Things haven't been looking good for US publishing lately, and so with untypical team spirit, most of the major publishers have teamed up to create an online advertising campaign which attempts to persuade Christmas shoppers that books make great presents.

They've got their authors on board, so if you fancy watching writers from Dean Koontz to Dan Brown, Jonathan Lethem, Deepak Chopra and Maya Angelou come up with a raft of bizarre reasons why you should be buying books this Christmas, then give it a whirl.

Koontz is a bit creepy, while Angelou is confusing ("they make great friends. Your cherished book can hold your secrets and you can tell it every secret you have and it can't blab"). Judy Blume looks adorably excited ("you can never have too many!"), and Deidre Imus says, very seriously, that books make great gifts "because they play movies in your head". Alec Baldwin likes them because you don't have to plug them in, while Carol Higgins Clark points out that they never come in the wrong size.

But my favourite is Frank McCourt, who advises you that books are good presents "because after you make love you can reach for one, and it's always there". That's certainly going to persuade the shopper who hasn't quite made up their mind.