To blog or not to blog

I've always considered blogging a slightly vain and introverted activity.

But today I've been introduced to the value of blogging: promoting and spreading ideas, and as a means of letting people know about good writing. This isn't an entirely selfless activity; in fact, it's geared towards selling books. But everyone's got to make a living...

I am not a writer, but I am an editor at Canongate Books. I'm here as part of the 'Independent Alliance', a collective of independent publishers that also includes Atlantic, Faber, Granta, Icon, Portobello, Profile, Quercus, Serpent's Tail and Short Books.

I'm here to draw online attention to the man currently sitting on my right in this sauna-like computer lab, Dave Simpson. Dave has written a brilliant book called THE FALLEN: SEARCHING FOR THE MISSING MEMBERS OF THE FALL. He made it his mission to track down everyone who has ever been in The Fall, covering thirty years of music through the eyes of the footsoldiers who made it.

It is also an out-there, hilarious and compelling portrait of inimitable frontman Mark E. Smith - part-Brian Clough, part-Captain Beefheart - whose shamanic presence has inspired love and fear in equal measure since the band's inception in Manchester in 1976.

The book is published in September, so buy it then. Or at least, get blogging about it...