This Saturday sees a return to the northern leg of the book tour. The Frank’s Wild Years flag will be planted in Doncaster Waterstones from 11am (Leeds likewise on Saturday 19th May). As authors, increasingly aware in a crowded market that writing, publishing and promoting a book are only half the story, the need to project a ‘brand’ has become something of a pre-occupation. In many ways this flies against creative instincts: focus should be on the work; art is art and marketing and sales are someone else’s job. Not so, you’re involved. And when it takes you into the high street, you’re on your own. Herein lies a contradiction: if you’re brand is anti-brand and your image is an honest one, the thought of selling yourself brings to mind bullshit merchants like Stuart Baggs – ‘The Brand’ (Apprentice, Season 6): "I’m not a one-trickpony, I’m not a 10-trick pony, I have a whole field of ponies – and they’re literally all running towards this job." As if Alan P