Please join me in welcoming back our guest, Giovanna Gonzalez! Gigi just came back from a nationwide press tour for her book and it has been such a success. Now that she’s completed the launch of her first book and her first book tour, she’s ready to share what she’s learned and prepare you for your very own pub date. 

When picking a courage project, so many of our Courage Driven Latina clients choose to write a book. But the publishing industry is so closed off and secretive that it can be difficult to know where to start. 

In this week’s episode, Gigi will be sharing all the nitty-gritty details about writing and hybrid publishing her first book. That includes costs, timelines, coaches, and more! If you are interested in writing a book, this episode will be a treat! Tune in to hear everything about the writing and publishing process and how you as a woman of color can get paid for your work. 

Resources Mentioned:
Gigi’s previous episode: EP. 113: Cultura and Cash: Managing Finances & Cultural Expectations w/ Giovanna González

Preorder Gigi’s audiobook here
See Gigi’s in person at a live book event near you!

Follow Erika on:
Instagram @‌theerikacruz
TikTok @‌theerikacruz
LinkedIn

Website:
http://www.theerikacruz.com

How to work with Erika:

Join the waitlist for Courage Driven Latina here.

Join the waitlist for the Magnetic Mastermind here.

Podcast production for this episode was provided by CCST.

Episode Transcript:

Erika: Hello friends. Welcome back to Chingona Revolution podcast. On today’s episode, we have a guest who’s already been on the podcast. The first time that she was on the podcast was in January to talk to us about her book release, Cultura and Cash. 

 And this guest is Giovanna Gonzalez, also known as GiGi or the first-gen mentor on social media. And this time she’s back on the podcast to talk to us all about the book writing process. So a lot of my clients have a goal of writing a book. It’s their ultimate goal and their courage project.

But I also know that a lot of you. who listened to this podcast also have the goal of writing the book. It’s definitely one of my goals as well. I want to make sure that I write a book in this lifetime and we just need more women of color authors. We need more women authors. We need more Latina authors and more people of color authors.

And Gigi is awesome. She is such an incredible individual because she transparently shares with us the struggles that she had to overcome how much the book writing process was like what the investment was not just with with time and energy, right, but also financially like she actually shares numbers with us.

She shares different lessons that she learned. She shares with us. The type of publishing that she did, which is hybrid. So if you have a goal of writing a book, or if you’re just interested in learning more about the project of writing a book, stay tuned for this episode, because it is a juicy one. Let’s get into it.

Gigi, welcome back to Chingona revolution podcast. How are you? 

Gigi: Hi, Erica. Thanks for having me back again. I’m good. How are you friend? 

I am good. I’m so excited because the last time we had you on the show, we were talking about cultura and cash and how the book came to be, what was in the book, your money story, the EVA endorsement, which is so, so exciting.

And now it’s been what, like half a year, half a year or so since the, since the release date or not even, it feels 

Gigi: It came out January of 2024 and we’re now in August, so a little bit over half a year. 

Yeah. So tell us just how, because obviously when you and I spoke, it was just going to be released. I was lucky enough to get a copy of it ahead of time.

So thank you so much for that. But now that you, the book has been out in the world and I know that today’s episode is more about the how of the book, how you wrote the book, how it came about, especially because a lot of my listeners have an ultimate goal of writing a book. And as you and I spoke. Before we got on the podcast, we need more Latina authors, but first I just want to do a quick, just like recap on what has changed for you.

 how was the book tour? I’m sure you’ve had so many amazing conversations with people and just, I mean, even I text you the other day and I was like, Oh my gosh, I’m at dinner with my cousin. And she was telling me that she read your book and you were like, does she know her friends? And I’m like, I think she knows you’re on the podcast.

I don’t know if she knows that we’re friends, but it’s just so cool to like, Have people like you in my space and be like, Oh yeah, my friend wrote that book. Yeah, she wrote that book. So it’s 

Gigi: funny. Dulce, uh, messaged me too on WhatsApp and she’s like, look, my sister just finished your book and she sent me a picture of her at the counter with the book.

It was just so cute. So yeah, it’s just cool to really see it out there in the wild. 

Yeah. And so, I mean, if I had that experience at dinner with my cousin, I can’t even imagine how it must feel for you. During all of the book tours, because as you’re writing the book, you’re writing the book and you’re not sure how it’s going to resonate with people, right?

It’s not a social media post where you’re going to get immediate feedback. So tell us what is life after publishing a book like this? What is your experience been? 

Gigi: It’s such a good question. And I’m glad you asked me because there’s in doing my research and preparing for the writing and launching process of the book, there’s so much, so many knowledge, so much knowledge about how to get it done, but there isn’t much about planning.

Right. What happens after? And I was so scared cause I didn’t know what to expect. So luckily I made friends with, uh, authors that I admired and I asked them like, what, what’s, what’s to expect? What should I do to prepare? And people were just like, it’s going to be chaotic. Cause you’re going to be doing, you’re going to be pulled so many directions, you know, to do press or podcasts, things like that.

So just make yourself available. Make sure that you’re available. Uh, don’t take on too much. Okay. Speaking work because I also work as a public speaker because you’re going to need that time to promote the book, right? So that was an income loss that I had to prepare for because it was instead time I was using to promote the book.

Uh, but what has the journey been like? So fulfilling. And I’m so happy I can say that. And I hope that anybody that is aspiring to write a book or in the middle of the process, I know it can be very lonely in the beginning when, like you said, you don’t know if it’s going to hit or not, But as somebody who really put in the work and had my community support to get this resource out there, I’m really glad I went through the process.

It was hard. We will talk about the hard parts and, and there were a lot of fun parts too. But, um, overall, it’s, it’s been a very fulfilling journey to see that something I poured so much of my heart and energy and money to. We’ll talk about that to, um, how people really have, have accepted and embrace a book.

They, I still get tagged on social media. People are storing the book and discovering the book. Um, I’m still on tour. People are still showing up and selling out my library events. So that’s very, very rewarding. And financially it’s also been great. Um, not so much. Book sales wise. And I’m happy to dig into that too.

I’m an open book about what royalties and all that stuff looks like, but regarding my speaking practice, my speaking fee has increased on average about four times since before the book published, and that’s because there’s definitely a new level of authority when you’re a published author, uh, on a specific subject, as opposed to just being a tick tocker.

So it’s, it’s, it’s a long answer, but it’s been a very fulfilling journey. 

No, that was a great, great answer. And I love that you talked about. loss because it was income loss in short term, because I even recall that when you were writing the book, you also weren’t doing things like brand collaboration. So you had to say no to a lot of things in order to free up your energy and your mental, emotional capacity and intellectual capacity for the book.

But now that it’s done, To your point. Now you are able to charge four times what you were able to charge before. And I think sometimes people look at, you know, well, what’s going to make me the most money. But like, we have to think bigger picture and you did such a good job doing that. And I’m sure deals fell into your inbox that you were like, Oh my gosh, am I really going to say no to that?

So can you just like explain a little bit of how, how did you, what was your thought process around that? Whenever you maybe received something that you were like, Oh my gosh, I have FOMO that I’m not going to do this. 

Gigi: That happened a lot. There were cool opportunities where I could have been a part of a documentary.

 there was this cool opportunity in DC. There was a lot of cool things, you know, that we get as influencers in our inbox, but, uh, 2022, which is a year I started writing the book. I had to clear that year, the year of no, so to be able to say no to more things so I could say yes to myself, so that helped a lot that I already kind of had practiced that intention the year before.

And then in 2023, I was still writing it, but how did I manage that, uh, regarding. Work. Yes, I knew that I had to slow down paid work. I tried to balance it all doing brand deals speaking and still writing But I wasn’t making the progress that I wanted with the book. So that’s when I recognized I’m gonna have to scale back Otherwise it’s gonna take me forever to get this book or I might not ever get it done and I didn’t want to risk that So I actually Put speaking at a complete halt.

Um, maybe I would do a little virtual speaking here and there that didn’t require the travel, or I would be extremely picky. Like if it absolutely made sense and it was a high profile client, then I would do it. But otherwise everybody was getting emails saying, Hey, thanks for the interest, unfortunately, I’m in a book cave right now, focusing on my book.

Let’s stay in touch. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And people were very, um, receptive and understanding. Oh, that’s amazing. Can’t wait to see the book when it’s out. So it actually really impressed those clients. And I think it kept me on their radar. Uh, what did pay the bills though? A lot of that time for me was the brand deal.

So even though I still wasn’t accepting every brand deal, you know, with that kind of work, you can do it at home. There’s no travel. You edit the video at home, film it at home. So that was much easier for me to earn an income that way. So any new income kind of came through brand deals instead of the speaking.

Um, what else I did, I had already. Money because I knew I was going to take an income loss, right? From not being able to speak as much to focus on the writing process. So that was what I planned to do. We do very little brand deals and then focus on writing, not do any speaking. But then as I started getting closer to the launching process, I noticed how much things were going to cost, like hiring a publicist to help me promote the book, hiring a project manager to make sure all the pieces were moving correctly, and even though I had enough money to sustain.

My lifestyle, my, my monthly expenses, I needed that additional income for the additional expenses of launching the book. So then that’s when I had to take on more brand deals than I initially planned to, and that was hard. It was hard to juggle being an influencer. Uh, I know it sounds ridiculous saying it out loud, but you know, that being an influencer, it’s, it’s a lot of work.

There’s a lot of back and forth via email. Yeah. Negotiations, uh, invoicing. Yeah. A lot of, a lot of stuff people don’t know about. So yeah, basically. Creating content while writing the book was, was challenging, but it’s totally what allowed me to take that income hit. Cause, yeah, it’s funny, my accountant, so the book again, launched in January of 2024 and, for, I would say the first half, so January through June, most of, uh, January, definitely January through May.

So January through May, I didn’t work again. I was just promoting doing free local TV, doing a podcast interviews, like I did Chingona revolution, uh, different article interviews, features, things like that. Those things are great and they’re clout, but guess what? They don’t pay. Yeah. So it’s just, it’s just promotion to the book.

And I remember my accountant messaged me in May and they’re like, we’re looking at your books and. is showing that you spent all this money, but there’s no money coming in. Is this correct? And then I said, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s, and again, I knew that was going to be the income loss I was going to take, but even they were surprised, like, what is going on here?

Why aren’t you making any money? But you’re pouring a bunch of money out. And it’s like, Oh, I’m promoting a book. Oh, okay. That makes sense. 

Oh my gosh. That was such a, Transparent and helpful and useful answer. Um, yes brand deals. I think sometimes people are like, oh my gosh Like being an influencer you just kind of like post videos, but I don’t think people recognize that it’s a whole production process Right.

We are the writers 

Gigi: Exactly. 

We are the actors. We are the writers. We’re the editors. We’re the producers. We’re the creative directors Exactly. The makeup artist. And then we send it off to the client. And then sometimes they’re like, redo it all. And it’s like, they’ll almost just like, there’s also so much mental, uh, energy that goes into the creative process to ensure that we write a script that feels authentic to us, but it also feels authentic to the brand.

And I mean, I know you, that you would never work with somebody who’s not in alignment with you. So like you also care about, you know, how the, how the brand deals come out to your audience. So yeah, there’s so many other things that go on there. Yeah. Um, you already talked about so many amazing things I want to get into, but let’s maybe scale it back.

When did you know that you wanted to write a book? Has this always been a goal of yours? 

Gigi: No, I had the realization it was January of 2021. 

That was a very quick turn around. 

Gigi: Was it? 

Yes. Usually people dream about their books for years, but that is incredible. So when you decided, because I think the first thing, whenever we want to do something is deciding, we want to do it.

So you decided in 2021, what happened after that? That allowed you to start writing this book? 

Gigi: Yeah. So I started writing it quote unquote, and I say quote unquote, because I didn’t have a plan. So now looking back, I really wasn’t making the kind of progress that I needed to, but I was also building out my content because I became a content creator on Tik TOK in March of 2021.

Uh, and I very quickly learned that it was impossible to do both to create a brand from scratch and also set up the business and do the bookkeeping and everything that a new business requires while trying to write a book. It’s, it’s just not going to happen. So, and I actually see a lot of women that make that mistake, you know, they get excited because they see all the cool stuff that I’m doing online and they’re like, I want to write a book too.

And I’m like, I love that for you. But wait, you have to wait. You have to be in a place where you’re sustainable, like totally able to take that income loss like I was, right? Cause it’s, it’s going to happen. Yeah. So, so again, I made the decision that I wanted to write the book in January, 2021. I ended up focusing my energy on TikTok instead in June of 2021.

And then for the next year I spent, uh, I was committed to building the brand growing on Tik TOK, LinkedIn, Instagram. And then in May of 2022 was I believe when we got noticed that I had won the Tik TOK Linux creatives grant. So I got 50, 000 in funding, which definitely helped me cover the publication costs, a lot of these expenses that come up with the book.

So once I actually had the funding, that’s when I’m like, I’m responsible for this grant and I want to be a good example of what can happen when you invest in emerging Latino talent. So it was in July of 2022 that I actually hired a book coach and when I really got serious about the writing process.

Yes. Okay. So you pretty much talked about the importance of delaying goals, which is very different than not taking any action. But what you’re saying is taking action Focused action so that you can then be able, cause you can do everything you want. You just can’t do everything you want at once. And I had a similar situation where I wanted to start a podcast from the beginning and it, I ended up waiting.

And when, once I waited, the podcast just came so naturally. And for you with, with the book, had you started that when you were just starting your content creation journey, the book could have maybe taken you a lot longer. I mean, it really was divine timing. Right. And I remember the Tik Tok rant because I applied for that as well for a conference.

And in the end, I’m like, you know what? I should 

Gigi: have gotten it by the way. Cause I love your idea for the Latina conference. They missed the mark with that one. 

I know. I know. But actually I, as I looked at the people who won, I was like, no, those were like the people who needed to win. Like, and it was, and not saying that I shouldn’t have won, but like, that wasn’t the time for the conference.

Like I needed to work on the things that I’ve been working on now and the conference will come when the conference comes. And I truly believe that I’ll probably end up getting more than 50, 000 in sponsorships from all of the relationships that I’ve built with people. Brand deals and with different companies that I’ve worked with.

So I would have loved to get it, but I also am very aware that it probably wasn’t the right time. And. That grant was exactly what kickstarted you into writing this book. So can you, and you, you talked to us about how this grant supported you in some of your expenses. And I remember talking to you and you’re like, girl, the grant is gone.

You’re like, it’s gone. I’ve already spent it all. So can you share with us how, like, what are some of the expenses that go into writing a book? Because people don’t know what goes into it. People think they just need to write something and then find like a publisher and then it’s all. Easy peasy, but there’s a lot of different things that go into it, especially if you want to finish a book in a certain time.

And maybe if you could tell us the expenses and then the different roles that what people did, right? Like what did the book coach do? What did the project manager do? What did these different roles play in the book writing process for you? 

Gigi: Yeah, and I actually do have the numbers because I hosted a free webinar.

I think this was in May. Yeah about Book tips with Gigi and that was something people were very interested in like, hey you you won this 50, 000 grant How did you use that money? Right? So The 50, 000 was very quickly used on me deciding to hire my book Book coach, which that cost me around 18, 000 for six months of one on one coaching is definitely on the higher end of book coaching.

Cause I had met with other book coaches and they were a little bit cheaper, but, um, my book coach who I hired Stacy and as she was incredibly experienced and I just knew she was a right fit for me and she was worth every penny that I paid her and, uh, the rest of the money, which was around 32 ish thousand dollars plus, um, that went to my book.

Publisher. So the kind of publishing I did is called hybrid publishing. So I know you’ve had Arianna from, uh, what would free to do the book, what would free to do on, on the podcast before she talked about traditional publishing. So for anybody that doesn’t know traditional publishing is when a publishing house gives you a book deal, AKA pays you to write a book, hybrid publishing.

I paid the publisher. To write a book and people are like, why would you ever do that girl? When there’s people out there that they can pay you, there’s a lot of reasons that made sense for me. Mostly that I was able to retain full ownership of my content and also, um, full editorial control. I wanted to be the person that had the last say and how my book cover looked like and what the title was, what the content of this book was.

for me to be able to write to. But that comes at a b So, so yeah, with the pub said, it started out at l uh, past that. So again, The 50, 000 grant, boom, like it’s gone on those two things, a publisher and my book coach. Again, I still needed money to sustain my living expenses. Right. So I had savings that I was using, aside for that.

 but what other book costs specifically did I have? Well, I also included an audio book. so I added that on, that was an additional 15, 000. And, I also, had to invest into the launching process. So people are like, what is the launching process? People get really excited about writing the book, getting the book deal.

But then a big part of this whole project is a promotion phase, right? Think about, I don’t know, the Barbie, yeah, the Barbie movie. Right. It comes out. It doesn’t just come out and. You know, I’ll go watch it, right? Like Margot Robbie went on a press tour. You see her everywhere in her pink Barbie outfits, getting the word out and getting people excited about her project is the same thing with the book, you know, so even though you can feel that you did magnificent work, you still need to be on the community, meeting people and telling them about the books that they get excited and share with others and get the word out.

 and that process as a whole, cause again, I do have the numbers in front of me that cost me. 55, 000 plus I’m, I’m happy to dig into the numbers. If you guys are curious, I also want to say, I don’t want to intimidate anybody who has dreams of writing a book and here’s this like, Oh, wow. Good for you, girl, that you were able to get a 50, 000 grant.

But like, what about the rest of us? Right. First of all, like there are so many grants out there and I encourage you all to take the time to apply to them because the money is there. We just need to put in the effort to look for it. And then regarding the launching process. I mean, the way I saw it is this was an investment in my brand, in my business.

So, and all of these things were write offs for my business. Right. So it made sense for me. Yeah. And again, I’ve seen the return on my investment now with the increase in my speaking fee and other co op opportunities that I’ve had access to, but, but yeah, high level, that’s kind of where we are with the cause.

Oh my gosh. Thank you for being so transparent with us and sharing all of this. I was going to ask. What about for those people who maybe are listening and are like, that’s so much money and are almost getting discouraged. I love that you talked about grants. I was going to ask you that specific question and you, and then you answered it.

So, um, where would you recommend, and you might not know this answer, but is there like a specific place that you recommend people go look for grants or like, what would you, let’s say that. Like somebody came to you and they were like, Gigi, I have this goal to write a book. I don’t already have a massive business.

I really want to make sure that I write this book and I’m willing to do the work to promote it, but I have a smaller budget. Like what guidance would you give them? Or where would you have them go look for grants? 

Gigi: So again, I would say make sure that you have a sustainable business where you are able to move some of your energy towards the book writing and launching process because they both require a lot of time and energy and that your business is still sustainable.

You’re still able to pay your bills. Um, but regarding where can you source grants for me? I got really lucky in the sense that I had access to grants through creator programs. So both you and I. We’re a part of the creatives program, which that program, if you remember, it was unpaid. And I remember a lot of people felt some type of way because we were required to post four times a week, right?

Using a specific hashtag for, I think the program was six or eight weeks. So it was work. It was work, but yeah. And a lot of people I know did not apply to the program. Cause they’re like, Oh, it’s unpaid. What’s the point? But again, you kind of have to think about like, well, where can this lead to in the future?

Right. 

I’m so glad you’re saying this access. Not everything is about making immediate money, right? Even as you were talking about all of the different podcasts that you’ve gone on. I mean, I know that people learned about your book when they listened to our podcast episode, because they told me and I’m like, that is worth it.

Like if just one person wants to buy your book from a podcast interview, then that’s worth it. But of course, so many more people do. So I’m so glad you’re saying this because people are like, Just thinking about short term when we have to think bigger picture. Sometimes I do free speaking engagements so I can collect foot footage of me speaking literally so I can get more speaking engagements.

So how did the program, cause that’s also what got you connected to the grant for some of the endorsements. Right. So like, tell us about how being in the. program in the end ended up actually paying you 

Gigi: exactly. Yeah. So, the grant that I applied for was only open to alumni of that incubator that you and I did, which there were 150 people that were accepted into the program.

Uh, I know from seeing the applications, uh, Two thirds of the people applied. So I’m still surprised. And I’m like, wow, 50 of y’all really didn’t go for this money. Cause yeah. And especially knowing who your competition is, it’s only 150 other people and not just anybody all over the world. Right. So again, that was a very cool opportunity where I’m like, wow, had I not done this free incubator program, I would not have the ability to even apply to this.

Cause people always ask me, Oh, that’s such a cool grant. How can I apply? And I’m like, It’s because I was alumni of this program, right? So again, that was a time that we’re doing work for free or something that isn’t paid in the beginning made sense. The same thing with, the LinkedIn Creator Accelerator program that you and I were both a part of too.

Yeah, we did a lot of programs together. We did. And yeah. That was in, it was what? Spring of 2022. I think that sounds about right. Do you remember? Yeah. So that one, they were luckily transparent from the beginning that it was paid and that’s just a different culture with LinkedIn versus Tik that one, I think in total, I think at first they told us we’ll pay you 15, 000 for being a part of the program.

And then they open up an additional 5, 000 that you could earn from it. If you did some extra credit. So ultimately I got 20, 000 in grant funding from being a part of that incubator program. So, like I said, for me, that’s been helpful being in the creator world and getting access to this money. If being a creator isn’t your thing, that’s totally fine.

There’s so many. Grants out there for small business owners, especially Latinas. Uh, unfortunately I just missed one with, we All Grow Latina. Do you see that one? 

Yes, I did see it. I missed it too. . Oh yeah, I, I’m sure they have it again was because I was traveling. . 

Gigi: Me too. I was with my grandma in Mexico.

There was a lot of stuff going on, but I’m sure though I think they’ve had it, this is like their third or fourth time that they’ve had it, so I’m sure they’ll open it again in the future. But, um, definitely rooting for anybody that applied for that ’cause. Yeah, that closed August 15th. I know the hot, the hot Cheeto, not hot Cheetos, Cheetos.

They have the way, yeah, has been one where people have won like 25, 000 in funding. I know our friend, uh, corporate better Latinos. Like she got access to that grant. Some other people I also know got access to that. Uh, where can you locate these grants? It’s definitely a search, right? So for me, I’m always kind of on social media and usually people will share, Hey guys, apply for this grant.

Yeah. So two creators that I think of that are usually like apply for this grant or share awareness on grants that are available are Estrella from at Yeah, she’s so good at sharing 

things. I love her. Yeah. 

Gigi: Yeah. So you subscribe to her newsletter or if you follow her on stories or on her Instagram, she will share those opportunities as well as Paulette Pinero from Unstoppable Latina is her handle.

And she’s also a good one that she, if you subscribe to her newsletter, she sends blasts every so often of all the grants that she compiles. So again, they’re out there and you also have to let people know like, Hey, I’m looking for funding. If you see anything, please send it my way. So you have to put it out there too.

Yeah, I love it. Okay, thank you so much for sharing the financial part of things. Tell us a little bit about the actual creative part and the book writing part. Were you, um, like when you were in school, did writing come easy to you? Or 

Gigi: did that sound like your answer? No. Oh my God. No, not at all. I’m glad you asked that because no.

Yeah. Yeah. I figured, I don’t know why I had a hunch. I don’t know if maybe we’ve talked about it offline at some point, but same for me. I had a hard time writing essays and papers in school, but yet I want to write a book. And I think the difference is that you have such a passion for writing. For the, what you wrote in the book, right?

Where you were like, this information needs to get out there for my community, for my audience. Like the story is very, this information and my story together are really important to share, which allows you to come from like a place of service rather than like, Oh, I have to do this for like this damn class.

But I think people may have a desire to write a book, but because they maybe don’t consider themselves the strongest writer. They shy away from it. So, I mean, your response tells me that you probably didn’t enjoy writing when you were in school. 

Gigi: No, it was like pulling teeth. Yeah. And for the same reason, cause the topics weren’t as interesting to me.

Right. It was like, Oh, write a 10 page paper about the civil war. And you’re like, Oh, right. Where, yeah, now it’s like something that I’m deeply passionate about. I have so much lived experience and, and you want to share it with the world. That’s a different kind of energy. And that definitely fuels you to actually start the writing process.

Erika: Yeah. So what was your, did you try to do it on your own before you hired the book coach? You mentioned you had, but like once you got the grant, was there an attempt for you to just like, okay, I’m just going to use motivation and go with it. So what was that structure like when it came to planning your days for writing and like, did it work when you tried to do it on your own?

Tell us about that. 

Gigi: It did not work when I tried to do it on my own because I didn’t have any structure I put myself on a schedule where oh i’m gonna focus thursdays and fridays for writing days And then I realized that was a big mistake because I would give all my energy to monday through wednesday And then i’d be depleted by thursday and friday So if I had to start all over again, and if I was doing it on my own I would have Put writing in the, in the beginning, right.

To make sure that it actually gets done like on Monday and Tuesday and then the other work later. Uh, but yeah, for me, what was very motivating was having skin in the game. And that’s by investing in a business and not a business coach and a book writing coach, right? Because again, it was a big investment of 18, 000.

If somebody listening to this, it’s like, well, I don’t have that kind of money. I completely understand. There’s different ways to get skin in the game at different income levels, right? So you’re able to join. maybe instead of doing one on one coaching, like I did, maybe you do group coaching, right? With the, with the book writing coach, and that’s much more accessible instead of an 18, 000 investment.

Maybe it’s 8, 000 for six months, right? Or you can join a writing groups, so just other women that are also working on books and you kind of cowork remotely together and you’re able to kind of be focused. You can get an accountability buddy. there’s different ways to get support that don’t necessarily mean pouring out 18, 000 like I did.

Yeah. Yeah. And you even mentioned that there was more accessible or more affordable options. You chose to go with the person that you chose to go with because of their experience level. And they probably understood like the mission behind the book. Right. And I’m sure there were so many other things, but yeah, there’s, there’s more options.

So I definitely agree that whenever Like when you pay money, you pay attention. Right. When you invest in something, you have so much more skin in the game. And for that reason, none of my programs are free, but also that’s what the podcast is free for. Right. And sometimes like I’ve gotten emails from people about like, if you really want to help the community, like your program should be free then.

And I’m like, if my program was free, it would have like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people enrolled and nobody showing up to the calls. Yeah, literally just like would start it. And I’ve done that too. Like during the pandemic, they had all the free courses, all the universities had the free courses.

 I want to say Yale had one and I was like, Oh, I want to take this course. And I was so interested in it and I downloaded it, never started. Cause I didn’t pay a dollar for it. 

Gigi: Of course. No, it’s true. That’s that’s human nature, right? If it doesn’t cost us money, we’re like, Oh, I’ll get to it when I get to it.

And then it just never happened. So I can’t believe somebody had the balls to tell you that. I know. I, I can’t be too judgmental. Cause I know when I started in this space too, I’m like, wow, people are just in this for the money, but it’s true. You know, if you want to serve people and you want people to actually take action, They have to pay.

Otherwise they just will not be motivated. And I do do pro bono work every now and then I’d even cop my course for free for somebody that’s like, I really want to take your course. I just can’t afford it here. Take it. And I haven’t gone back to check if they’ve done the work. I bet you they haven’t, you know, like how we talked about, but no, I, I, yeah, we need to stop asking women of color to do work for free.

That’s wild. 

Yeah, exactly. And then it’s also, well, one, people won’t actually do it, but two, we also deserve to have a living, right? How else are we supposed to support people if we’re not making any money? Exactly. So, so many aspects there. So, okay, now that you, once you started writing or working with a book coach, you had structure, you had somebody holding you accountable.

I’m sure, did you have like weekly calls or bi weekly calls? And I’m sure you had goals. Yeah. 

Gigi: Yeah, we had biweekly calls and then she created a writing plan, with me. So again, I’m like, Ooh, I know I want to talk about these different topics. And she’s like, okay, so chapter one should be done by this date.

Chapter two should be done by this date. Right. And of course we adjusted if there was things going on in life, but just having that structure created by somebody who’d been through the process before and not me just guessing, I think it’s going to take me two weeks to write chapter one. No, it’ll take you more like four weeks.

So let’s go ahead and adjust the timelines. Right. So having that expertise from an experienced writer. book coach was really helpful having that writing plan having those deadlines and knowing that I was going to meet with her every once every other Wednesday and she was going to ask how is this coming along did you get stuck here what can I support you with so um knowing how expensive her her coaching was I just knew that I had to give it my all and and that’s really why I got the book done 

yeah wow so With having this person checking in with you bi weekly, what else should we know about the process?

Not necessarily about writing, working with the book coach. I think I’m thinking of two questions. Let me start with one first. I have a statement and then I have a question. 

Gigi: Okay. 

So, I think there’s this in the Latino community and the Latina community of like, Oh, you should just be able to do it yourself or like, you know, to help you with this, how are you going to pay for somebody’s service to do, to do X, Y, and Z.

But what you’ve just shared has, It’s evidence as to why it is so helpful to work with somebody who’s already gone before you, right? Like our white counterparts, their parents went before them. Like they have the mentorship, maybe in their immediate family to help them navigate things. It’s almost like I think about it like hiking a trail.

And I think sometimes our culture expects us to get to the top of the mountain on our own. And we’re like trying to cut all the trees ourselves. When like, sometimes our counterparts have a. Perfectly paved a little path for them. Right. And I think investing in a book coach is almost like somebody who’s showing you the path.

Like you’re still gonna face your obstacles. Right. And you’re still doing the work. You’re still the one climbing the mountain, but having somebody there in your corner that is helping you get there in a more seamless way. Like, why would we not accept. The help. Would you agree with that? 

Gigi: Yeah, and, you know, this reminds me, it takes me back to, the writing process was very emotional.

Who would think that writing about, like, investing in Roth IRAs would be emotional? But, it was very emotional. There’s so much self doubt along the way. So I would even argue that she was like an unpaid therapist, right? My book coach. so it wasn’t just about the, the technique of writing, but also the emotional toll with writing.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. I can’t even imagine if I would get emotional writing papers that overwhelmed me. Imagine like writing a book that has important information for your community. So yes, thank you for saying that. And then I think the second question I was trying to get to was, What else should we know about the book writing process that maybe came as a shock to you?

Gigi: I didn’t realize how much energy it would take. I thought it was gonna be the sort of thing that I could, you know, log into my computer at nine and crunch away for two hours with a little cafecito and be done for the day and then do my other activities. Other, you know, create content, speaking, everything else I was doing, traveling for work, right?

And then just repeat it the next day. But, um, those two hours, let’s say those two hours of writing. They felt like six hours of work and it’s because it’s intense writing. It’s not just, you know, fluff, right? it’s a personal finance book, right?

So it has a lot of information in it. So you have to be strategic about what you write and how you present the information to the reader. So that was a shock just being like, Oh my God, why am I so depleted if I only work for two hours? Writers aren’t meant to sit at a desk for eight hours. That’s not how the creative process works, right?

Like it’s, it’s just different. It’s very different than having like a nine to five. So I had to learn that I had to pace myself and to pace myself. I had to learn how to manage my energy, which I know is so important. entrepreneur to know when you’re most awake and most energized and excited and creative so you can take advantage of that time.

Um, I really struggled to find my rhythm at first. Like I said at first, cause everybody, that was what all the research said and all the podcasts. Oh, it started in the beginning and then you’re done. Guess what? I’m not a morning person. My brain isn’t actually awake until after lunch. So I learned that the hard way after struggling so much in the morning and not feeling that I was making the progress that I wanted to do, I learned that after lunch.

That from 1 to 5 p. m. That’s when I did my best work and that’s when I sat down and got shit done, right? So so learning that and protecting that time and not letting anything happen during that time whether that’s doctor appointments coffee chats Interviews nothing happened because I protected that time because I knew that was my my energy time right to be able to focus the book so yeah coming up with the writing routine and sticking to it is going to be key To actually getting it done 

Yeah.

Oh, I love that you mentioned specifically routine and then finding a routine that works specifically for you because every person is different. Yeah. what about when the book actually came out? Like whenever you were, you received it for the first time. I mean, I remember seeing your stories. So what was that experience like for you?

Receiving the book? 

Gigi: I thought it would be more emotional cause I know other authors had cried, but, um, instead I just felt like really happy. And you know where else I was unexpectedly happy during my photo shoot. So I did a new photo shoot, brand photo shoot, posing with the book in different outfits, right at a professional photo studio.

And I could not stop smiling. And then the photographer is like, can you try like a different smile? Cause you have these big smiles. And I’m like, I honestly just so happy that I can’t stop smiling. And I think it was cause I, it really felt done, you know, for a year and a half, I was just working on this document on, on word and to actually have the finished product that I’m taking photos with and like really pretty clothes that I feel good in.

It just hit different. So, so yeah, that, that, those two days, like I remember just felt really good. 

Erika: Yeah, I bet. It’s it’s. It’s an actual manifestation that, you know, like if you think about manifestation work, it begins with like a thought and then inspired action and then it’s in reality. But for you, it was really like the book was in your brain.

You took it out of your brain through the action of writing it and then you were able to physically hold it in your hand. So something that began as a thought was then a physical manifestation, not just for you, for so many people to read and for so many people to have their life changed. It’s like mind blowing, right?

It’s almost like. Just like the way having a child is mind blowing with like, Oh wait, that thing came out of like my physical body for you. It’s like, it came out of your thoughts. It really is. I’m not child free. 

Gigi: I birthed it. You did it. It is my baby. 

Wow. 

Gigi: And we’re not the first people to compare pregnancy with book writing.

It’s actually it’s a parallel that people always bring up cause there’s so many things about like needing community and you’re baking it and, and, and the emotional toll. So, so yeah, it’s funny that you kind of caught that on. 

Oh my God. I’ve never heard that before, but it makes so much sense.

Yeah, that makes so much sense. Um, I guess. Is there anything that I haven’t asked you that you want to share with the audience, maybe questions you’ve gotten that you thought were important or maybe something that shocked you either through the book writing process or something maybe you wish you knew before?

Gigi: Yeah, great question. Um, I would say don’t underestimate the launching process. And we kind of touched about this, like, Earlier, how people like somebody like me, I could have been like, why I’ve worked on this a year and a half and I’ve spent this much money on it. So of course people are going to love it.

And a lot of people make that mistake with their first launch. I know I did. My first launch was not this book. My first launch was my investing course, which guess what? It’s also gold, but. Because I didn’t know how to properly launch. It wasn’t, let’s say as successful as my book. I wouldn’t say it was a failure cause I still made profit, but, I launched completely different because I learned, right.

It’s not just about like, you know, that you put in the work, it’s about being able to communicate to the person that you made this product or service for that they’re going to get value from it. Yeah. Yeah. So, so again, that goes into like. You knowing that you’re going to be in this space, we’re going to be constantly talking about the book on podcast interviews with media, um, just different ways to get out in the community, right?

Speaking engagements, free library events. Like, again, a lot of these were unpaid, but I’m doing it because it gets word out on the book. so yeah, don’t underestimate that process and don’t do it alone. You know, if you can’t afford to hire a book coach, again, you can. work with an accountability buddy for free.

You can get into a low cost writing group with other Latina authors. But when it comes to launching, you do not want to do this on your own. Whether that means just having an assistant for a few months to help you pick up the extra work, because think of it this way, you don’t want to spend so much time, energy, and money on creating this For it to flop at the end because you didn’t go through with the actual launching process.

Cause like I said, that’s a stage of its own. So that’s something that I’ve gotten a lot of compliments from other authors are like, girl, you like execute this launch like a boss. And, it did take my bad launch. With my investing course, right. For me to kind of learn, Ooh, launching matters. It’s not just like, Hey guys, buy it.

It’s not just a one post. Hey guys, buy it. Right. So I just want people to, and that can apply to any product or service. It’s not just for a book. You have to know the beast that launching is to prepare for it. And the way that I prepared for it this time was by hiring support. So I had the support of my publicist, my project manager.

 I had several, people. assistance. So yeah, there were a lot of hands on deck to help me get the word out on this book. It wasn’t just me. 

I’m so glad you brought up launching because my audience hears me launch my programs all the time, right? Courage Driven Latina or Magnetic Mastermind. And sometimes people think like, Oh, I’ve already created it.

And I’ve already told them. But even if you’ve told Eight, 10, 15 times. There’s still somebody out there who hasn’t heard it. So do you still get messages from people with like, I just came across your book 

Gigi: all the time? 

Exactly. So we think like whenever we get annoyed with ourselves about talking about something, that’s when people are just starting to listen.

And when it comes to, especially with you and I both leveraging social media so much. People don’t just follow Gigi and Erica. People follow hundreds or maybe thousands of people, right? So they’re not going to see every post. It requires consistent effort showing up. And then it also requires like knowing that your product or service is going to change people’s lives.

Because sometimes I think also in our culture, there’s a, like resistance to selling or like, Oh, I don’t want to, you know, promote myself too much, or I want to be humble, but like, you can be humble. And promote your service and your product because can you imagine if you would have played small and if you would have just like only posted a couple of times about about your book, how many people out there wouldn’t have had access to your book because they wouldn’t have even known.

So the like sales is almost it’s service. Right? Like other companies aren’t questioning whether or not they’re going to go sell a product. But sometimes I find that like my clients and my programs who go through launches as well, they’re like, Oh, I don’t want to make it feel like I’m selling people. I’m like, you are providing service for people like you are helping people.

And I think your book is the perfect example of that. So I’m so glad you talked about launching. And I’m so glad you had The experience you had that taught you the lessons, right? Like, of course, we would have hoped that your other launch would have gone, like, splendidly. But, like, that needed to happen for you to have this launch the way that you did.

Oh, I’m so glad you Oh, absolutely. 

Gigi: No, absolutely. And now I’m glad that I had that experience. So this is a very special project because it really helped me, because it really changed my experience, right? Because it really woke me up for a much more important project, which was this book. I also want to hold space for any woman that do feel, Oh, I don’t want to promote myself.

I should be able to do this for free. And that’s how I felt three years ago when I started this, I actually was crying with my friend, because I’m like, There’s this possibility for me to make money as a financial educator, but it also upsets me that people have to pay to get access to this knowledge because it should be free, right?

Because we can all benefit from this information. And, my friend was the one that kind of had to convince me of like the same thing you just said, you’re providing value, you’re providing a service, you also deserve to get paid your worth for your knowledge. Right. And a lot of that’s cultural, right. Of just being self sacrificing and never expecting our share.

Yeah. So it’s very important to work with other women that have been there like you and can guide women through those challenges because we don’t even notice we have those demons there because again, it’s part of how we were raised. 

Exactly. Yes. So speaking about launching and promoting your book, I know you have a couple of events coming up.

So can you tell us the dates and the location, because this podcast will be released before them. So that way people can add it to their calendar and make sure that they come see you. 

Gigi: Thanks, Erica. Yes. So the audio book version of cultura in cash didn’t come out when the book launched in January. It came, it’s going to come out September 10th.

And that’s because I had to narrate the book myself because I did not like the narrators that my publishers picked. found they were giving like Alexa in series. So I’m like, okay, I’m going to have to do this thing myself. I know. So that took a, that was the whole process too. Like having to take voice lessons and practicing.

So, the book was recorded in May. It’ll be out September 10th. You can actually pre order it now, wherever you get. your audio book. So whether that’s on Spotify, Audible, Libro, FM, iTunes, if you go to culturandcash. com, you’ll find the links there, but, to celebrate the release of this audio book, I am going back on tour.

So I already went to, Florida, LA, New York city, San Diego, Last during the spring. Yeah. So, so during the spring tour now for the fall tour, I’m going back to New York. So anybody that’s interested in New York, I was hoping to hit the Brooklyn area. This will be the weekend of September 28th. So save the date before that.

Actually, I’ll be in the bay in San Francisco, which Eric, I know you’re there a lot, but you’re not there right now, right? 

I’m not there right now, but I will be there then. 

Gigi: Okay. So it’ll be the week of the 16th. I’ll have to, I’ll have to link up and see if you’re available, but it’ll be the week of the 16th.

I’ll be there actually for most of that week. I’m going to have an event in San Jose and I’m looking to also have a second event in Oakland. So if anybody, any Cusco nine cash readers are out there and you want to. Come up and say, hi, um, just kind of save that week because again, we’re still sorting out dates, but that’ll be coming that week.

And then LA, I will be back in LA. People are like, we’re in LA. I don’t know yet. We’re still sorting that out. If I had a guess, it’ll probably be near the Downey area and that will be October 12th. So, um, if you want to stay in the know about when these events are going to happen, the actual addresses for the venues, uh, the best places to subscribe to my newsletter.

So when that information is out, you’re the first to know. 

Lovely. And, um, you mentioned to me about the audio book and I forgot to ask about that. So can you just tell us about what that narration process was like? Because that probably felt like not writing a whole nother book, but it was probably a whole nother project.

Gigi: Yeah, I love 

audio books. I’m so excited. 

Gigi: No, me too. Me too. Especially when they’re narrated by the author. So I knew how much my, my reader would love it, but I also knew how much I was going to hate the process. Cause I had done research and it’s not the sort of thing that you can just go into a studio and wing it.

You very much have to already have either acting experience or narration experience, which most people don’t. People like you that are podcasters and have been doing it a long time. You’re, you. You’re better at it because you’re just used to being in front of a microphone, but not all of us are like that.

Right. So I actually had to take, um, voice lessons with, um, a very prominent voice coach, shout out to Denise Woods. She’s worked with like Halle Berry, Will Smith, Idris Elba, like a lot of really cool people. I know. Yeah. And she, um, she was fantastic. But yeah, she helped me enunciate like my Rs. I would always drop off my Rs.

Like instead of saying number, I say number, it just would fall off, right? So little things like that really matter when you narrate an audiobook. I learned that to keep your, to avoid cottonmouth, you need to drink apple juice, which you would think you should drink like hot tea or something, but actually apple juice really makes you salivate.

So it avoids that cotton mouth feeling.

Oh yeah, no, and you should definitely try it for podcasting too. Cause I know we talk a lot in podcasting, which is handy. And, but yeah, it’s very much, also energy draining because it is like acting, think about it. You can’t, you can’t read like. Cultura in cash is about, no, right. You have to be like cultura in cash.

It’s like, just how like the narrators do it. Like, I like, I don’t know, TJ Maxx, right. They’re like super excited and bubbly. You have to do that too. Cause otherwise you will lose your readers. So yeah, that’s the whole process. overall, I’m glad I put in the work cause I know that there’s so many of my readers that are busy moms and they don’t have the time to sit down and read a book.

So they’ve been waiting for the audio book version. So I’m really excited to get that out to the community. 

Yeah. I can’t wait because I, whenever. I mean, anytime I’m out on a run or in the car, I love audiobooks, but when I really, really want to get To the nitty gritty of a book. I look at the physical one and listen to the audio book at the same time.

Like when it’s an important book for me, I do both. Yeah. And I’ll put the audio book on like, you know, 1. X speed. Right. So it’s not on the normal speed, but that way, cause sometimes with audio books, I can be distracted. I have to be doing something that doesn’t require a lot of attention. Right. Sometimes driving, if you’re driving in an unknown area, you’ll get distracted.

If you’re driving just like down, you know, from LA to the Bay, when it’s just highway five, the whole way, like audio books are perfect. Cause you’re just on one road, but whenever, yeah. So I’m super excited about it because audio books are totally my jam. Um, I was gonna say something else about, Oh yes.

Over, um, like how, whenever you’re speaking, when I was in college, I worked for a radio station as an intern. And I started getting a little bit into voiceover and commercial stuff. And so I started practicing for it. And then my schedule changed at school and I ended up not being able to continue the internship.

So I didn’t end up having any commercials, but now we literally do this as content creators. And I remember. That we were taught, like you never sit when you’re doing voiceovers, you have to stand and you have to like use your hands and you almost over exaggerate. And the reason is there is no visual supporting the audio.

People are only listening. So you almost have to over add over emotion and over explain things, not over explain things, but add, you’ll have to like overdo it pretty much because that’s what keeps the people engaged. So to your point, it’s really, really draining, but I love the apple juice tip. I’m going to try it.

Gigi: Yeah. Yeah. And one last thing I want to share about the process, the audio book recording for me, it could have been cheaper. I think I could have gotten it done for 8, 000. The option to do it for 15, 000 was to have a director in the studio with me. And I was going to skimp out because, you know, I had already spent so much on the rest of the book, but it was my book coach that said, you know what, because you’re not a professional at this, because it’s not what you do for a living.

I would highly recommend you have a director there. And again, she’d done this many times and it was a. Great investment because I knew that if I sounded in low energy or if I mispronounced something, she, her job was to catch it and to be like, wait, we need to redo that again. Right. So that way I knew that all this work wasn’t for nothing.

It was high quality work. So yeah, I’m really excited for people to get a chance to listen to it. 

Yeah. And the thing is, Gigi, you’re going to do this once and that’s going to be out there for like ever. Right. So getting it done right the first time and just knowing that, yeah, what, what’s. What is it?

Another eight K in the long run or another, no, less than that. yeah. In the long run, when this is going to be a piece of, of art and not just art, but like a piece of information that’s going to be out there for people to listen to, and like, I’m sure people will listen to it more than once. Like they’re probably going to have to come back to the book and to have it done in a way where you feel really proud of it, I think is totally worth the, the investment, especially because like, if you have the resources available, why not write like, this is your baby.

So I think you made the right choice. 

Gigi: Thanks, Erica. I’m so excited. 

Yay. I can’t wait to hear the audio book. Um, so we will link down the, uh, website for the book in the show notes so that people can go there and check the exact dates that you’ll be in New York, in the Bay and in LA. And I will see you in the Bay.

Let’s definitely coordinate to make sure that like, I can help you with like the promotion and stuff. I am so excited for you, especially because I was supposed to make your, the one you had in LA last time. And then I had a speaking engagement, so I had to go back to the Bay. I was so mad, but this is going to work out.

Perfect. 

Gigi: Yeah. No, I’m excited to see you. It’s been a while since the, we are Girl Latina Summit, right? It’s 2022. So we’ve talked a lot and we’ve texted a lot, but yeah, I haven’t seen you in person a while, so that’ll be fun. 

Yes. Yeah. Well, Gigi, thank you so much for coming back on the podcast and being so open with sharing this information.

You are changing lives, not just with your book, but also through being so transparent with this book writing process and just making it feel more real for all of the Latinas and women of color that are listening to this podcast. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for both writing the book and for coming on and being so transparent.

I appreciate you and I just feel lucky to call you a friend. 

Gigi: Oh, I want to say the same to you. You know, you were one of the VIP influencers. I received my PR box and you know, you got the job done right now. Just like a little quick tag. You like showed the little video, you did the unboxing. So you were an early supportive, also supporter also by hiring me on the podcast and hiring me again, and I look up to you so much too.

So I’m really glad that we got a chance to reconnect again. Cause I had a lot of fun. Yes, 

I will see you in person. I can’t wait to give you a huge, huge hug. So for all of you listening, if you haven’t listened to the first podcast interview, go back and listen to it. I want to say it was January 23rd.

That’s yes. Or 28th. Yeah. That week. 

Gigi: Okay. That week. Uh huh. 

All right. So yeah, go back to Chingona Revolution and just look for, for Gigi the Cultura in Cash episode so you can listen to that too. Gigi sending you so much love. I will see you on social media and always, as always, reach out if you need anything.

Gigi: Same. Take care.