Cover Stories: Tony Martin; Nick Hern; Wilbur Smith

The Tony Martin case throws up many questions about our justice system - not least why Jeffrey Archer is allowed to draw on the royalty money Macmillan has held on account from his first volume of prison diaries, published while he was inside, while the farmer is to be investigated for accepting £100,000 from the Mirror. But Martin will not take any money from publishers Artnik, who in January will issue My Right to Kill ... In Defence of My Life and Property. Proceeds will go to the charity POW, which helps victims of miscarriages of justice. Martin's editor will be John McVicar, who knows about life inside, and is married to Artnik's founder, Countess Valentina Artsrunik.

Take a bow Nick Hern, a leading publisher of theatre books who is celebrating 10 years of independence. Hern began at Methuen, then the foremost publisher of playscripts and drama books. When they wavered, he set up his list, supported by Sebastian Walker and, later, by Random House, who cut him adrift. Hern has since worked out of a spare bedroom, with a list that includes Arthur Miller, Antony Sher and Mike Leigh. Cue applause.

What's the second biggest-selling hardback of the year? Surprisingly, after Harry P comes Wilbur Smith, the septuagenarian whose Blue Horizon has clocked up sales of nearly 120,000 since March - well ahead of John Grisham's The King of Torts.