A look at the publishing game
Each year, 80 books a day enter the race to reach the reader. Agents, publishers and marketing directors groom each manuscript and do everything possible to help their runner catch the public's fancy.
Joan Bakewell follows the fortunes of three of this year's hopefuls:
The Four Hundred by STEPHEN SHEPPARD - an attempt at the best-seller list; The Old Jest by JENNIFER JOHNSTON - a serious literary novel: The Complete Practical Book of Country Crafts by JACK HILL - non-fiction textbook.
Film editor PETER MAYHEW Executive producer BILL MORTON
Producer JULIA MATHESON ,