

Also, those bestsellers will only be on those shelves for a maximum of six weeks before being returned to the publishers for discounting or pulping. I'd rather have a slow burn than an explosive, ephemeral impact. That's just as well really - The Horsepower Whisperer is working up to a very slow burn.

Would "Cult author's latest" on my cover make any difference? I've left some room in readiness for quotes but as far as I am concerned I don't think I - as a reader - would be swayed that easily. For me it's reader feedback that matters.

I must admit, though - sometimes my covers start to look a little bare without them. But are readers and book purchasers as jaded with these techniques? Do you really want two pages of endorsements from newspapers and celebrities in the book you are about to buy?

My book covers are designed to look good on Amazon and for that you need clarity. Some of the titles in the airport were unintelligible, especially the girly ones with their curly writing.

Maybe that's deliberate. It's a guarantee I won't pick up any chick lit.