Inspired Writer Collective Podcast

Episode 90: [Kim Mosiman] What You Don't Know You Need to Know About Publishing Your Book

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This week, Elizabeth chats with our guest, Kim Mosiman, about her book Reflections of Joy and how what she didn't know she needed to know led her to a new career path.

You'll find these topics and more in this week's episode:

  • Kim's inspiration for her book
  • Finding beta readers
  • Getting reviews
  • Marketing now, even if your book isn't published 

Get to know Kim Mosiman:

Kim Mosiman is an author, certified nutritionist, and Christian life coach who helps women rediscover joy and purpose in their second act. After closing her boutique gym in 2017, Kim began her own wellness transformation and now uses her experience to encourage other women to prioritize their health—body, mind, and soul. She’s the author of Reflections of Joy, winner of the Christlit Award, and the co-founder of Writer-2-Writer Coaching, where she helps new authors bring their stories into the world. As co-host of The Whole Woman Podcast, Kim brings wisdom, warmth, and a deep passion for helping women feel seen, known, and empowered to grow.

www.kimmosimanwellness.com
https://www.facebook.com/kim.mosiman/
https://www.instagram.com/kim_mosiman


 Welcome to the Inspired Writer Collective podcast. If you've ever felt the pull to write your truth, to shape the chaos of real life into something meaningful and to share your journey with the world, you're in the right place. We're your hosts, Elizabeth and Stephanie, writers, coaches, and entrepreneurs who believe in you and know how important it is to find a writing community to guide you on your path to self-publishing.

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Elizabeth:

Welcome back listeners to a new episode of the Inspired Writer Collective. Today I am joined by Kim Mosman and she is here as an author who has published her first book, a Christian nonfiction called Reflections of Joy. Um, this has been a very interesting read. Thank you for sending me a copy so I could peruse it before we met today. I'm about, uh, a little over halfway through. Um, but it's been a very quick read, very enjoyable, and I wanted to talk to you today both about your process for writing this book, how you went about publishing this book, and also how that process has been shaped, what you're doing now, and how you are serving others to help them launch their own books.

Kim Mosiman:

Yeah, I, I'm, I'm excited and I love seeing that bookmark move in there. So, um, you know, I. I always thought that I would write a book. I was, I owned a gym for a long time, as I'm sure you know now.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

and I wrote a weekly newsletter and that's where I fell in love with public writing. And, um, then I decided to create a blog and, and there's just been that natural evolution of, of sharing my words. then, um, eventually I thought I would write a book, like a how to manual and. That didn't happen. Instead, my world kind of fell apart when I closed the gym. And um, I think I shared with you, I became like my own worst client. And, um, as I turned things around for me, I was journaling and writing and, um, came up with the, the outline and the idea for reflections of Joy, which is not so much a how to but a how I book. So.

Elizabeth:

Well, that's what I love about it though, is because I'm not super trusting of people who try to give me health advice when it looks like they've had the easy path to it. Right. Um, I really prefer to get all of my wisdom from those who have really experienced the like. True downsides of something and have had to dug, dig themselves out of the trenches. It's like, do I want to take a, you know, writing workshop from someone who just can sit down at the computer and the words just naturally flow? No. I want someone like me who struggles to carve out time in between all their parenting responsibilities or all the other things they have to do, or who can't always wait until inspiration hits. Them in order to get their writing done in order to meet their goals. So, uh, for me, that's what opens me up to have like a willingness to even like, hear what advice you have to read it and like consider it and take it in because. Yes, you did the like the gym thing and you were doing it and you had the kind of body you wanted and you're eating healthy and then things took a big backslide and you work are working yourself back out of that and have found a new way of being that feels much more like whole body, mind, spirit versus just a focus on the body. And so for me, I love that you've written this book from that perspective and that it's not just a how to. Um, and that it, you actually put so much of your personal stories into it so that I don't feel as, um, I don't know, like an outsider having my own struggles when, you know, I read your, your lines about how. You know, the things that used to work for us suddenly stopped working. I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's me. That was me. You know, I don't know, two months ago where I realized, wait, something has definitely shifted in my body and the things that used to really help, like just drinking more water, doing a little bit more walking or this or whatever. It is no longer having the level of impact that it used to have in being able to see those changes. And so I really love the way that you've crafted this book. Um, you've made it both available for like bite size, but also I've been reading it more like a sprint and it's also not overwhelming. You've somehow mastered, you know, that whole idea of. You can take it piece by piece as you're ready or you can kind of consume it all and it's, it's not overwhelming.

Kim Mosiman:

And that was really my intention. Um, it, I, I wrote it as, read a chapter, read the

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

but then even I, as I was reading my own words and

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

in my beta readers, which are so helpful,

Elizabeth:

Yes.

Kim Mosiman:

were

Elizabeth:

Okay.

Kim Mosiman:

the thing is Kim, is that. No one has time for this. And that's the thing I heard over and over again in the gym is I don't have time to cook healthy. I don't have time to exercise every day. I don't have time. We don't have time.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

um, we went back through and restructured and really tried to make it, um. Several mini conversations that you and I might have when we, when we connected with one another. Like, let's talk about this. Okay. Move on with our day,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

next time we see each other have another conversation. So, um, I'm glad that, um, I, I'm glad that is working for you, the way you're reading it,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

that, um, you can see how I intended it, so that makes

Elizabeth:

Yeah, absolutely.

Kim Mosiman:

Yeah.

Elizabeth:

Let's talk a little bit about beta readers because. I am in going to be reaching that stage of my own road to publication. And I just had a, a conversation with Stephanie about this. This is one of our many summer episodes that, um, in July and. It's so interesting to me because I've seen this trend, I guess I would call it, of like people putting out services to be paid beta readers, but for me, that's not my understanding of what the purpose of a beta reader is. I want my beta readers to be someone who's in my target audience for the book. Who reads the book and gives me their honest feedback, not because I've paid them for their feedback, but just to give me like a, a early perspective of what kinds of things I might see in a, you know, Amazon review if I were to just publish it and not go through that step. So I'm curious how you found your beta readers, how many you had, what kind of guidance or questions you had for them, like how did you approach the beta reading step?

Kim Mosiman:

I had just come out of copy editing, or I'm sorry, developmental editing

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

I, so I had those, that list of professional comments and questions, but I didn't wanna rewrite and then come back out and

Elizabeth:

Um.

Kim Mosiman:

then have to figure out if I had touched my audience. So I chose five different women that were within my. My targeted reader audience,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

each one had a different profession in life. Um, each one was at a different stage in their faith and also, um, physically, right, because they do talk about, about our bodies and, um. I just asked them to read it, to highlight those sections that that didn't resonate with them or felt offensive or

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

really loved. That just really spoke volumes to them, and I steered them away from, don't check my spelling, don't check my

Elizabeth:

Yes.

Kim Mosiman:

don't check my grammar. It's not what I'm looking for. I wanna know what you're getting from this book so that when you, when you turn the last page.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

Do you walk away with something that you can use

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

you just walk away thinking, oh, well good for her? You know, and

Elizabeth:

yeah.

Kim Mosiman:

I, and I, I think that, think that some people write in isolation, so it seems natural for them just to reach out to a professional their book. And that's fine. I mean, some people can make a living from that, that's fine. But the beta readers I chose were friends and colleagues who. Who could give me that feedback because I wanted you to be able to pick up the book now, a year later

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

and, and, and for me to know that I didn't miss, I mean, maybe I missed some things. Maybe there's something you, you reading it think, gosh, I wish she would've gone a little farther on this, but.

Elizabeth:

Mm.

Kim Mosiman:

But I really think that that through their viewpoints and their comments and their constructive criticisms I created a book that could be used by people, by women, particularly, um, across several ages and circumstances.

Elizabeth:

Yeah, I love that. So that's really helpful for me to hear that that was your experience with Beta readers, because that's my, that's been my understanding of the purpose of Beta readers personally. I'm waiting like. Maybe like a half step after you did, because I did some early developmental edits on my memoir when it was still like a memoir, self-help combo. I've done massive amounts of rewrites, and right now I know it's too long. Like my word count is pretty high compared to a typical memoir, so I know stuff has to be cut, and so I'm actually sending it to an editor. Um, at the end of this month and want to get her feedback so that I can at least cut those portions that aren't going to be in there in the long run. And that may be slowing down the pacing or, or anything like that, or causing confusion before I send it to beta readers.'cause I do want them to have like, as close to the final version minus the like copy editing, you know, punctuation, grammar stuff.

Kim Mosiman:

Yep.

Elizabeth:

Because I do wanna get a feel of like. Because it's my memoir, you know? Does it make sense? Do my choices make sense? But I love that question you posed to your readers. Um. You might have to remind me of it, but like, are you just saying like, oh, this is good for you, or did you actually have a takeaway from this? Like, that's to me a really great question. Not just for your book as, as more of a self-help with some anecdotes and memoir aspects, but even for like my full memoir, I, I do, I mean, I'm writing it because I hope people will take away some of the. For their own experience, and that's part of why I am seeking out beta readers who can relate to either my motherhood journey or my, the complications with my marriage or my divorce, or those aspects of the story that I'm sharing. Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

I just think it's so important as writers that we are not married to our words. Um. It's, it's very important before your beta readers, um, before you read their comments, you're still willing to make changes. Because if it doesn't resonate, if you send it out to five,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

know, and, and there's a section that you are, you're just really tied to, but it's not resonating with any of them, you have to go back in and rework that. Um. I think some people use beta readers as validation. They just want, is it

Elizabeth:

Hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

bad? Is it ready or is it not? but if you use it as the final editing tool, you know, after you've been through the professionals, because we want it to resonate with people, we want them to walk away and think. Oh my gosh, I never thought about that. can be so helpful in my life as well, you know, and, um, so yeah, I wish you luck. I would not do, I would, I would tell someone too, get too many beta readers, because if

Elizabeth:

Okay.

Kim Mosiman:

you choose good beta readers, good beta readers, if you choose people and you give them a list of questions

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

to comment about,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

you don't wanna have to try and process 10 different peoples of. Opinions,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

maybe choose four to six and make sure that they have a, a wide variety of experiences within your target audience. Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth:

Yeah, no, that makes, that makes sense. I think I've heard the larger numbers simply because so many people have experienced. People not finishing it or not getting back to them or whatever. And so it's like if you give it to eight to 10, hopefully you get at least four good, you know, nuggets of feedback because you don't want too few because then it may just be that one person's opinion. It's hard to get like perspective over whether this is really an issue or whether this one person just didn't like it.

Kim Mosiman:

Yeah. And that's, that's difficult too because even with launch teams, you know, let's go to a completely different part of the process. Um. So often you put your completed work in someone's hand because you want a pre-read and you want some, some lift during pre-order or during the ordering cycle and you want

Elizabeth:

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

few people complete it. It is, it's really, it's very difficult. So, you know,

Elizabeth:

let's talk about ARC Readers. What, how many Arc Reader copies did you send out? What kind of results did you get from that? Because I know we've talked about this before on the podcast, that with Amazon, it won't even like offer your book as an option until you get, like, unless you search for it directly, until you get 50 reviews. So you really need those 50 reviews quickly.

Kim Mosiman:

Yes, and it's, I, you know, I had 50 people on my launch team and you know, of them did. An incredible job of sharing graphics that I provided. You know, this book's available for order. Bye bye bye. You know, that was great. But

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

to writing the review,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

only 20 of the 50 completed the review. And

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

I think it's it's writer anxiety, those

Elizabeth:

Yes.

Kim Mosiman:

write are afraid to write.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

Um, you know, I'm still struggling a year later for that 50th review. Now I

Elizabeth:

Well, don't worry, I'm going to add my review once I finish the book.

Kim Mosiman:

I appreciate that. Um, and, and the thing is, is like even if you bought from a different vendor.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

Or, or if you purchased it from my website, you can still submit an Amazon review.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

it doesn't say verified purchase

Elizabeth:

Right,

Kim Mosiman:

purchase from them,

Elizabeth:

right.

Kim Mosiman:

but, but they will evaluate, you know, it goes through a, a process before they put it up, and that might take a little bit longer, but it's still worth asking and it's still worth doing if you're. I didn't realize the importance of reviews until I became a writer, and

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

everything that I, and everything I read. I review it even if I'm not connected because

Elizabeth:

Yeah.

Kim Mosiman:

such a difference. Um,

Elizabeth:

wild though, because I read reviews to decide if I'm gonna buy something. Very often I'm looking at the reviews. I'm looking at both the, like overall, but I'm also looking at the bad because I just wanna know like if there are downsides, what was this person's opinion? Do I think that has any, has any weight or not? And so it's like I use reviews to, you know, govern my purchase decisions. But do I often leave reviews? When I have a good experience. No, no. And that's kind of the downside of reviews, right?

Kim Mosiman:

Yep.

Elizabeth:

and I have joked because we have like a one star review for this podcast because someone listened to our, uh, book club episode about not being able to finish demon copperhead. And then their review, they said, I don't know why you felt like you should do a whole episode. You didn't even finish reading the book, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, yeah. And it's in the title, so like. That I think that should have been expected. We clearly said from in the title and from the beginning that we didn't finish it, and that's okay if you didn't like that, but we devoted all this time to making this content, so we figured we might as well put it out there in case other people also had trouble reading. This, you know, award-winning book. Not every book is for everybody. Um, and it's interesting'cause then we only have like maybe four or five star reviews, so the balance is really off. But again, people don't often leave reviews unless they have something more negative to say.

Kim Mosiman:

Right, and I don't think we should be afraid of, of reviews that offer, um, constructive criticism or even

Elizabeth:

Sure,

Kim Mosiman:

criticisms.

Elizabeth:

sure.

Kim Mosiman:

I am, I am thrilled to tell you that have only five star reviews, but, but sometimes as the author. It's like, I wanna know what you really thought.

Elizabeth:

Yes.

Kim Mosiman:

piece that didn't resonate with you, like you are not gonna hurt my feelings. If you felt like it was, it was worth four stars or even three stars, if there was something that was, was blatantly missing or that you disagreed with,

Elizabeth:

Yeah.

Kim Mosiman:

You know, I mean, don't,

Elizabeth:

Yeah.

Kim Mosiman:

surely don't want reviews that detect me personally, but, but reviews that disagree with what I've written or, um. Maybe make me a better author down the road.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

about it. So, um, that's what I try to tell people is, you know, yes, I'm thrilled there are 42 fives, yay me. Right?

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

But, and, and many of them are beautifully written, but it's okay if you didn't feel like that's still, still put it out there. That allows

Elizabeth:

Right.

Kim Mosiman:

you who reads reviews to make an honest decision about whether or not my book is for them.

Elizabeth:

Well, and me as a person that reads reviews, I'm a little less trusting of all five star reviews. You know? It becomes like, really five? Everyone gave five. Like there's not anything wrong. Like no one has read this book, who didn't totally think it was like this most stellar reading experience. Like, come on. You know?

Kim Mosiman:

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Elizabeth:

So then it makes it look like. Are all these reviews, just friends that are trying to support you, and that's all great and good, but it's not particularly honest feedback or, yeah. And, and then too, you, as a writer, like you said it, how do you then, you know, push yourself to improve your craft? Where are your areas that you may be blind to or you can, you know, grow and strengthen to not have any sort of, you know, like you said, constructive, you know, feedback to be able to. Work on and hone. It kind of does you a disservice in that sense too.

Kim Mosiman:

Yeah. Yep. That's where we have to have conversations with other authors

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

and all those things. I mean, yeah, it's, it's an ongoing experience, isn't it?

Elizabeth:

It is.

Kim Mosiman:

Yes.

Elizabeth:

love for you to talk a little bit about how you went about publishing this book, because you used a hybrid publisher model that I'd love for you to share with our audience a little bit about. Um, and then how some of the, I guess, lacking areas of that motivated you to create and co-found your business and coaching now.

Kim Mosiman:

Yep. Yep. I did, I, I knew that I had a book on my heart and I had told myself all along that I was going to write it, but I was not motivated enough sit down. Write a book, write a proposal, and and pitch it on my own. I just, life gets in the way and

Elizabeth:

It's a lot.

Kim Mosiman:

It is, it is a lot. And I am still, after going to a writer's conference last week, I'm still so amazed by the people who have made this their soul career. I'm just amazed. Um. I chose to use a hybrid publisher, and the experience was really very good for me because I needed someone to set deadlines.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

someone to. Offer me the connections. I, I didn't know editors, I didn't know proofreaders. And of course we can find those people, but then it's like the reviews, who do I trust with my work and

Elizabeth:

Yeah.

Kim Mosiman:

Right. And and I think that that brings a lot of anxiety for many people and that's why they don't finish the

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

Right. We all know

Elizabeth:

Especially on that like developmental edit, you've gotta find someone, not who's just a good editor, quote unquote, but who really understands the story you're trying to share.

Kim Mosiman:

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I was fortunate to have had a developmental editor that, that interacted with me. Um, I, I worked with the coach and the, the very best piece of the whole thing for me was this cohort that was put together. And, um, I have established some lifelong relationships and found some of my beta readers and just really, um, I know my book is here today because of the path that I chose.

Elizabeth:

Yeah.

Kim Mosiman:

not going to spend the money that I spent and ignore a deadline or not get the work done.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

but, um. But what I, what I thought when I signed a contract is that, um, the work of the, the marketing and the, um, would be on the publisher. I guess I thought that, uh, traditional publishers did all the marketing and things too. And what I've learned through this process is that, um, with, with the tools that we have today, with the internet and with social media and all the thing. It really has become the responsibility of the author to market their book and to

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

book. Um, my, my publisher sent, um, something out to their email list, you know, and, but, but it's not, their job in marketing is to market their, their product.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

is to market my product um, was. Initially frustrating, um, to, to have to learn things because I ran a gym. I didn't use Canva. I didn't have to worry about social media. I didn't have to worry about learning how to do reels that like drew people in because I ran a gym. but with this book, I had to learn those things and I learned that I liked doing it. And I learned that, um, I was efficient at it. And so out of that, with a, a friend that I met through the cohort, we kept saying we were helping other people.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

our friends who didn't understand it, we were helping women, um, who didn't know how to put Canva pieces together or, how to write captions that, that made a difference. And so jokingly, one day she said to me, oh, we should, we should create a coaching business, right? Because we were both coaches. I am a wellness coach and a life coach, and she's a grief coach and an Enneagram coach, and we thought we could do this.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

So, you know, after some soul searching and a lot of prayer, we decided that we would begin a coaching business. And, um, joyfully I spend probably 20 hours a week on Zoom calls, sometimes sharing my screen and simply walking someone through to create good graphics,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

a newsletter, how to, to build a launch team and send out emails that that. Pull people in

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

um, it's really been amazing. Amazing. something that could have been frustrating, right? Reflections of joy. I'm always looking for the joy in thing. Um, something that could have just like pushed me away from publishing again,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

me in and I think I found my true call. or at least, or at least his call for me in this, this time of my life. So,

Elizabeth:

Yeah, I love that. And it's, it's just a great reminder. We say this all the time on the podcast that like so much of the time, the reason people push themselves to choose traditional publishing is because they don't wanna do the marketing piece. Like they're scared of that piece. And the reality is that's not gonna solve your problem. You know, like you're gonna have to learn how to market your book if you want copies to be sold. If you want it in the hands of readers, like you're going to have to market it. Now, if you only just wanna publish it because you really just wanna publish a book, by all means, you know, just get it out there in whatever way. You know, whether you use KDP or whatever, put it out there, brush your hands off. You published a book, great job, and just. Let it be. But if you want people to actually read your book, you really have to put in that time with marketing. Um, would you share,'cause I know we chatted a little bit about this in our meeting before, um, we recorded, would you share a little bit about when you think people need to start thinking about the process of marketing their book and, and why your beliefs are what they are?

Kim Mosiman:

I think you should start before you start writing your book. I think it's critical and, and I, I believe this be true because of the experiences I've had on launch teams.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

worked with several incredible women. Every author that I've helped launch their book or released their book has been amazing and written good words. But it's the authors who have a, have a presence, who have their platform at least started, that are selling books. Um, I think, I think that it's unrealistic to think that you can. Post a couple cute pictures on social media and tell people about your book when it's ready to be purchased, and that people will purchase it because they just don't know you yet. And a million books come out a year. Right? Um, it, it's, it's unrealistic to think that you should be able just to say, I have a book and people will buy. So. If you have a book idea, uh, or for you, you're in the process of writing your social media presence or your, your newsletter

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

blog posting

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

strong from the day you make the decision to write.

Elizabeth:

How do you recommend.

Kim Mosiman:

oops, I'm sorry.

Elizabeth:

Go ahead. Go ahead.

Kim Mosiman:

was gonna say, you should have people asking you, when's your book coming out? When's your book

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

long before your book is even close to coming out?

Elizabeth:

Yes, I get those questions. I started, I didn't start my newsletter until January of this year knowing that I want my book to come out early next year. Um, it was one of those pieces, you know, that it's like, I know I need to get this, you know, machine cranking and I had so many family friends. Asking me that question like, when's your book coming out? When's your book coming out? And I was like, well, you know what? I, I have stories I've cut from the memoir that I'm happy to share with people, um, to give them a taste of my writing and kind of as a little like incentive, I guess to join the, the email list plus keeping people updated with where I am in the writing process. Um, and at times it can be really tough to balance the. Deadlines of getting the actual book done and also maintaining that presence, especially for me on social media.'cause it, that one exhausts me way more than, than drafting a monthly email to my friends and family who are essentially the, what comprise my email list at this point. Um, so how do you advise, what do you advise authors to do to balance? Maybe what may be limited time, like I'm, during the school year, I've got maybe an hour, three times a week.

Kim Mosiman:

Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth:

And so that hour is mostly devoted to just getting that writing done because I had pretty aggressive, you know, rewrite goals and objectives and timelines that I put on myself. How do you recommend that authors balance showing up on those platforms and in those various, I guess, future marketing channels, um, with.

Kim Mosiman:

I would say if you only have three hours a week, it's important if, if, if part of that is writing your blog posts or your newsletter,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

should take content from your blog post or your newsletter, and you should repurpose it in social media. Um, and, and I don't think you have to reinvent the wheel every single time. you can, you can put on Repeat your pictures. You can repeat your messages. I always recommend to my clients that they sit down with their color schemes and, um, their words, and they create a brand and they make 20 images that that can be repurposed with new

Elizabeth:

Oh, I love that. Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

Um. And that's what gets us all wrapped up in time. You're sitting down on Canva and you're trying to like create something brand new and you don't need to, sometimes it's just swap the colors. Sometimes it's swap the words. Sometimes can just be kind to yourself and realize that not everyone who knows you, follows you, likes, you sees every single post. So it's

Elizabeth:

Right.

Kim Mosiman:

you're like, they're thinking, oh my gosh, she's so uninspired and so uncreative. go create 20 posts that are sitting there in your file ready to use, and then take words from what you're already writing, even if it's

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

and share them. Uh, certainly at least three, four times a week. You don't have to be brilliant. You just have to be there, right? People just have to know that you're there. Um, and then. If for me, I need to be time bound. If I only had three hours a week to work on my writing, I don't know that I would've gotten there. So I'm, I'm inspired by you that you are moving forward with, you know, because I decided to write once my kids were grown,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

um, for me, if I have to write somehow, if I set a timer for 30 minutes. It unlocks the portals and it allows me to function, knowing I'm not gonna miss anything. I'm not

Elizabeth:

Yep.

Kim Mosiman:

over I, I can, I can turn off my phone and my notifications for 30 minutes, and often I'm so into it when the alarm goes off, I hit repeat because it can happen again and again and again for as long as that window was open for you. So I, I just, I believe we overthink it.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

I just, I talked, I told you I was at a writer's conference last week. I talked to several people who have time bound lives,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

yet they're still getting the work done where there's a will, there's a way, and, and sometimes that just means setting all expectations aside putting the words down however they come.

Elizabeth:

Yeah, the way you described is exactly how I did it, and I actually found that I got more done. By having less time when versus when I wasn't working and I was just able to write whenever, you know, I felt inspired or whatever. No, having only this 40 minutes between when I got off work and when I had to pick my daughter up from school, Stephanie, who is the co-host of this podcast, we would meet virtually on Zoom. We would black out our cameras, we would, you know, mute our. Mike's and we would just both write, and I usually, I could get like. 1300 words down. You know, you just get into that flow and I've trained myself that when I need to, I can just drop into that flow. I don't have to have all this ritual anymore around like, okay, first I wanna journal so I can get these ideas outta my head that are, you know, my life stuff that's going on and I need some mood music or I need a cup of tea. I don't need all that. I literally can just set the timer and go now.

Kim Mosiman:

yep.

Elizabeth:

Um. It's kind of'cause you have to, right? Like some of us are just really busy and if it's gonna get done, if it's important to you, you find a way to get it done.

Kim Mosiman:

Yep. And you know, I was talking to someone last week who, she's like, I'm just blocked. I'm blocked.

Elizabeth:

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

done. I sit and I stare at my computer.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

oh, okay. So we've all, we're all carrying around these magical little computers in our pockets, right?

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

I'm like. Put in your earbuds and click on your notes app and hit the audio and go for a walk. If you're blocked with your fingers staring at a screen, go look at something inspiring and beautiful and talk the words in. Now it's gonna, it's gonna mumble some of them up, like you're gonna have to figure out what really was when you

Elizabeth:

Yes.

Kim Mosiman:

it.

Elizabeth:

Yes.

Kim Mosiman:

part of the fun too. But I, I wrote, I. Probably, well, the entire last chapter was written as I walked in the morning as Sun Rose, and

Elizabeth:

Hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

to me that I be in touch with the reader

Elizabeth:

Yeah.

Kim Mosiman:

with myself and with God when I wrote that chapter,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

and it wasn't happening in conventional ways.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

my coach said to me, Kim, just go to a place where it's beautiful. Well, I can't sit and then write and not be distracted. That doesn't work for me. So I walked. I talked to God the chapters came forward and, um, I would highly recommend if you're stuck, or even if you're busy, like if

Elizabeth:

Yes.

Kim Mosiman:

to pick up your daughter,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

can still hit the notes app and hit audio and you can talk through an idea.

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

be finalized, but it can be good. Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth:

And now on iPhones, you can record calls. I know there was a section on my book that I needed my sister to help me remember some of the stuff like, or the timeline around some certain things. So I called her one day while I was walking and I was like, okay, I'm gonna record this. I wanna talk through this with you. So then I hit record and then I could listen back to that, that recording of our conversation to like then map out what I needed to and the timeline and get things all sorted. Or just like you talked about, I went on a hike this weekend. I think it was Friday. Um, I have a loop that I do and it was a, it was a loop that I was on when I had this moment of inspiration, which really brought about the whole title of the book. And just the other day I was up doing that loop and really got this inspiration of sort of this overarching message that I wanted to include in the last chapter. And so I paused on the trail. I quickly pulled out my, my notes app. I did just write it out quickly versus doing, um, a voice note or anything. But yeah, you sometimes you just gotta break out of, get away from the desk, untether yourself, get out in nature or do something that's a little bit more right brained,

Kim Mosiman:

Yes.

Elizabeth:

in order to tap into some of that inspiration or to get that motivation going again.

Kim Mosiman:

Yep. Yeah. There are no wrongs.

Elizabeth:

Um, one last thing I wanted to touch on before we sign off for today is using podcasts as marketing. Simply because we are on a podcast, I feel like that's an appropriate topic for us to dig into. Um, we have an earlier episode where Stephanie and I talked about the value of being a podcast guest, um, as a writer, and why that's helpful for developing. Kind of your spiel and how you won't talk about your work, how you promote yourself, and even just getting confidence in speaking, you know, with potentially just one other person before you have to speak in front of an audience and maybe do a book reading or, or something when you get those sort of opportunities. Um, so talk to me about podcasts.

Kim Mosiman:

Yes, I completed, um, 40 45. I recorded 45 last year between, um, like release and my first anniversary, which just occurred less in May. I love talking about my book and I think that my message, just like you said, you ground yourself into your message. The more you do it, um, it. That's like, that's like launching your book or releasing your book or, or marketing your book. You should begin before the book comes out. There's a misconception for people who don't podcast

Elizabeth:

Mm.

Kim Mosiman:

that when contact you two weeks before my book's coming out because I wanna talk to you and your audience about my book. And I didn't realize the. The lead time and how many people record and build their, their vault of, of episodes months ahead of time. So I think, you know, I, I don't think, well, there's no reason why you can't talk about your book any time, even, even when it's still in formation stage. I mean, heck, talk to people. If I wrote about middle-aged women and health and wellness and spirituality. Those are all topics that are timeless. I don't have to have a book for you to buy to be considered an expert or,

Elizabeth:

Mm-hmm.

Kim Mosiman:

that supports those women. So just go out and start talking. I think it's, it's our greatest opportunity and most of the time it's free. And um, you know, I know that there are some people, like you were talking about beta readers. I know there are some podcasters that are charging, um, to be on their episodes. I, I haven't done any, and I don't think I will because there's so many wonderful people out there, um, just doing it to support their own, um, ministry and, and, um, missions and businesses. So, heck, start talking right away. I just, I think it's a really great resource for people.

Elizabeth:

Yeah. To give the listeners a kind of behind the scenes insight to this, I think you and I originally connected on Thread sometime in the spring when I didn't have any openings for podcast guests because we had already recorded all of our Spring guest episodes, and then now we are recording this middle of June.

Kim Mosiman:

Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth:

this episode will not release until sometime in our fall season. So, you know, just to give the listener any potential writers who want to be a guest, either on this podcast or on other podcasts. If the podcast has been around for a little while, most of us have gotten to the point where we're batching our content, where we're, you know, recording and big groupings for the season ahead. For Stephanie and I, this has been pivotal in giving us the time to actually work on our books. We can't be chasing down guests week after week after week and still have any time to do the major writing sprints or editing that we need to do on our own work. And so that's why we've gotten to a point. Over this year and a half now of podcasting where we are looking for guests, um, usually several months before the episodes ever air. And we only do this like these big kind of guest recruiting. Spots twice a year, and you have to be on our email list to get one of those spots because there are not that many of them and they go quickly. Um, and so yeah. That's great. I'm so glad you shared that from your own experience. Um, and hopefully others will feel inspired by that. I wonder if you would close us off with your offering to our listeners and tell them where they can find you.

Kim Mosiman:

Yeah. as we mentioned, I have, um, created a coaching business with another author and, um, we created writer to writer and love to help teach. Um. how to launch their books into the world, how to finish their books, how to market and use their voice. So, um, I am offering a 30 minute call, call with anyone, um, just to talk about whatever you want to, if it leads into a relationship and, and we work together, great. If it doesn't. great too. I, I love writing, I love authors, I love interacting with people and making new friends. And so you can find me and um, I'll send you my links, but, um, writer to writer.com is our website and it's writer dash, the number two dash writer, um.com.

Elizabeth:

Thank you, Kim. We'll include all of those links inside the show notes as well as links to your social media and everything so that people can find you and continue to connect with you, whether it's because they want to read this book that you've written or because they wanna connect with you in order to get help launching their own book. Thank you again for being here with us today.

Kim Mosiman:

Yes, it's been great. Thank you.

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Elizabeth Wilson

Host
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Stephanie Oswald, Ph.D.

Host