Hey, if the decorations are already showing up and the cards are being sold, it's certainly not to early to talk about the holidays. Certainly, Waterstone's must, because the prospect of selling lots and lots of books is making them rather nervous, as the Bookseller reports. And even though the UK's largest bookshop chain is set to double their television advertising budget, managing director Gerry Johnson has warned that Christmas 2006 is likely to be "even more difficult" than last year.

The TV brand campaign created by agencies The Nest and St Lukes, backed with press ads and a Christmas catalogue, starts tomorrow and will run for 8 to 10 weeks thereafter leading up until Christmas. The 20-second TV ads centre on cartoon characters representing different types of reader personalities. They ask "What's Your Story?", offering books as "great gift" ideas for people who might be "celebrity culture casualties" or "incurably imaginative individuals". Specific titles to be promoted within each new ad have yet to be confirmed.

Despite things looking "difficult," book sales are doing well in the UK this month, as Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market panel reports overall sales totalled �37.8m, an increase of nearly 10% on the same week a year ago. The reason for the increase? Lemony Snicket & Jamie Oliver, for the most part.