The Book Deal Diaries - Guest Interview with Beth Kempton
The Dream Maker
Today’s guest
I am delighted to bring you a very special guest interview today with the author I first mentioned in the opening episode of The Book Deal Diaries. That author is, of course,
who writes the beautifulhere on Substack.Beth is the highly successful author of six books, which have been translated into over 25 languages and sold hundreds of thousands of copies, through nearly 50 book deals with publishers all over the world. She is also an advocate of slow living, managing to intertwine those philosophies with her decades of learning about Japanese wisdom, and to incorporate them into the way she lives and works.
Photo credit: Holly Bobbins; instagram hollybobbins_photographer
This woman knows her beans and I have to say, I’m more than a little in awe of her. Her FREE 5-day workshop How to Get a Book Deal launches this Monday 22 Jan - definitely one to check out!
One of the key tools which allowed me to unlock my own path to getting an agent and ultimately my own book deal, was developing a robust book proposal alongside Beth through her extensive Book Proposal Masterclass. I will talk more about this, my key take-aways, and my own subsequent experience with agents and publishers over the coming weeks.
Beth describes herself as a ‘writer, mama, Japanologist. A curious explorer of the world’.
I would describe Beth as…a dream maker.
Whilst some of her books and courses are certainly invaluable resources for writers, as I mentioned here in episode 2 of The Book Deal Diaries (which details my top picks of writing books), that is but part of a much wider whole. She is a guiding force for anyone seeking change, exploring their creativity, or those of us who are feeling daring, but just need a hand to hold as we take the leap. Her work falls into the broad genre of ‘self-help’ in our society obsessed with categorising and listing, but for me it is more how to ‘self-nurture’ and how to pop the cork on creativity. It is truly beautiful.
Today I am delighted to be able to share this gorgeous interview with Beth, as she tells some of her own story, and also news about what she has coming up next…
Make a cup of your favourite hot drink, and enjoy 💕
The Interview
Hello Beth! Thank you SO much for joining me here on Lemon Soul to share some of your insight and experience in the world of writing and self-help.
I’d love to start by asking:
When did you first know you were going to write a book?
Beth: “I think I knew before I ‘knew’. I have loved books all my life, and looking back it makes so much sense that I would write my own. But when the first one actually happened, it was quite unexpected.
It was around my 39th birthday, when I was pregnant with my second child, and it began as many self-help books do, with a meltdown on my bedroom floor. I was exhausted. Tears were streaming down my face. I was a shattered mess. My baby was crying, my pregnant belly was heavy, I was wholly unprepared for the public speaking appearance scheduled for later that night, and when I had come to get dressed for the event, I couldn’t do up my trousers. It was the mouse that sank the boat. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for days.
As I lay there, I had a series of flashbacks where a younger version of myself was off adventuring – in Bhutan, in Antarctica, in the Sahara Desert – and I wondered what had happened to that spontaneous adventurer who was happy to talk to anyone, go anywhere, try anything. I realised she had become trapped in a life that she had chosen, and knew that I had to find a way to feel free again.
Photo credit: Holly Bobbins; instagram hollybobbins_photographer
You had a career prior to being a writer – can you tell us what that was and how you managed to transition out of it? Also what stage in your life were you at when you made the change? (There’s never a good time!!)
Beth: “Actually I think it’s always a good time, if we know it is the right thing to do. It’s not necessarily easy or convenient, but change is part of life and if we don’t proactively change something that is not working, the Universe has a funny way of making that change for us.
Personally I was working at the crossroads of international development and the sports industry. I had been working for UNICEF for a while, managing their partnership with Manchester United before working on the international legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games. At the time I left that world, I was working on England’s doomed bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, making grand plans for a global legacy that would never happen, because almost no-one voted for England, and overnight I lost the naïve faith I had in leaders of the sports industry to do real good in the world.
A few months before FIFA’s vote, I had flown to California on a whim to take an art class with a mixed media artist I felt strangely drawn to – and artist who I had never met but is now, thirteen years later, a very dear friend (
is here on Substack). It was an absolute game changer for me. I realised that I wanted to feel in my work how I felt on that retreat, in the company of fascinating, inspiring creative women. I had a sense that I might be able to bring some of my corporate experience to that world to help artists flourish with their own businesses. A few months later this idea took shape and my own company, Do What You Love, was born.”In your Book Proposal Masterclass you share the extraordinary story of how and where you came to write your first book - Freedom Seeker, can you tell us a little about that experience?
Beth: “With non-fiction the proposal usually comes first, then the book deal, then the manuscript, so after the surreal experience of signing with a London literary agent and a global mind-body-spirit publisher, everything went quiet and I had to begin the hard work of writing the book. The problem was, I didn’t know how to write a book. And I had a tiny new baby, so the opportunities for distraction and procrastination were many.
I spent far too long fiddling around with the structure of the book on an Excel spreadsheet, moving chapters back and forth, switching the location of ideas and renaming sections without actually writing anything. One day, a few months in, Mr K glanced at my laptop screen and hastily rearranged his furrowed brow. “Are you still working on that? Shouldn’t you be writing something by now?” I was devastated. He had found me out. I had no idea how to write a book. I was terrified of the whole project. I was scared of sharing my stories, but even more than that I was scared of the fact I had no idea how to get those stories out of my head and onto the page. “I give up. It isn’t working. I need a miracle to get this done.”
Mr K looked at me and said, “I think you need to go on an adventure.” Before I could protest about the time or the expense he had booked me on a flight to Costa Rica.
Buoyed by the shiny distraction of a trip away I immediately went online to search for a place to stay and found a photo of a boutique hotel with an open air yoga studio looking out over the jungle towards the ocean. I put it on my credit card and started to pack.
I travelled to Nosara via an old friend’s sea fishing lodge in Paqueira. We caught up on ten years of life developments, and went for a midnight kayak with the phosphorescence. I spent many hours alone in a hammock, listening to the birds and shedding all I had been carrying for the past few years.
By the time I arrived at the hotel I was still clueless about how I was going to get the book written, but I was beginning to trust that it would work out. I had surrendered all notions of trying to control what the book would become, or how my career would take shape as a result. I was just there, ready to write, waiting to see.
At breakfast the duty manager sat down next to me and said, “The strangest thing has happened. Those people over there are leaving today, and we have had a string of cancellations. You are going to have the whole place to yourself for the rest of the week. Why don’t we put a table in the middle of the yoga rancho, so you can see the ocean as you write.”
They brought me Costa Rican coffee and put fresh flowers on the table, and I danced with howler monkeys as Xavier Rudd’s Follow The Sun rolled across the jungle. Pretty amazing, right? But that wasn’t the miracle.
As sunset approached we cleared the space for the hotel’s regular kundalini yoga class. I rolled out my mat unaware that I was about to have an experience that would change my writing life.
The circular rancho had a vast conical roof, held up by individual tree trunks which framed the jungle beyond. Hummingbirds were flitting through the trees.
In the class we were doing a simple pose, our hands pressed together above our heads, first fingers pointing upwards. “Reach for your life,” called our teacher, Angie, unaware of the potency of her words. As I stretched up I felt myself crack open.
Out of the corner of my eye I sensed something moving. A bird of prey was flying over the Pacific, now swooping, now soaring. The black hawk-eagle spread her wings further, catching the soft breeze and gliding over the jungle. She moved closer, silhouetted against the setting sun.
The class moved on to a new pose, hands together in front of the heart. Angie told us to think about how we were there, taking a yoga class at sunset in this beautiful place, and how, if we could make that happen, we can make anything happen.
Then the film started playing, scenes from my life flashing through my mind - my precious husband, my beautiful children, the adventures near and far, the struggles, the loss, the triumphs, the love - and I was filled with gratitude for every single thing.
I looked up to see the black hawk-eagle heading straight for us. At the last possible moment she swooshed right past the yoga shala, and in that second I was electrified, as if her spirit had leapt from her body right into my soul.
For a split second everything went white. Fire shot up my spine and tears streamed down my face. And then I knew.
The formlessness of freedom had taken the form of the bird, which transferred a formless sense of freedom into me, soon to shapeshift once more into the form of words on the page. Having written nothing for four months, I wrote 30,000 words in the next four days, and haven’t stopped writing since.
That eagle encounter became the moment after which everything about my writing life was different.”
This sounds incredible, and also brings to mind the power of retreat in allowing ourselves time to write a book. I know you and I have both spent time at the wonderful Gladstone’s Library in Wales – what is the importance of retreat to you when it comes to writing?
Beth: “To me retreating is an essential part of writing. This can be a grand gesture like a dedicated chunk of time away, but it can also be something more simple, like closing the door to your writing space, or going to a quiet café for an afternoon with your notebook.
I have only been able to write six books in six years with two children under ten because I have been lucky enough to retreat for days at a time. My husband is a superstar, who also understands why writing matters to me and also why it matters to our family, and his support has been pivotal to making this possible. I have been on retreat in many places – Gladstone’s Library in Wales, The Clockhouse at Arvon in England, many airbnbs in small towns and coastal villages, and places overseas, including Japan of course. My dream is to build my own bespoke retreat centre for writers – that’s how important I think it is.
Photo: Emma Simpson - Gladstone’s Library at night
I find that it makes so much difference to be able to wake, write, eat and ponder to your own schedule, without any obligations towards others. I might get up at 2am and write until 7am, go back to bed, get up at lunch time, find a local yoga class, then go back to the desk for a few hours. Even more often I will get up early, write for hours, go for a long walk, have lunch at a local café and then write more in the afternoon. I tend to stay offline, often with my phone switched off completely. I might play music loudly, dance around my rented kitchen, stick ideas all over the walls with sheets of Magic Whiteboard (held by static, amazing stuff for planning out a book!), and get back to the wilder version of myself who tends to be tamed by the restrictions of a domesticated life.”
What was the first moment you felt like ‘a writer’?
Beth: “I don’t remember ever not writing. Most of my childhood memories involve some a combination of book, pen and/or something to eat, such were my priorities. Every school holiday I would have a big project on the go, which involved one of those scrapbooks made of rough sugar paper, with postcards and tidbits of interesting things stuck in with now-yellowing-and-crispy Sellotape. I kept diaries, wrote poems, imagined a world beyond the container of my childhood and wrote about it on paper.
The first time I wrote for money was in 1996, and it was out of necessity. I was living in Japan, and had decided to travel home by train with two friends. We were going to fly to Beijing, then join the Trans-Mongolian railway as far as Moscow, connect into the European rail network and then take the new Eurostar back to England. It was a grand plan, except we didn’t have any money. We got busy earning however we could. We cashed in the return leg of our flights, and taught English in the evenings but our student visas limited how many hours we could work. I remember sitting on a floor cushion at my low desk trying to make the numbers stack up, when a copy of Lonely Planet Japan caught my eye. Of course - I could be a travel writer. Surely it just meant writing about places far from home, and I was already far from home, so I could write about that and sell my words. The next day I used the school’s computer to send an email to the editor of Wanderlust Magazine, pitching an idea to write about the Kurama Fire Festival. She said yes, and offered a fee that would go a fair way towards the flight to China. Writing suddenly became an enabler for adventures, as it has been ever since.”
Photo credit: Holly Bobbins; instagram hollybobbins_photographer
What inspired you to start sharing your experiences with other writers?
Beth: “I know what a difference writing books has made to my own life, and have heard from thousands of readers directly about the impact my books have had on their lives. That is a really precious thing – it tells you that you are doing something worthwhile with your life, and your experiences. There is a generosity in it, and a humbling, as well as a joy. I wanted that for other people. I also realised how important writing is for our own wellbeing, for finding clarity and direction in our daily lives, and expressing our particular experience of the world. All of those things mean that writing can be medicine for us, as well as for others. The more evidence of that I saw, the more I wanted to tell others about it.”
Photo credit: Holly Bobbins; instagram hollybobbins_photographer
I have been through your fabulous ‘Book Proposal Masterclass’ twice! How would you describe it and what makes it so different?
Beth: “So many people have a book dream but never bring it to life because of obstacles like a lack of information, misunderstandings about how the publishing industry works and, of course fear. The Book Proposal Masterclass is designed to help writers counter all of those. It’s a powerful combination of practical industry insight, hand-holding through the proposal writing process and emotional support for the rollercoaster that is ideating and pitching a book. I created the course in association with my own literary agent, so you get access to my experience of writing and pitching many books, as well as her insight from the wider world of publishing. It also works. A staggering proportion of graduates who have gone on to pitch their proposals to agents and publishers have landed deals, often with the most incredible feedback about the quality of their proposals. There is also a wonderful, supportive community around each class, made up of people who understand exactly what you are going through!”
For me, the rigour and depth you go into on the Book Proposal Masterclass is what makes it really stand out, along with the community that forms throughout the process. Many alumni remain in touch with each other as well as with you and that is something so special about the space that you hold and create for writers. What is it like seeing one of your students (like myself!!) go from formulating their ‘amorphous book blob’ in class to actually getting a book deal?
Beth: “It makes me feel like a proud mother hen! Of course I am only a small part of the process, and it is the author who has done the hard work of actually articulating their idea in a commercially-appealing way, but I know from what I have been told over and over that many of the books that are now in the world as a result of the Masterclass simply would not have been written without it. And when I think about what good those books are doing in the world, it makes me happy to have played a small part in bringing them to life. Also, I just love writers. I love talking to people who are interested in books, and I love sharing my love of writing books with people who get it.”
Photo: Emma Simpson - my Book Proposal Masterclass bookshelf
With such a busy writing life of your own, as well as running courses, masterclasses and being a mama, how do you manage your own self-nurture?
Beth: “I write! I do yoga. I walk a lot. I swim in the sea and paddleboard with my husband. I try to eat well. I sleep early and wake up early. I don’t drink much, or watch much TV and I minimise the amount of external ‘urgency’ media I take in (like the news). I am active on social media when I’m not writing books, but 95% of the time I only use it to post and to interact with my community. I rarely scroll these days. There are some things I could be better at for sure in terms of taking care of myself. It’s a work-in-progress. Perhaps one of the most important things I have done this past year is give myself permission to let go of the things that just didn’t get done in a difficult year as well as projects that no longer light me up, and both people and media requests which take up too much psychic space.”
I know that 2023 brought you much sadness with the tragic loss of your beloved mother, amidst the other inescapable ebbs and flows of life. How did it feel to write during this time? Were you able to? Was it a source of comfort?
Beth: “To be honest I am not sure how I would have coped without writing. I wrote all the way through it, from the moment my mum was handed a terminal cancer diagnosis out of the blue, through her death three weeks later and the grieving beyond. It completely reshaped the book I was working on. I had no idea it was coming, and yet looking back I cannot see how Kokoro could have been anything other than the book it became as a result of the year that unfolded.”
Your 6th book, Kokoro, is due out in April. I absolutely love the tagline: ‘One year. Two devastating losses. Three Japanese mountains. A major life transition, a heart full of grief and a revelation that changes everything’. It honestly makes my spine tingle and I can’t wait to read it!! What can you tell us about this book?
Beth: “Losing my mother completely ruptured my life, tearing through it just as I was crossing the threshold of midlife and already feeling the rumblings of change. My search for answers to the profound questions that arose in the wake of my mum’s death led me to a remote trio of Japanese mountains, and into a series of encounters with Japanese people – both contemporary pioneers and the ghosts of old sages – which collectively informed how I want to approach the rest of my life, however long I have left (because we never really know). Kokoro: Japanese wisdom for a life well lived is a book about navigating change at any age, coping with grief, doing what we love (because life is too short not to) and ultimately choosing to live fully, without worry or regret, and with gratitude for all the tiny miracles of this beautiful world. It is, in my opinion, by far the most important and profound book I have written.”
What other delights have you got to share? Can you tell us about your next Book Proposal Masterclass and anything else that is coming up?
Beth: “Inspired by a desire to demystify the book deal process for as many people as possible, I am offering a free short course called How to Get a Book Deal which begins on January 22 ahead of the Book Proposal Masterclass starting on January 29 for anyone who wants hand-holding through the process of writing and pitching their proposal.
Also, thanks to the fact that I am taking a break from writing books this year (after writing six in six years!) I finally have the capacity to lead a deep-dive writing immersion. River of Words will take place live online from May 13 for seven weeks and is a combination of writing from the heart, with platform building (which is essential for getting your books out in the world!)”
Finally, one of the things that is so unique about your work is the Eastern Philosophy you interweave from your years as a Japanologist. What is your favourite piece of Japanese wisdom?
Beth: “The things I carry with me, which have changed my perspective on the world in so many ways, are the fundamental principles of imperfection and impermanence which are woven into Japanese life and aesthetics in so many ways. These are nature’s way. Perfection is a state of completeness, but nothing is ever finished, and that matters.
We are not supposed to be perfect. We are works-in-progress, as is everything. And we will not be here forever, neither will anyone we ever love. There is surely no more important thing to remember than that.”
Photo credit: Holly Bobbins; instagram hollybobbins_photographer
End of Interview
Thank you
Wow!!!
I hope you enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed speaking with Beth and hearing about her incredible experiences and her writing life. Thank you Beth for your generous words and insight, it really is so inspiring!
I’m very grateful to you -
and The Book Deal Diaries subscribers for being here - please do let me know your thoughts below:what has most inspired you?
what breakthrough moments have you experienced in your writing life?
where do you get stuck?
where will your own writing path take you next?
If there are any particular areas you’d like to understand more about in the book publishing process, please do let me know, and I’ll do my best to answer it as this series develops.
In the meantime, please do share, and look out for future interviews with other authors and industry insiders as well as lots more exciting things to come; including the writing process, what it’s like working with an agent, where to find champions and cheerleaders and much more!
As always…
Love & lemons 💕🍋
Em xx
What an awesome interview 👌 So inspiring, and the story about the eagle gave me goosebumps! ❤️
“I had no idea how to write a book. I was terrified of the whole project. I was scared of sharing my stories, but even more than that I was scared of the fact I had no idea how to get those stories out of my head and onto the page. “I give up. It isn’t working. I need a miracle to get this done.””
How relatable this is! Thanks for sharing your journey and wisdom Beth and thank you for capturing it in a beautiful interview Emma!