✨The Book Dream Incubator is here!✨ Join for less than the price of a paperback

Thoughts on landing my 57th book deal (say, what?) ❤️

Yesterday I agreed terms on my 57th book deal, for the Arabic translation of my book The Way of the Fearless Writer. I am not saying this to show off, but rather because:

(1) I never imagined this could happen for me - that I would write books and they would provide a living wage for my family, paying the mortgage and putting food on the table, as well as teaching my children that they can take intangible ideas and turn them into things in the world, and build a life on their terms (nevermind the fact that I get to wander the countryside pondering life’s big questions and turn that into something that people love reading, and call that work!)

(2) I didn’t know that when you write a book you have the chance to sell it over and over to different publishers for different languages/territories, until the first time someone offered me an advance for the German translation of my first book Freedom Seeker and a whole new world opened up.

I have only written six books. The reason there are so many book deals is that I first sign a World English Rights deal with a UK publisher, then they negotiate a US/Canada rights deal with a US-based publisher, and then my agent sells the foreign language rights to other publishers around the world. Each deal comes with an advance - sometimes miniscule, sometimes decent - and royalties (if the book sells enough copies).

(3) If I didn’t imagine or know these things, perhaps you haven’t imagined or don’t know them either. What difference might having a book in the world, perhaps multiple books in multiple languages, mean for you? For your creativity? For your lifestyle? For your family? What joy might you derive from dreaming, planning and writing it?

That email about the Arabic deal came hot on the heels of another email from a mentee of mine, who took my Book Proposal Masterclass a couple of years ago to help her write a proposal for her memoir - an important, delicate, heartbreaking story on a topic that has been a taboo subject for far too long - which she had been working on for twenty years, but never really believed could be a book. She was writing to tell me that she had just signed a book deal with the largest publisher in her country. If you knew her story, you would know just how much this means to her, and how much it will soon mean to her readers.

Books change lives. Reading a particular book can completely change the trajectory of a reader’s life. Writing a book is virtually guaranteed to change the trajectory of the writer’s life. All kinds of new doors appear, with things you hadn’t even imagined waiting on the other side. When you are working on a book, or if you have written a book, you get to have different kinds of conversations with different kinds of people than you might otherwise. Things you thought were impossible become things that you have done. It’s quite the miracle.

But declaring out loud that you have a book dream is an audacious and terrifying thing to do. It brings up ALL the ‘Who do you think you are?’ and ‘Who would be interested in what you have to say?’ gremlins.

Let me tell you something. Those gremlins never go away. When I was working on The Way of the Fearless Writer I had a wave of self-doubt. It comes with every book, but this one was very specific: Who are you to write a book about writing? Millions of people write. What’s so special about you? This rapidly became: You haven’t written enough. (It was my fifth book)… and You don’t know enough. You know how it goes. And then it got nasty: You want to write a book about being a fearless writer, and yet look at you, doubting yourself. What a joke.

At that exact moment a deck of affirmation cards jumped off the shelf in front of my desk and landed on my notebook. No word of a lie. My husband heard me scream. On the front of the deck it said: ‘I am enough exactly as I am.’

I took it as a sign to carry on, and here we are, signing a contract for the Arabic translation of that very book.

If I can do it, you can do it.

The publishing world can feel like an opaque kind of place. I don’t know everything about how it works - I’m not an editor, or an agent, or a publisher myself. But I have learnt a ton over these past seven years of writing books, and perhaps the most important thing I have learnt is how to articulate your book idea so other people want to buy into it, and help you bring it to life.

I want to encourage as many people as possible, from all walks of life, to give attention to their book dreams. I think everyone who has a book dream deserves to get the support they need to get a foot in the door - to learn how to shape and articulate their idea so it makes sense in the commercial world of publishing. But getting 1:1 mentoring or taking an in-depth masterclass is not within everyone’s financial reach. And sometimes we simply don’t dare believe that our book dream would really happen, so it feels like too much of a risk to take. That is why I want to offer something new and inspiring and accessible to all to help YOU shape and articulate your book dream (however vague it might be right now!) It’s called The Book Dream Incubator and I am offering it exclusively to members of my paid writing community SoulCircle. To join for less than the price of a paperback and get support for your book dream in October and November, upgrade to paid or go to bethkempton.substack.com/subscribe and choose Monthly or Annual, and start dreaming about that book (or read on for details).

Introducing✨THE BOOK DREAM INCUBATOR✨

For five weeks in October and November this year, I will be offering step-by-step guidance to all members of my Substack writing community SoulCircle, to help them shape a book idea. This includes:

• Complimentary access to my mini course How To Get A Book Deal (this will be delivered at a gentle pace of one lesson per week, over the five weeks, to give plenty of time for dreaming and scheming)

• Five weeks of writing prompts associated with the world of books, to inspire you to go deep on your dream, without it feeling like an effort

• Direct encouragement for your idea from me in our SoulChat private chat space

• A LIVE deep-dive Q&A on all things publishing, answering any questions you may have (to the extent that I can answer them from my perspective as an author!)

This has a total value of more than £130/$150, but ALL of it is included in SoulCircle membership (just £7.99/month). You only need to be a member for the next two months to get access to everything in The Book Dream Incubator, and you can cancel at any time, so it’s a very low risk way of tending to your book dream in the company of others doing the same thing.

How to join

To join The Book Dream Incubator and commit to giving your book idea some attention just upgrade to paid today or go to bethkempton.substack.com/subscribe and choose ‘Monthly’ to try it out or ‘Annual’ (for two months free).

Once you join you will instantly become part of my private writing community SoulCircle, and will get sent everything related to the Book Dream Incubator directly to your inbox in the days and weeks ahead.

If you join today you’ll also be in time for our upcoming Ask Me Anything Q&A and our next Live Writing Circle (which will be a magical session on the theme of Late Autumn).

If you have any questions feel free to DM me or ask on Substack Notes.

Tell me, do you have a book dream? Why not declare it in the comments!

Beth Xx

PS If you are already a member of SoulCircle you’re all set - The Book Dream Incubator is included in your subscription. If you don’t have any dreams of writing a book, don’t worry! You can still enjoy our regular weekly Journal Notes throughout October and November to inspire any kind of writing and you never know, a deeply buried book dream might just surface in the process…

VERY SPECIAL GIVEAWAY

***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED AND SO GENEROUSLY SHARED THIS POST. I APPRECIATE YOU. THE WINNER OF THE GIVEAWAY, CHOSEN AT RANDOM, IS…

Life Reflected

(Nikki Johnston) - congratulations Nikki! Please email hello@bethkempton.com with your postal info so I can get your gorgeous prize sent to you!

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I want to encourage as many people as possible, from all walks of life, to give attention to their book dreams. We need all kinds of books in the world. That means I’d like to inspire people beyond my own immediate community and I need YOUR help to do that!

I am offering a very special giveaway to encourage you to restack this post in the Substack app - the prize is a stunning retro Bluetooth keyboard with integrated stand* which can be used with any device (PC, mobile phone, tablet), as seen in the photo above. (Compatible with Android, iOS, Windows, Mac). (*The winner can choose from pale pink or mint green)

TO ENTER

To be in with the chance to win, please restack this post with a comment (perhaps declaring your own book dream!) by 4pm UK time on Tuesday 15 October 2024.

THE SMALL PRINT

• No purchase is necessary.

• This competition is open to anyone anywhere in the world over the age of 18.

• The prize is 1 x retro keyboard. Other items in the above photos are for visual effect only and are not included in the prize.

• One person who has restacked this essay (with or without a comment) by the deadline will be chosen at random to win the stated prize.

• The winner will be announced on this page and via Substack Notes shortly after the deadline.

• The choice of winner is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

• There is no cash alternative.

Thank you friends Xx