A former BBC television producer, who struggled to find a publisher for his first book, has launched a business to help others get their work into print.

When publishers turned him down, Vincent Dowdall decided to produce Unknown God - a thought-provoking analysis of Christ's teachings - himself. Despite limited marketing, it sold most of its print run, prompting Mr Dowdall and wife Marie to form their own publishing company Credible Books, at their home in Tyn y Waun Road, Machen.

Since then, he has published Canada in the Year 1983 - a rewritten account of his travels across that country looking at its broadcasting, visual arts, classical music and certain social welfare organisations, while working for the BBC.

Now two new titles are in preparation: an as-yet untitled handbook for video makers draws on his experience in broadcasting and more recently as a tutor in video production; while The New Birth explores aspects of spiritual advancement.

"Our motto is 'books for the enquiring mind' and that is the common thread," said Mr Dowdall. "History, biography and instructional books - especially by local authors - may be of interest to us, but we are not looking for fiction."

Paintings by his late father William are used to illustrate the spirituality titles, and one of his works, Dove, will feature on the cover of The New Birth, due for publication this month.

At the BBC, he produced and directed classical music and arts programmes, and after taking early retirement in 1989, the couple set up a business making promotional videos for young artists and high quality wedding videos.

Now the written word has taken over from the moving image, and they are keen to hear from potential non-fiction authors. "This is not a vanity press operation," Mr Dowdall said. "We will only publish books if we believe they are commercially viable. Most large publishers will only consider print runs in the thousands, but we are geared for lower runs, which are likely to suit new authors in these areas."

Because of its growth potential, the firm is receiving business mentoring and development advice from Entrepreneur Action under the Welsh Development Agency's New Business Starts Programme.

It has also received a start-up grant from Caerphilly Borough Council.