The inaugural Business Book Awards, celebrating the best UK business book authors and publishers, has been launched at London’s Army & Navy Club in Pall Mall, London.
The lunch-time event was hosted by successful author and co-founder and managing editor of Rethink Press Lucy McCarraher, and the guest of honour was one of the UK’s most successful business book authors, Shaa Wasmund MBE.
Speaking at the event, Lucy McCarraher said, “New methods of business book publishing have come of age and authors, coaches, service providers and publishers in this area deserve to be celebrated.
“Of course, there are other awards for business books, some of which are very prestigious and longstanding. However, they either cover a very niche subject area or they will only accept entries from traditionally-published books. Some of them lack stature because they are judged by the public rather than by professionals.
“The Business Book Awards welcomes every good book and every method of publication. I want to recognise business book publishing and authorship in all its forms, and bring the best authors to public recognition.”
Shaa Wasmund, the guest of honour at the Business Book Awards launch, said, “It would not be an exaggeration to say that writing my first book, Stop Talking, Start Doing, completely and utterly changed my life. It changed my career, it changed the whole trajectory of who I was and what I was doing. It gave me a platform that absolutely nothing else could have given me.
Business books are booming, whether you go with a traditional publisher like Wiley or Penguin or self-publish – it doesn’t matter. What matters is the book.”
Shaa Wasmund is an entrepreneur, public speaker and the author of the bestselling books, Stop Talking, Start Doing and Do Less, Get More. She is an ambassador to the awards, was herself awarded an MBE for services to business and entrepreneurship and is named as one of the UK’s Top 20 influential entrepreneurs.
Other ambassadors include Daniel Priestley (author of Key Person of Influence), Heather Townsend (author of The Financial Times Guide to Business Networking) and Bridget Shine, the Chief Executive of the Independent Publishers Guild (IPG).
Business Book Awards founder Lucy McCarraher said, “The best-selling writers like Tim Ferris, Michael Gerber, Gary Vaynerchuck and Shaa Wasmund have not only used their books to develop a fan base of entrepreneurs, they’ve set the gold standard in promoting their own businesses.
“Business owners, consultants and coaches recognise that publishing a book demonstrates their authority in their fields, bringing positive impact, income and influence.
“Authors whose books might not be appropriate for traditional publishers are now able to self-publish or use the services of a hybrid publisher to produce and distribute their books in print, e-book and audio formats.
“We will give every author of a business or self-help book the opportunity to participate in a high quality, impartial judging process.”
The head judge is Alison Jones, the founder of Practical Inspiration Publishing, a partnership publishing company, host of The Extraordinary Business Book Club, a podcast and community for writers and readers of extraordinary business books, and author of This Book Means Business. She worked for 25 years with leading companies such as Chambers, Oxford University Press and Macmillan. She was Director of Innovation Strategy at Palgrave Macmillan.
Alison provides executive coaching, consultancy and training services to publishers, works as a speaker and blogs on the publishing industry. She is on the board of the Independent Publishers Guild, which is a partner in the awards, as are The Publishers Association and Print Monthly.
Other judges include John Williams – founder of The Ideas Lab, author of Screw Work, Break Free and Screw Work, Let’s Play, and Sian Prime – coach, facilitator in Innovation and Creative Entrepreneurship, Goldsmiths, University of London.
Two recently published authors were in attendance. Nicole Bremner is the author of Bricking It, which explains how to create a stunning property portfolio and still have time to go to the kids’ school plays. Pieter de Villiers is the author of Barefoot Business, which gives readers an insight into the systems that can made their businesses efficient, profitable and easier to manage.
