Stroll around any bookshop and you will find a plethora of tomes dedicated to business advice and entrepreneurial self-help.

Eastern Daily Press: Lucy McCarraher, Rethink PressLucy McCarraher, Rethink Press (Image: Copyright 2015/16 andrew david photography)

But only a few writers can hope to make it onto the shelves of a high-street bookshop and far fewer still will see their work become a best seller.

But the hope of big sales should not be the only aim of writing a book, says Lucy McCarraher, co-founder of Rethink Press, a publisher and EDP/EADT Future 50 business based at Gorleston on Norfolk’s east coast.

Rethink is what is known as a hybrid publisher, which uses a different business model than traditional publishers who typically commission writers and maybe pay them an advance for their words to come.

A hybrid publisher, however, asks budding authors to pay the up front costs of having their book published and supports them in the writing and refining of their work.

“Business people like to write books on a whole range of subjects because it makes them an expert in the eyes of the world,” said McCarraher.

“Just the process of planning and writing a book is an amazing piece of self-development -it requires research and study. It gives you a massive amount of clarity and a huge archive of material that can be used in blog posts, for workshops and speaker slots.

“If you author a book, it can help with lead generation and for you to sell yourself.”

McCarraher has written 11 books herself, including a novel and self-help books on work-life balance and, it come as no surprise, has co-authored a work called How To Write Your Book Without The Fuss, with her business partner Joe Gregory.

Her championing of business authors also led her to launch the Business Book Awards in 2017. The competition attracted 150 entries of which a shortlist of 36 has been drawn up with the winners to be announced at an awards ceremony in March.

She continued: “There are other book awards, such as those run by the CMI, which focuses on books about management and the FT Business Book of the Year Awards, which is open to authors published by the established publishers.

“Our awards are open to business books of all categories and we’ve been overwhelmed by the quality and quantity of the books we received.”