Greg Voisen
Welcome back to Inside Personal Growth. This is Greg Voisen, the host of Inside Personal Growth. And on the other side of the camera or for those of you who are listening via audio only, I'm on with Kathy Sparrow, and Kathy and I have been friends for quite some time. And she is about ready to launch a course that I think everybody needs to learn about who's thinking about, or has ever thought about writing a book. And we're going to be talking about that Kathy is joining us from Los Angeles. Good day to you, Kathy.

Kathy Sparrow
Good morning or good day. Yes. Yeah. Listening later in the day.

Greg Voisen
Yeah. Well, Kathy and I have just finished working on a book and for those of you listening on YouTube, or you can see it. It's called the precipice of life, leadership and personal growth insights from a mountaineers edge by Beau Parfit and a big contribution from Kathy and myself. So, Kathy has been doing this with me for some time. Many of my listening audience know that I've been involved in helping people get books done. And if it hadn't been for the help of Kathy probably wouldn't happen. So Kathy, I'm gonna let the listeners know more about you. She calls herself a literary midwife. She's an award winning author ghostwriter, publisher consultant, who's been mentoring aspiring writers of nonfiction fiction and poetry for over two decades. Many have been pen bestselling books because of her book coaching services, known as behind the scenes secret weapon. To thought leaders Cathy specializes in areas of self-development, leadership, and people who are writing memoirs. Kathy has coauthored and Project Lead books such as ignite your leadership, proven tools of leaders to energize teams, fuel momentum and accelerate results. Her novel The whispered teachings of the grandmother trout is touted as the feminine version of a river runs through it. She's also the author of children's books such as Stankey, and CC, break the rules 2022 And Stankey, and CC out of control 2023. She is completing. It's all in the cast a fly fishers guide to president's power and performance 2023. And she has ghostwritten books and blogs on topics of banking, personal growth, development, memoir and leadership, including the book that I just held up for you who are watching on YouTube, the precipice of life leadership and personal growth insights from the Mountaineers yet edge. Now to find out more about Kathy, you can just go to kathysparrow.com, that's k-a-t-h-y-s-p-a-r-r-o-w.com, or www.awritablelife.com, we'll put links in there as well. We're also going to put a link for all the listeners to the place where you can sign up for this course if after our interview here, we've done anything to inspire you to want to actually sign up for the course. There'll be a special link in the blog. There will also be a link for those of you watching on YouTube, right underneath the YouTube channel so that you can sign up from there. So we are going to kick this off with Kathy this morning. And Kathy noise, talk to authors. They've written books. We you and I aren't particularly talking about any one book at this point. Because you have been involved in the development of so many books. Where did you come up with this literary midwife come from? Because I think that's interesting. You're giving birth obviously. So you're giving birth to a book. So tell us more about that.

Kathy Sparrow
I actually somebody said, Oh, your literary midwife after I told them what I was doing, it was actually in a retreat center in Costa Rica. And we were just sitting around chatting and one of the people there, asked me what I did and I said, well, I help people you know, take their the ideas of their books and bring them into the world. They said, Oh, you're a literary midwife. So it stuck it because it very much is birth process. We, you know, there's a conception and then there's the development and then font, you know, we the birth is when we get to hold the book in her hands and show it off. So it's and there are times when it's really exciting and There are times when there's a bit of a transition, or anybody's given birth, it gets a little a little dicey. So

Greg Voisen
well, I have a question for you, because I was just re listening to a podcast that I did not that long ago with a really interesting man, Michael Sandler. And Michael, helps people as well, kind of like you. And he calls it Aw, e automatic writing experience. And, you know, he says, the book comes through you. And I believe that as well, I believe that frequently. It's not something, you know, people think about it, okay, write every morning for two hours. Well, what you're really trying to do is get yourself set up in the proper mindset and frame and with meditation to be able to allow these words to come through, you know, I know for some of my listeners that are listening, they're like, well, that's crazy. But you don't really force a book, do you? You kind of have to, you have to get in this spiritual state. And I love what Michael talked about, because really, that's what you help your you, when you guide people through birthing their book, just like birthing a baby, you really have to get in a new mindset, don't you?

Kathy Sparrow
Yeah, I really believe that, when we get that idea, it's really a tap on the shoulder from the universe that says, hey, I've got a mission for you. And, you know, we would probably move the idea around for a while. But really, it's about surrender. And also, I believe, we can tap into the consciousness of the project. So before I sit down to write or even work with my clients, I actually tap me take a moment to tap into the consciousness of that project and ask what wants to be brought through me as I guide my clients through the process. And sometimes we I consciously do that, you know, at the beginning of a session with a client, we, we sit, and we meditate briefly, and then it's amazing to watch the magic, you know, as they sometimes I do

Greg Voisen
kind of techniques do you have to help people I know, we're gonna get into your program here. But this is the program, right? It, you know, when I think about meditation, or listening to music, when I was speaking with Michael, and you and I have talked about this, I know when I wrote my first book, I literally would put headphones on and put on very inviting music, but at the same time I was in this meditative state. It wasn't me writing. And I know, for a lot of listeners out there they go, Oh, cool. I've written a book. And I realized that right, man, I think, for the people that want to write a book, they have to realize that much of this is about letting go, isn't it? It is,

Kathy Sparrow
it is, I think, in a lot of ways, you know, our heads get in the way or mindset gets in the way, like a woman to write this book. And, you know, what do I know, there's books written on this subject? You know, before, how can I add anything new, but if we can just trust it, that idea has come to us and just surrender and just listen to what wants to come through? Right. It's about listening, and trusting that we're going to be given, you know, most of the main ideas, I think, to, you know, there is some technical practical skill that's brought in, but the biggest, or the most important action is that act of surrender and trust.

Greg Voisen
Yeah, and, you know, regardless of the amount of research one of your clients may want to do, it's interesting how when the research part, whether it's through Google, or you're gonna go read another book, or you're gonna pull something from here, you're gonna pull it from there. It's interesting that if you're in that space, you're given hits on all the research as well. Right? Yeah. And I think that's what I noticed some of the people listening is my Tom funny. But you don't force the research either. Right? It's kind of like, oh, you get a hit. And it's like, I should go over here. And I should go over there. And I should go here and I go here, right?

Kathy Sparrow
Yeah, that too, or something comes across your email inbox. It's like, wow, look at that. Right. It does happen it Yeah. I, I trust that. Sometimes we're given life experiences to go through as well, that end up in the book in some way, shape or form. But yeah,

Greg Voisen
it's really, fundamentally a spiritual process. And I know, okay, let's not have that be off putting to people. But the reality is writing a book is a spiritual process. And when you're done, you feel like you've birthed a part of you, right? You Do you want to go run around and tell the world look at, you know, I finally got this thing done, right? So tell us more about write books that change the world because, you know, many people out there listening, you're gonna say, Yeah, I've got a great idea, I want to get it out, I want to put it in a book. I do want to change the world. And while there's many, many, many books out there, how do you help people write a book that will actually change the world because there's probably not that many that have actually changed the world, meaning change the world,

Kathy Sparrow
change the world, right? But we change one little part of the world, right? If we've gone through some experiences, and come out the other side, and have wisdom that we can impart on others. I think that's the way we affect change. In my academic study, I looked at how the power of story heals. So it's not only active healing, as we're writing, but it's anybody who reads our journey, and sees what we've gone through, you know, in our journey, it doesn't have to be in the book doesn't have to be memoir to bring out the wisdom that we experienced in our lives that can be snippets, right of, and interwoven with some teachings. So I truly believe that if one person gets something out of a book that can impact their lives in a positive way, and that has a ripple effect around everybody around them. So we are essentially changing the world, one reader at a time.

Greg Voisen
I like how you put that because frequently, you know, me doing this podcast show, and I tell people, you know, I've probably got close to 1200 books hanging around because these books have accumulated. And they're almost like, I feel very connected to them. And many of them I've only taken one or two ideas from. But as you add to all those ideas that continue, it's your way to stay a continual learner, about the world and the evolution of the world, and where things are going and how you want to play a role in all that. And I think that's important. Now, this program that we're talking about, write books that change the world, it's a yearlong program. First, some people I hear people write books in three months. For other people, it takes five years. I mean, I've heard the gamut here, why a yearlong program.

Kathy Sparrow
From my experience, it takes about a year, anybody who's really serious and wants to get a book done, it's about a year long process, because it's not just the writing that we're going to look at, we're going to look at building the author platform, building visibility about the book and the author during that program during that year. And also, I really want to teach people about good cover design, and how to get on podcast to jurors. And, you know, use that book as a business building tool. So I've got guest experts that are coming in as well. So in order to get it all in, we need a year, plus, it's about nine months of the writing, and then about three months of production. So we're gonna look at cover design, interior design, go through that production process, learn the ins and outs of, you know, making sure everything's in its place and building a launch, you know, choosing the right time to launch the book that may coincide with another part of most people who are writing it to build their businesses and elevate themselves in some way, even in I shouldn't say even but you know, when if they want to go out speaking that's this is one way to do it as well.

Greg Voisen
Well look at your program differs from other programs. But I think you know, a lot of people today have chosen just because of the length of time it takes to get a book completed. They're going to self-publish, let's just talk about self-publishing, or actually writing a treatment to actually pitch it to a publisher. Are you going to have ways where people can go both directions? Or is this primarily for self-published people?

Kathy Sparrow
So we are part of the program is writing, creating a book marketing plan that sells because whether you're self-publishing or going traditionally, you need that book marketing plan. And I would say that anybody who wants to traditional publishing wants to go that route needs at least 10,000 followers and a large mailing list so that's that's a stumbling block. So we actually this program is a way to start building that following start getting more exposure so that one day they might be able to get that traditional publishing.

Greg Voisen
Well, what are the options Kathy for I mean, I think just fundamentally men And my listeners out there not written a book, but they're thinking about it, they maybe haven't had time to research it, you now have this course. They're self-publishing, there's going to a publisher, there's other kinds of presses as well. Can you tell them about the gamut of how they can actually get their book to market?

Kathy Sparrow
Yes. So self-publishing, it's actually a faster track, you get to choose, you have more control over your product that way, through KDP, Ingram Spark or book baby, and set up an account and, and upload the files. And it's easy as that there are some costs KDP is free to publish. And then there are fees with Ingram Spark or Book Baby. And that just depends on the size of the book and whatnot. And whether you're doing paperback, hardback, or eBook. And then what if,

Greg Voisen
what if you go to an agent like Bill Gladstone? I mean, I know. He's out there trying. And for many of my listeners, they might know waterside productions, they might not they certainly know Simon and Schuster, they certainly know Wiley, they certainly have seen these names and imprints on books. What does that track like?

Kathy Sparrow
That track is a test of patience, the first part and takes a lot longer. Most of those publishing houses unit, you need an agent. So it's the first the first pitch is to an agent, and that takes writing a pitch letter. And if they're interested, then they they'll ask for the proposal and then sample chapters. So takes longer, it could be even after getting accepted, couldn't be another 18 months before you get a contract, and then it then it's another 18 months to get the book published. So it's a lot. So

Greg Voisen
it's your course designed to help people that may want to go that route? Or is it primarily designed for people that are really considering self-publishing,

Kathy Sparrow
it's primarily designed for people who are considering self-publishing. And if someone comes along that has the large enough following, and have salable idea, I will definitely help them go in that direction. In fact, I had an email from an agent who I collaborate with looking for a certain type of genre. So I put on the radar for things and vice versa. So super possible you and

Greg Voisen
I go back to the days of Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. And they used to do a program around writing your book. And I remember, I would go to those events, and they would bring on all these experts. Now we're in a world today, where you can do this all via zoom, and people can come in online and do that. But we actually ended up in Newport Beach. And with a big binder, and all these people would, you know, pitch their services and so on, speak with us about these experts that you that we'll be joining over the course of the year, or at least just some of them, that the people listening today would at least realize, hey, look, there's quite a bit of value here. I'm gonna get Kathy and I'm gonna get all these other experts as well.

Kathy Sparrow
So, first person that comes to mind is Laurie Seymour of the Buck Institute. She's going to talk about that mindset that's necessary to surrender and be in flow for the creative process, which eventually also helps us with our abundance. Then there's Aaron Whalen, who's actually Jack Canfield copywriter, she's going to be sharing on how to create the story around the story as you're writing your book so that we can start you know, building that visibility during the writing process. There is a Laura Ballerini, who's going to come in and talk about good cover design. And Alex San, Filippo. Okay, got his name, right. He's got a pod matching system. It's called pod Matt 10. And so it helps people find the right ways to, or the right places to pitch for podcasts. And he's going to talk about how to pitch podcasts and how to research the podcasts that you want to pitch. Jackie Lampe and of speaker tunity she has an awesome another database that quite an extensive one to help people find speaking engagements.

Greg Voisen
you've collaborated with all these people and during the course of the year, the listeners can I expect to hear from these people through your course. Now this course is it on? I think it's on Kajabi is it? Is it prerecorded Does it live? What is the actual line modality so it's live,

Kathy Sparrow
it's live, we're gonna meet Thursday afternoons from one to 3pm. Pacific. And then we're also gonna have writing circles on Tuesday mornings, we're actually open up zoom. And I hold space for people to write. So it's making a commitment to yourself to show up and write. But Thursday's are the teachings and some implementation and group work. What I like about having the group come together is that there's some synergy. There's peer feedback already built in. So it's not every Thursday, we there are some breaks. But in the beginning, we start off with three meetings just to kind of get the momentum building, and then we end

Greg Voisen
and this all starts in April. Right. Okay, what's the kickoff date for this?

Kathy Sparrow
April 20?

Greg Voisen
So April 20, is the kickoff date? How many participants will you be accepting into the program? Because I think listeners out there might be going well, I don't know. I don't just want to be with a ton of people. But so how many are you limiting this to

Kathy Sparrow
limiting it to 16? We're gonna have a very small group. And then the

Greg Voisen
next natural question that most people are going to ask is, what is their investment? In other words, they, they need to look at this as an investment. And I need to kind of preface this because, you know, if you went out and got to go straight here, and you went out and found somebody to help you find people to interview because you wanted to put other sections in the book, it can be a costly experience. But this course is a bargain at an investment of what

Kathy Sparrow
$15,997 And there's an early bird discount of $1,500 off by March 20.

Greg Voisen
March 28. Okay, and if you guys don't get that even at 15,997, did you say they get that right? Yeah. You're, you're virtually getting one year of somebody directing you and guiding you to get this book done. And I will tell you, your investment, if you did it another way, could be as much as three times that, depending on where you are in life. But that's not only good for this first book. But imagine if you choose to do a second or third book, all of the lessons learned, are there now Are you recording this where people can come back? Again and again and again and pick back up on some of this? Is that part of the offer for the 15,000?

Kathy Sparrow
Yeah, everything's going to be recorded that and in addition to that, I'll be reading every word and guiding the people in their writing process. So they're getting a lot of high touch,

Greg Voisen
how much coaching time do they actually get with you personally? So if you know they're in with a group, I get that, but are you providing them coaching time as well, individually? Or is this all meant to be kind of a group experience?

Kathy Sparrow
No, there's also five, what I call deep dive sessions, where I'm working with them for an hour and a half, to talk about their process to talk about next steps and, and overcome any challenges and make a plan make a really good plan. So we started the beginning with a disk, you know, deep dive discovery. So I get to know them personally, and what their project is about. And then during the process, we'll be looking at their marketing plan, really diving deep into that and making sure they're thinking about all the possibilities of people that can partner with them to at launch time. And then we'll do the launch. And probably even I think there's one in that. Yeah, there was one there, too, about in the design process. So lots of time, lots of tide Touch Time.

Greg Voisen
Well, I know you've been a literary midwife for quite some time. And, you know, obviously, the way the world has evolved is allowing you to offer this at a much less of a price because you're now aggregating more and more people. Why did you kind of want to do this now? Why this way? And what can they expect in the end? In other words, if once they leave, so let's say April, April, April 2024, they exit your course. What what's the vision look like for them?

Kathy Sparrow
Well, they'll have a book in hand. But they're also going to have a lot of knowledge about what it takes to be a better writer. Most of my people that I've worked with sort of became a much better writer. I found my voice. They're more confident and sharing their information. And it's I'll have a the process, they'll know that, you know, most of my clients are not one book wonders, there's another book in the wings, you know, waiting in the wings, they know they've got to get this first one done, because there's more. So they'll know what they're getting into for the second. And I really believe that it would, it will shorten that process for them, because they'll, they'll have a good working knowledge of needing to be committed to the project. And, you know, knowing how to build the buzz as they're going along. So there's a lot of takeaways, a lot of personal growth for

Greg Voisen
somebody who's out there, and they're listening to us, and they're going, Wow, $16,000, that's a lot of money. Is it all due upfront? Can it be made in payments? What are the ways that you're accepting the payment for this?

Kathy Sparrow
There's actually three different payment plans a three, six, and actually a 12 month payment plan? Because I do know, it's, it's an investment. And so

Greg Voisen
for those listening, that are apprehensive, you can break this down into 12 payments. So it's a little more than 1000 a month. But the reality is, is it's when you look at what you're getting every week, that's a great opportunity for you. And I think, you know, us discussing this is real important, because it's about being transparent about what is it really takes to get this done. Now, could you do this on your own for everyone listening out there, possibly. But the reality is, if you ask any author who's probably authored a book, they'll say it's a team process. And so what Kathy has done is she's put together the team, you have access to this team, you have access to her, you have access to the fellow participants who are in the plan where you can collaborate with as a community. So she's really taken, write a book that changes the world, and given you an opportunity to collaborate with other people that are going through the same journey, as well as bringing these experts in to help you and doing it at an extremely reasonable price. So what do you think makes you stand apart from other writing coaches? In other words, why? Kathy Sparrow? Why write books that change the world course? Why do this online? Why wouldn't I just go hire you as my ghost writer?

Kathy Sparrow
Well, first of all, what makes me stand apart is I come out of the traditional publishing world. I've been in publishing for 30 years, I started as a magazine journalist in upstate New York, and just graduated into the books, you know, starting as a proofreader for IDG books, the for Dummies, people, and then ghost writing and being on the production team for a number of different publishers. And to take it a step further. One, I do have a deep spiritual practice that helps me trust this process. And I did do an academic study and the power of story to heal. And I believe that that's why we were giving these messages to bring out to make a big impact on the world. And why not? Why not hire me to ghost? Right? Well, it would be three times for me to go right. In, I'm open to that. But for, and I also believe there's something about that ownership of having that satisfaction of really seeing what they what you've created at the end of the year. And I just I just love teaching people and seeing that progress, progress that they make, as they're, you know, tending to their baby.

Greg Voisen
Well, and I think one of the things that is a prerequisite for anybody considering this right now, this listening and gets this message is you hidden, I'd say you need to have a big dose of curiosity, you need to be curious about something. So whether you're going to write about, you know, global peace, or you're going to write about, you know, the environment, or you're going to write about personal growth, or what it's ever it's going to be, I think you have to have the passion. You have to have, you have to be curious. You have a really strong purpose. And this needs to be a goal that you have created. And if you have created a goal for yourself to write a book, because I hear so many people say I'm gonna write a book kind of flippantly, right? It's like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna write a book and someday you're gonna write a book. The question is, when is Sunday, and Sunday will never come if you keep talking about it that way. So what I'm going to encourage you to do is to reach out to Kathy, it's Kathy at Kathy sparrow.com. That's one way, you can actually go to her websites. It's Kathy sparrow.com, or a writable life.com. If you want to learn out more about her, and then in this blog, you're basically going to be able to be connected to write books that change the world enroll, which there'll be a special link for that for you to enroll in this. And that's where you can learn more about this as well. Kathy, is there anything you want to say additionally, about the course or what people can expect? Or how they can get enrolled that you want them to know about? Before we part?

Kathy Sparrow
Well, I just, you know, this is an exciting time for me to offer this, I really, really eager to get started actually, it's like I want to bring all these people together and really make an impact on the world. But this is, this is my purpose. And this is my mission to it's like, I know that I've been charged so to speak with helping people get their books out. And nothing brings more joy to me than then working with words and working with people wanting to make an important impact and influence in the world. So and just go to the link and or email me if you have any questions.

Greg Voisen
And I would say in parting, that there's probably no better way to do it. If this podcast that you're listening to inspires you, even if you go out and do it on your own, and you don't sign up for the course more power to you. But if you want to take a journey with some very special people, and actually be with them at the same time and write a book that changes the world, you're going to be inspired, because you're going to go all the way from the ideation to the manifestation, you're going to actually implement this and in the process, one of the things that Kathy is really good at doing is you have a tendency to say, Okay, I'm gonna do it. And then you could put the pen down, but you've got to manage your energy. And I say pen, because it could be writing on your MacBook or whatever. But the point is, you get it. If you don't manage your energy through this process, you can actually end up with half written books, or quarter written books, or three quarter written books, because something distracts you and you can't see it to the end. And I think most importantly, with any goal, it's about seeing it to the end. It's about it's about the manifestation, the birth of the midwifing of this book. And I think that's the point I really would like to get across is that it is usually Writing a book is not a salience process. It's with, there's people helping you, you get there. And it takes quite a little team to actually make this happen. It isn't just one person. So Kathy, thanks for being on inside personal growth, sharing your wisdom about being a literary midwife, and about your new course called write books that change the world. For all of my listeners, check out the blog, check out Kathy's website, and we will go from there. Namaste to you, Kathy.

Kathy Sparrow
Thank you, Greg. It's always a pleasure chatting with you.