The Rebus author is to headline the second festival on the Isle of Colonsay next spring as fledgling festivals join the annual literary calendar.
It comes after Harry Potter writer JK Rowling was unveiled as the main attraction at the tiny Lennoxlove Book Festival, which takes place at the historic castle in East Lothian in November.
The country's first inter-national crime writers' festival – Bloody Scotland – held last weekend in various locations and also involving Rankin, sold more than 4000 tickets.
Rankin said such events help bring literature to the people as smaller festivals allow established novelists, book-lovers and new writers to get together at closer quarters, while the stirring locations can fire the imagination.
He said: "Book festivals not only connect authors and readers but also bring a buzz to the local community. Reading should matter to all of us – festivals remind us of that fact."
Rankin, one of the UK's best-selling crime writers, releases his latest Rebus novel, Standing in Another Man's Grave, in November.
Internationally renowned writers including Alexander McCall Smith and Scottish Makar Liz Lochhead were among those at the inaugural Colonsay event last year.
Also appearing this year are Candia McWilliam, John Burnside, Sara Sheridan, Maggie Fergusson and Angus Peter Campbell.
McWilliam, who has connections with Colonsay, first came to public notice with her novels A Case of Knives in 1988, and A Little Stranger in 1989. Debatable Land, published in 1994, won the Guardian Fiction Prize.
Fifer Burnside is an acclaimed poet, novelist and non-fiction writer. His collections of poetry have won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Award.
Dilly Emslie, director of the Colonsay Book Festival, said: "We're absolutely thrilled to have secured such a terrific line-up for our 2013 event, and there's great excitement on the island in anticipation of another unforgettable literary weekend next spring.
"This year's inaugural book festival surpassed all our expectations and 2013 is shaping up to be just as successful."
Colonsay, situated west of Jura in the Inner Hebrides, also has a highly successful annual folk festival, Ceòl Cholasa, which is now in its sixth year.
Lennoxlove Book Festival said is was a coup to have coaxed Rowling to headline its fourth event, where she will be discussing her new book for adults, The Casual Vacancy, which will be published on Thursday.
Wigtown's festival starts on September 28, Lennoxlove's runs from November 2, and Colonsay's begins on April 26, 2013.
Other key literary events include the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August and the Wigtown Book Festival.
