So far the bestseller is Melvin Burgess, the multi-award-winning children's author whose novel 'Junk' caused controversy with its gritty account of teenagers who runaway from home and get hooked on heroin.

Other names selling well include Scoular Anderson, GP Taylor, A-L Kennedy and Iain Banks. So far about 500 tickets have been sold or reserved.

The festival runs from Monday 1 October to Friday the 5th and features 17 events at venues across the city - The Royal Highland Hotel, Hootananny's and The Ness Bank Church. Brochures are available in bookshops and there's a website: www.invernessbookfestival.com.

Bizarrely, two of the most fascinating events aren't selling as well as was expected - Lance Price and Ewan Morrison. Lance is a former Downing Street spin doctor who worked with Tony Blair and Ewan is an ex-New York based writer whose latest book 'Swung' has impressed the critics with its sensitive story featuring characters with unusual love lives.

Festival director Jason Rose said: "Inverness is proving a tough nut to crack. Although this is the fourth festival, it's still difficult to guess what sort of line-up will work and what won't. Inverness has grown and changed a lot in recent years and is definitely quirkier than other UK cities. All the events feature rare opportunities to get up close with top class writers. I hope that as in previous years we get good crowds because people are choosing to turn up on the night rather than book in advance. But I would warn that in doing so, there's always the chance of a sell-out and I'd hate to have to turn folk away."