Field Dispatch

How to Teach Kids About Money and Time (Children's Book "Money Time" Explained)

Interviews Published Children's Book Authors Educational Themes

Trail notes

Tanya Acquista, a passionate children's book author and speech-language pathologist, shares her journey of writing and self-publishing her book, "Money Time."

She emphasizes the importance of understanding time management for children and adults, drawing parallels between managing time and spending money.

Tanya discusses her unique approach to promoting her book, including sending personalized PR kits to selected individuals to create a memorable impression.

Throughout the conversation, she highlights the significance of being true to oneself and embracing creativity, encouraging aspiring authors to take risks and share their stories.

With warmth and enthusiasm, Tanya inspires listeners to appreciate the value of their time and confidently pursue their writing dreams.

Tanya Acquista's appearance on the podcast offers a heartfelt glimpse into her life as a children's book author, focusing on her debut title, *Money Time*.

With a background as a speech-language pathologist, Tanya brings a unique perspective to her writing, drawing from her professional experiences and role as a mother. The central theme of her book revolves around teaching children the importance of managing their time, paralleling it with the concept of money.

In an engaging discussion, Tanya elaborates on how she conceptualized this idea, inspired by her interactions with high school students struggling to balance their responsibilities.

This narrative provides a rich context for understanding the practical lessons embedded within *Money Time*, making it a valuable resource for parents and educators.

Further into the episode, Tanya shares her innovative marketing approach, which includes a personalized public relations kit that she sent out to select individuals, including podcast hosts and fellow authors. This strategy highlights her creativity and reflects her desire to forge meaningful connections in the literary community.

Tanya's thoughtful inclusion of themed items related to her book's message emphasizes her commitment to engaging her audience on a deeper level. As she recounts the reactions from recipients of her kits, listeners gain insight into the power of personal touches in promoting literature, showcasing Tanya's dedication to her craft.

The conversation also delves into the challenges of self-publishing, with Tanya discussing her decision to take this route to bring her ideas to fruition without unnecessary delays.

Her candid reflections on the ups and downs of the publishing journey resonate with many aspiring authors, reinforcing the importance of resilience and determination.

Tanya's story is a beacon of encouragement, inspiring listeners to embrace their unique voices and pursue their writing dreams with unwavering confidence. This episode is not just about *Money Time*, but a celebration of the creative spirit and the transformative power of storytelling.

Takeaways:

Tanya Acquista emphasizes the importance of self-publishing to share her unique story.
Budgeting time is pivotal in Tanya's book, Money Time, and is aimed at children.
Tanya's personalized public relations kit showcases her creativity and commitment to engaging potential readers.
Connecting with children through school visits has brought Tanya immense joy and fulfillment.
Tanya encourages aspiring authors to embrace their unique perspectives and take creative risks.
Tanya's book package included fun items like piggy banks, money clips, and clocks to engage podcasters. She encouraged them to invite her to their show and to others who offered help and motivation to bring Money Time to life.

Tanya's Shout Outs to Money Time Book Launch Help:

Thank you to Miss Johanna from Francesco's Zumbini class and Ms. Maria from MyGym for inviting me to do book readings during your classes and events.
Thank you to my sister-in-law Jessica, who presented the idea of an author visit to her children's principal, leading me to my first-ever school visit; my other sisters-in-law, Jessica and Anna, who informed me about a holiday fair where I sold some copies of the book; and my friend Jessica, who also reached out to her principal, who invited me in for a school reading.
My godson is my cousin Jaclyn, a teacher, and her son, Nico. Jaclyn reached out to the school she works at and my former elementary school, where Nico and his brother Gio attend. Nico is the student council president, who also advocated to his school principal on my behalf. Due to their efforts, I will do two more school visits in March. I am so blessed to have such a supportive team behind me who believe in me and in Money Time.

If you can support us in any way, please click on the"Tips in the Cookie Jar: " link; we appreciate all contributions.

Links Mentioned in Episode:

Companies mentioned in this episode:

Amazon
Ingram Sparks

<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:04:31</time>
Tanya Cuesta, Money Time.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:04:33</time>
Thanks a lot, Tanya, for joining us on the Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors podcast.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:04:40</time>
It's a great pleasure to have you here today.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:04:42</time>
Oh, it's a pleasure to be here.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:04:43</time>
Thank you for having me.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:04:45</time>
Before we jump right in and talk about your book, I have to compliment you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:04:50</time>
This blows my mind.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:04:53</time>
And I want to share this with the audience on how we met.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:04:56</time>
It all stems from.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:04:59</time>
There's a little purple box back there.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:02</time>
And so just so the audience understands he's listening to the audio, Tanya sent me a gift.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:09</time>
Tanya, I'll tell you what I call it, and then you can tell me what you call it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:13</time>
On my doorstep arrived this box.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:16</time>
And I thought, oh, what's this?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:19</time>
And so I opened up this box.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:22</time>
I went.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:22</time>
I said to my wife, did you order something from Amazon?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:27</time>
And she said, no.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:28</time>
I said, oh, okay.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:30</time>
So I opened up the box.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:31</time>
It was addressed to me.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:33</time>
I went, wow.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:35</time>
And so, just for the audience, when I get to interview a children's book author, most of the time what happens is their public relations team reaches out to me and says, our.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:48</time>
I think our author will be a good fit for you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:50</time>
Can they come on your show?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:52</time>
I'm so excited when someone reaches out and says that to me.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:55</time>
I say, absolutely, let's do it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:05:58</time>
Tanya took a different route.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:06:01</time>
And so what I did is I got this gift, and so now I'm going to tell the audience what was in the gift.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:06:07</time>
And in the gift, which I'm going to call a public relations book kit.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:06:12</time>
Tanya, you might call it something different.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:06:14</time>
And we'll talk about that in a minute.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:06:16</time>
Inside, there was this incredible treasure trove of things.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:06:23</time>
First, there was the personalized and autographed book, Tanya's book, Money Time, which I just loved.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:06:31</time>
And I'm going to come back to what was what Tanya wrote to me in the book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:06:37</time>
And also in there, she teased me, so she.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:06:42</time>
So I didn't even get a chance to read the book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:06:44</time>
She teased me because I got a piggy bank and I got bookmarks, and I got a money clip and I got stickers, and I got a toy clock.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:06:56</time>
And I thought, what the heck is all of this?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:01</time>
It was fantastic.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:07:02</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:03</time>
I thought, what a way to.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:05</time>
To.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:06</time>
To tease potential podcasters and you want to be on their show.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:10</time>
And it was just incredible.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:12</time>
And Tanya actually gave me two methods also in which to contact her.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:18</time>
So she.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:19</time>
She gave me her email address, and she also gave me her Instagram handle.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:25</time>
Tanya, I immediately reached out through your email address and said I'd love to have you as a guest on our show.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:36</time>
And I was so motivated to read your book, which I did immediately.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:41</time>
And Tanya, one of the things that I do because you're giving up your time and we're discussing your book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:49</time>
So look back here, I actually purchased another book craft copy and then I have the book I can share with my grandchildren.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:07:58</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:58</time>
My pleasure.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:07:59</time>
I just couldn't resist.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:08:01</time>
And I just have to tell you how fantastic receiving your little bundle of joy.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:08:08</time>
A little later in the podcast interview, I'll open up the floor to you and we, I'd love to talk about this, what I call your PR book, the Kit.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:08:19</time>
So let's jump in here and talk about Money times.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:08:23</time>
It's such a cute book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:08:25</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:08:26</time>
The first thing I'd like to do is if you could do tell us two things.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:08:31</time>
First of all, what was your inspiration behind the book and how did it all get started?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:08:37</time>
Wow.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:08:37</time>
Thank you so much for that introduction and thank you for acknowledging the book kit that I sent to you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:08:42</time>
It just means so much to me.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:08:44</time>
I was inspired by actually I'm also a speech language pathologist and I was inspired by my students to write the book Money Time because they consistently telling me I was working at the time I was working in a high school and they were telling me that balancing all of their academic and their social obligations was challenging.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:09:03</time>
And I was reading a book to my son who was a toddler, now he's 2.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:09:07</time>
At the time he was a few months old because I was reading him since birth.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:09:11</time>
So I actually was reading a book and I was thinking of my students and I was in the the flow because I was reading a story and I had this idea that came to me and I'm just as it was my first book, I'm just still getting started with it and I, I wrote notes in my phone just ideas and about how money and time have similarities, how you can save, you could spend it, you can waste time.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:09:34</time>
And then I said it's a tangible way for children to think about how to spend their time and what to do with it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:09:40</time>
So that's how it came to be.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:09:42</time>
And that's just how I really, that's how I began.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:09:44</time>
That's how I got started.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:09:46</time>
I love it because you know what the I love how you use the, like you said, time and money and the 24 hour clock and the $24 and we'll get more into that.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:09:56</time>
So neat.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:09:57</time>
So I'd like to know a bit about each of us has a unique way of publishing our publishing approach.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:10:04</time>
So far, in the research I've been doing, talking to other children's book authors, you're either self published, traditionally published, or a hybrid, which is the combination of self published and traditional.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:10:20</time>
Can you tell us your story, share your approach and why you took that route?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:25</time>
Sure.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:26</time>
Everything you said when I was doing research, same thing.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:28</time>
I was finding out about traditional publishing and self publishing.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:31</time>
With traditional publishing, I heard that it was advised that you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:35</time>
You're supposed to get a literary agent.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:37</time>
And I'm very open to doing that in the future with other book ideas I have, but I didn't really know where to begin with that.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:43</time>
So then when I found out about self publishing, it was just a personal goal for me to finish what I start in the year 2024.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:52</time>
I'm like, you just have to.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:53</time>
You have to finish some things.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:54</time>
You have to get it out there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:55</time>
That's why I chose the self publishing, because I said, and I did it through Amazon.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:10:59</time>
Kdp, let me.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:11:00</time>
Just let me.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:11:01</time>
And I'm.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:11:02</time>
I just felt that this was the best route at this time, just to get the idea out there, the book out there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:11:07</time>
But I'm, as I said, open to traditional publishing in the future or a hybrid model in the future, too.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:11:13</time>
Fantastic.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:11:14</time>
Yeah.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:11:14</time>
And very much similar to your story.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:11:18</time>
I've mentioned this once before in one of the podcast interviews I did.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:11:23</time>
I, like a lot of people during COVID wrote a book, and it wasn't a children's book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:11:30</time>
I had a background in investment real estate.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:11:34</time>
And during that time frame, I thought, I gotta get this book out of me.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:11:39</time>
So I actually wrote two books during COVID So I was lucky because I got to test drive self publishing before I got around to actually publishing our children's book, which my youngest granddaughter and I had written before COVID We just didn't know how to bring it to life.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:11:59</time>
It's not easy.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:12:00</time>
It's.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:12:01</time>
And I didn't have any advice.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:12:02</time>
I didn't have anybody that's done it before me that I know.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:12:05</time>
So I'm like, what do I do?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:06</time>
I know.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:07</time>
Isn't that the truth?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:08</time>
And that leads me to my next question.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:11</time>
And I'll explain a little bit why I'm asking you this.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:14</time>
Maybe that'll give you a sense of what happened here.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:17</time>
So I want to talk to you about.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:19</time>
I noticed you don't have a website.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:12:21</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:22</time>
And so I just want to talk to you a little bit about that and I'll tell you our story.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:26</time>
So when we Decided to become to publish our children's book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:31</time>
My granddaughter and I, Kira, what we did is everybody advised us that you needed a home for your book in today's digital world.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:42</time>
They said, you gotta have a website.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:43</time>
You gotta have a website.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:44</time>
And we thought, oh.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:46</time>
But we were getting that advice later.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:49</time>
We were almost through bringing our book to life and publishing it before we got that advice.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:12:57</time>
So we thought, oh, we're gonna launch our book and then we'll think about a website.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:13:02</time>
That's exactly what we did.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:13:04</time>
Are you having the same thoughts right now?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:13:07</time>
Yes.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:13:07</time>
I didn't think about, as I said before, it was just, I want to get this book out there and then I.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:13:13</time>
And everything else will follow just like, how do I just get the idea the book to be for people to know about it?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:13:20</time>
And then now I'm thinking about a website because I know that would be really helpful and it would be, it would be great.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:13:25</time>
And I said, even when I have other books, it'll be nice to have them all on the, on the website there for people to purchase directly from the website.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:13:33</time>
But this was just, as I said before, just, I wanted the book out there and I wanted to people to know about it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:13:39</time>
And I just was, I didn't have really any advice until after the book was out there.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:13:44</time>
That's funny how advice comes forward.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:13:47</time>
It actually comes rushing in like a waterfall.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:13:50</time>
Right.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:13:51</time>
All of a sudden you're going, where were you before I got my book published?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:13:55</time>
Yes.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:13:56</time>
I'm so appreciative of friends and just even some people that are friends of mine or I've known them in the past where we're like, wow, I, I read your book and I have some ideas and I'm like, okay, great.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:14:07</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:08</time>
Fantastic.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:08</time>
Tanya, I'm just going to tell you our story.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:11</time>
It's not advice one way or the other, but I will tell you what I've heard so far because I, I ask if you had a website, I'd ask you, Tanya, why did you make the website in your name?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:26</time>
Or I'll ask you, Tanya, why did you make the website in the name of your main character or your book series?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:36</time>
So that's how it would go.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:38</time>
So in your case, the beautiful thing about it, you have two options.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:42</time>
You have, if you've got books that are going to be.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:46</time>
Not have the same main character, you may say, I've got a whole bunch of book ideas.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:51</time>
So I think I'll do it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:52</time>
I.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:52</time>
I'll put it in my name, your author's name, or you might Say I have a book series.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:14:57</time>
I'm going to create the website based around the book series.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:15:01</time>
We actually wrote 38 children's books in our book series.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:15:05</time>
Unfortunately that being a self publisher this, it's not inexpensive to do this.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:15:11</time>
Exactly.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:15:12</time>
Just so you know, that's what we ended ended up doing is we still had this large vision of eventually having a book series.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:15:22</time>
A book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:15:23</time>
So we created a website and it's called Caboose, the Rocky Mountain Bear.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:15:27</time>
Com.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:15:27</time>
That's what we did.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:15:28</time>
I just throw that out to you because if you're formulating thoughts in your head, the other thing I'll just say just again for what happened to us is the nice thing about actually doing the book in advance of creating the website is again you have to pay a designer, if you're not a website designer for all the graphics that are going to populate your pages.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:15:54</time>
So guess what we did.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:15:55</time>
We used some of our book, our original book as the graphics for our website.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:16:02</time>
So it just kept the cost down a bit of putting a website together.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:16:07</time>
Again, just offering that out to you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:16:09</time>
Thank you and thank you for that advice because knowing what to title the website I it probably, I, I just will say this is, it will probably be in my name in the future because other book ideas I have are separate from money time and different from money time.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:16:25</time>
And it's not so much I don't see money time being so much of a series.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:16:28</time>
It's more that I just have some additional ideas.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:16:31</time>
So good with you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:16:32</time>
You're more than welcome.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:16:33</time>
And if you go to and listen to more of our podcast shows, we just did an interview with Terri Lindga and she's out of buffalo around Buffalo, New York.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:16:43</time>
Oh, and hers is Terry lyngabooks.com and, and I just interviewed an author from Staten island and her name is Denise Caesar and she's written several different books that aren't in a series.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:17:00</time>
She's named her website denise caesar.com.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:17:03</time>
i just actually had an author who's from Pennsylvania, she's a pilot and used her name, it's Aaron Murphy Books Comp.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:17:15</time>
So just so you know to give you that.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:17:17</time>
And then I interviewed a gal from, from California and she's named her site after her main character.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:17:26</time>
Oh, very nice.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:17:27</time>
Yeah.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:17:28</time>
So that just gives you some ideas and hopefully the audience is thinking okay, what, what's going on here?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:17:34</time>
Again, I always like to find out about websites or site development or thoughts around website by sharing our con.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:17:44</time>
Hopefully aspiring authors say ah, they've given me some thoughts to Think about.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:17:50</time>
Absolutely.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:17:51</time>
I, I have to say too, if anyone has an idea to that they'd like to get out there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:17:56</time>
I was as I said, brand new.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:17:58</time>
I still am.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:17:59</time>
I just happened to do some research and I just happened to get it out there and that I just, I, I give anybody who has an idea, who wants to put it forth into the world, I just say go for it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:18:11</time>
Because that's what I, that's what I did.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:18:12</time>
I don't do that all the time.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:18:13</time>
So Kapha, tell us about that motivation.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:18:16</time>
So did a specific person or event motivate you to write your children's book?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:18:23</time>
I do think that I guess I would say I, I subconsciously would say.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:18:27</time>
Cause I can't say I had these different ideas for a while.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:18:31</time>
I have another idea that came before money time that is still not out there yet.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:18:35</time>
But that was even before this.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:18:37</time>
I think my son was my inspiration because I felt when I was reading, consistently reading children's books with him, I said I want to do this, I could do this too.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:18:46</time>
And that I would say it's him because it was only until after he was born that I actually put this idea out to the world.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:18:53</time>
Okay.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:18:54</time>
And so the other idea is you said you, you've put that on the shelf for a bit as you formulated this.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:19:02</time>
So that motivation's different.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:19:04</time>
I'm.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:19:05</time>
What happened with that book was it changed.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:19:08</time>
It was one, it became something different.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:19:11</time>
I had an idea for it in the beginning.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:19:13</time>
I thought it was going in one direction and then it started to change.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:19:16</time>
So I, and now I have it written and I have to, I want to put it forth also into the world.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:19:21</time>
But it took me a little while to complete it with money time.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:19:25</time>
For some reason in one evening, it just was finished.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:19:28</time>
So that's why I just the actual words, I'm like, okay, I have it done.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:19:32</time>
But the other one needed a little bit more tweaking and time.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:19:36</time>
On one of our recent episodes, the author had a eureka moment.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:19:41</time>
She woke up in the middle of the night and had her phone like you were talking about with your phone beside her.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:19:49</time>
And she wrote the whole book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:19:51</time>
It just came spilling out of her.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:19:53</time>
And then it was very early in the morning, she shook her husband awake to read him the book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:20:00</time>
And he loved it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:20:01</time>
Scared.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:20:02</time>
You know what?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:20:03</time>
It's pretty incredible how sometimes it just flows out of you and then sometimes you have to let it ferment like fine wine.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:20:12</time>
Very true.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:20:13</time>
And I have a very supportive family.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:20:15</time>
My mother, my father, my brother, my sister in law, my husband Everybody who I reached out to about the book before it was anything, they were like, this isn't.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:20:23</time>
You're an author.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:20:24</time>
This is a book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:20:25</time>
It was great too.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:20:26</time>
It was motivation for me too.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:20:27</time>
Nice to have cheerleaders.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:20:29</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:20:30</time>
That's what I'm very fortunate.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:20:31</time>
I have five grandchildren who are all cheerleaders.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:20:35</time>
Four of them are narrators because we've actually recorded most of our books in audio format.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:20:44</time>
I'm curious too about your book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:20:47</time>
Some people develop a book, it is around a character, but I noticed you have the character, but the character doesn't have a name.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:20:58</time>
And so I'm curious about a couple of things.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:21:02</time>
How did you develop your main character?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:21:04</time>
I noticed he doesn't have a name.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:21:07</time>
Can you explain to us the significance of using this technique where you have a main character but no name?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:21:14</time>
Yes.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:21:15</time>
I wanted the book to be anyone who read it to be able to put themselves in the character's shoes.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:21:21</time>
So instead of giving the character a name, it's almost like any.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:21:24</time>
It's written in a way that anybody can apply it to their life.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:21:29</time>
So I also, in the book, this is just getting into a little bit more of the content of the book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:21:33</time>
I gave ideas and suggestions on what to do with time, but it was almost like leaving it very open ended so that children can think about what they want to do with their time and how they want to spend it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:21:43</time>
So that was.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:21:44</time>
I wanted it to be just a way for children to think.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:21:48</time>
And so that's why I wanted the character to almost be like you could place yourself right in that, right on that page and you're the character.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:21:54</time>
Thank you for sharing that.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:21:56</time>
Because that's a technique that aspiring authors can use.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:22:00</time>
And also for our readers, they might be motivated to say, wow, Tanya's written a book where I can actually be the main character.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:22:11</time>
So terrific.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:22:12</time>
Very unique technique.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:22:14</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:22:15</time>
You're more than welcome.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:22:16</time>
I also noticed in your book that you actually transitioned a bit in that you introduced it later in the book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:22:25</time>
An adult.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:22:26</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:22:26</time>
Again, just so for aspiring authors or for the readers, explain to us this transitioning.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:22:34</time>
Transition to an adult.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:22:36</time>
So with the concept of time management every.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:22:39</time>
I feel that we all, including myself, still, even though I wrote this, I don't have all the attention time management.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:22:46</time>
But I was thinking about how adults who are reading the book to their children could also use it for their lives or have it as an.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:22:53</time>
Just an idea in the back of their minds of what to know what to do with their time.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:22:57</time>
I thought it would.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:22:57</time>
It could just apply to anybody, really.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:00</time>
Almost anyone.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:00</time>
So that's where I transitioned into why I transitioned to.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:03</time>
Into an adult reading.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:04</time>
This could actually say, wow, okay, that's true.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:07</time>
Fantastic.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:07</time>
Because I do envision that someone sits down with their child and then all of a sudd.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:14</time>
I love the technique.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:15</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:16</time>
You transition where now it's not only the child seeing themselves.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:21</time>
Now all of a sudden, the mom, the dad, the grandparent sees themselves.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:26</time>
I love that.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:27</time>
Great technique.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:28</time>
So congratulations.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:31</time>
Thank you very much.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:32</time>
Oh, you're welcome.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:33</time>
So the theme.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:35</time>
Describe the theme a little bit about.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:37</time>
For the audience about your book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:23:39</time>
Take a few minutes to do that.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:41</time>
Sure.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:41</time>
So money, time is actually taking the idea of that.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:45</time>
I thought of the phrase time as money.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:47</time>
So money represents time in the book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:50</time>
You have.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:51</time>
If you have 24 hours a day, it's as if you have $24 to spend.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:23:56</time>
So it's all about you thinking, the reader thinking, or whoever is reading the book to a child thinking about how to spend that $24 and what to do with it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:24:05</time>
What do you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:24:06</time>
There are things we need to do that are just responsibilities for children.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:24:10</time>
School, for example, or maybe an extracurricular activity for adults.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:24:14</time>
We have work or whatever we may have to do, and we just have to think about how to fit in, what we want to do and what we need to do.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:24:22</time>
And also if we have passions or hobbies, some people may feel that's difficult to fit into their day.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:24:27</time>
But it's.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:24:28</time>
If you think of the concept of those hours in a day, you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:24:31</time>
It's just a way of people opening their minds to how to put all of the tasks they want to do and need to do into their day.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:24:38</time>
So it's like you have to budget your time like you budget your money.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:24:41</time>
Absolutely.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:24:42</time>
Your technique is fantastic.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:24:45</time>
Because I love the idea of the 24 hours and the $24.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:24:51</time>
Because everybody can relate to that.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:24:53</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:24:54</time>
And they can also relate to a dollar.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:24:57</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:24:58</time>
You're not talking $1,000.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:24:59</time>
You're not talking $10,000.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:25:01</time>
You're talking $, a simple $ in a simple hour.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:06</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:25:06</time>
Terrific.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:25:07</time>
Terrific.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:08</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:25:08</time>
So you talked a bit about your students and them being part of the inspiration in the book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:14</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:25:15</time>
And as a teacher, talk to us a little bit.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:25:18</time>
Because obviously, as a teacher, you always think, okay, what's the central lesson and what am I trying to teach my students?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:25:25</time>
Or so in other words, what's the central lesson in your book?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:25:29</time>
Or what are you trying to teach us as readers from your book?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:34</time>
I want.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:34</time>
I would say I want to teach the Children.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:37</time>
That it's as much as.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:38</time>
It's absolutely a challenge to balance our time that we really.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:42</time>
We all can do.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:43</time>
But if we just take a little bit of time.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:45</time>
There you go.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:46</time>
Time.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:46</time>
Actually schedule your day or to look at where I.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:49</time>
I always tell I.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:51</time>
When I use this book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:51</time>
And I actually, I've done school visits too.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:53</time>
I was talking to some of the children about how it's in to.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:25:57</time>
To really write out how you're already spending your time and to see, see, really be honest.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:26:01</time>
If you spent four hours on social media, be honest and say yours.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:26:05</time>
Four hours on Instagram, just say, look at it and say, okay, do I need this amount of time on social media?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:26:10</time>
Could I have maybe went outside for a little bit?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:26:12</time>
We all, we all do it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:26:14</time>
I.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:26:14</time>
Some of us get so wrapped up in work, even me, that's.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:26:17</time>
I get wrapped up in it and I realize I spent too much time working and I needed a little break.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:26:22</time>
And it's just.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:26:23</time>
That's the central lesson is that if we take a little time to look at how we're spending our time or take a little time to try to schedule how you want to spend your time, you really can fit in those things that you need to do and want to do in the day.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:26:35</time>
Absolutely.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:26:37</time>
That leads me to my next question because it's nice when we get to talk about not only your current book, Money Times, but we're also have delved a little into your next book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:26:50</time>
I'm curious about your writing process.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:26:52</time>
One was inspirational, came to you like boom.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:26:56</time>
And the other one has taken some work.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:26:58</time>
So let's share some insights into your development as an author, your writing process for children's book, and besides your personal experiences, did you conduct any other research?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:27:13</time>
And if you did, why was it important?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:15</time>
Oh, that's a great question.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:16</time>
I would say in terms of the research, I really conducted more research after I had the idea for this book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:22</time>
I'll say in terms of what to do and how to.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:24</time>
What to do with my book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:25</time>
But I had the idea and I wrote it down and that was there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:29</time>
My writing process is.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:30</time>
It's just different.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:31</time>
I notice with this other book idea and this other one that I also have in the back of my mind that's developing.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:36</time>
I have two other books in my head.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:37</time>
They're very different.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:38</time>
They're just.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:39</time>
I'm going different routes with them.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:42</time>
So it's.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:43</time>
One book may have more of a character with a name.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:46</time>
One may be similar to how I wrote Money Time, where I put somebody in the shoes of a character.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:51</time>
So it's just.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:52</time>
I'm testing the waters and I'm.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:54</time>
I'm trying out different.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:56</time>
Different methods, but I.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:27:57</time>
It's really just basically based on that story itself.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:01</time>
It comes to me in that way.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:02</time>
It's not.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:03</time>
I don't really have a.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:04</time>
I didn't research how to write so much into.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:07</time>
I didn't re.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:08</time>
It just kind of is there and I just put it down.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:10</time>
And the one that is.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:12</time>
That changed.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:13</time>
That transitioned.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:13</time>
It transitioned from having a character to something more like money time, where I'm making it be more based on your experience and how you can relate to your life.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:24</time>
That's where.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:28:26</time>
That's why I ended up switching it, because I felt that the character story couldn't apply to as many people as I wanted it to.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:28:32</time>
And it's the.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:28:32</time>
Because you've already shared a technique that a lot of people may have not have thought of.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:28:38</time>
And even talking about money time and why you didn't put a name to your characters, and then even this next book that you're developing starts out as a.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:28:50</time>
Having a main character name.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:28:52</time>
And then all of a sudden, maybe not.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:28:55</time>
And that develops out of how you developed a technique.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:28:58</time>
That doesn't mean, like you said, that you wouldn't have a book with a main character name, but at this point, that's not the way you're headed.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:29:06</time>
Exactly.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:29:07</time>
And I think having a main character be wonderful because you can.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:29:09</time>
And people absolutely could relate to them.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:29:11</time>
For the idea that I have, it felt that the story was just too similar to something just in my own experience.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:29:19</time>
And I wanted to expand it a bit to other.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:29:22</time>
For people to be able to relate more for this.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:29:25</time>
Yeah.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:29:25</time>
In the future, I might have a character.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:29:27</time>
So.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:29:27</time>
Okay.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:29:28</time>
I just trying to.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:29:30</time>
As a children's book author, I.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:29:33</time>
I'm the neat thing about it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:29:35</time>
I'm sitting in the same shoes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:29:37</time>
I'm wearing the same shoes as you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:29:39</time>
And so a lot of this is.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:29:42</time>
I get to be the student here, and I just love it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:29:46</time>
And so I want to talk to you about success measurement, because everybody has their own ideas about what success is.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:29:56</time>
First, I want to share with the audience what I've noticed about your success so far.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:30:01</time>
And they might be thinking, okay, what's he talking about?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:30:04</time>
One of the things that I did some research on is, like, you, Tanya, what I did is I looked at Amazon as one of the ways to distribute our book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:30:17</time>
Now we also use Ingham Sparks and to get to other book retailers, especially online book retailers, and then we can do some of Our own independent publishing ourselves.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:30:29</time>
Like printing our own books through a independent printer with Amazon, which is a go to for everyone I've talked to.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:30:38</time>
Amazon's important and I noticed when I did my research on Amazon to get your book more recognized, they say you should have on Amazon, if you get to 25, four five star reviews, Amazon actually boosts your rating so that you get more notice.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:30:58</time>
Yes, that I did hear as well.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:30:59</time>
And the other thing is they say if you hit 50 reviews you even get more special treatment from Amazon.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:31:07</time>
And of course it's their algorithm and all that.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:31:10</time>
They have it all set up now.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:31:12</time>
I'm curious because I had a look and I thought, wow, Tanya, good for you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:31:17</time>
You're at 34, five star reviews.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:31:21</time>
Congratulations.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:31:22</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:31:23</time>
I love giving you the compliment because I know how hard it is to get to 25.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:31:29</time>
Yes, we need a little bit of your secret writing sauce here.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:31:34</time>
So how did you get to 34, five star reviews?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:31:39</time>
Oh my goodness.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:31:39</time>
The beginning was I was so honored because the few of the first reviews were people that knew me, my friends, my family, just to support me and they of course when they're like what this is great and what the book and then I would peek in there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:31:52</time>
If you could give me a review that would be wonderful.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:31:54</time>
I would really appreciate a review.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:31:55</time>
But again wasn't I didn't expected of whatever people felt comfortable.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:00</time>
But then when I started doing some school visits, actually I was also on another podcast.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:06</time>
People reviewed it without, without really knowing me and knowing me well.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:10</time>
So that was, I was really blown away by that because like the first 10 reviews being from family and friends of course so honored.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:17</time>
But then when you see reviews and you're like I don't even know, I don't know this person or wow, they actually gave me a review.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:23</time>
The person that was, that was on a podcast.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:25</time>
Like I was just honored and blown away.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:27</time>
Some of it was just people who knew me and then of it was people that didn't.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:31</time>
So that was really.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:33</time>
When you said like how do you measure success?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:34</time>
I just thought that I just really was blown away by that amount of reviews.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:38</time>
I didn't expect it to.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:32:40</time>
Well, to the audience, Tanya is 16 reviews away from 50.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:32:46</time>
Any way we can influence you to support Tanya, we'd love you to help her get to.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:32:52</time>
Thank you because that is just spectacular healer.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:56</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:32:57</time>
I'll put that in my, my mind 2025, I'm gonna put it out there hopefully to get to 50 because I didn't even know in what you said in terms of 50 being another milestone for reviews.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:33:07</time>
So that would be wonderful, of course, if people.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:33:09</time>
If people love the book and would like to review it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:33:11</time>
But I was really, really honored and I couldn't believe people liked it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:33:16</time>
I love it when, like you said, we have reviews also, and I have no idea who these people are, but we just love it and we really appreciate it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:33:27</time>
And I just want the listening audience to realize how important this is, because as a children's book author, it's not an inexpensive venture.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:33:39</time>
Generally, you're funding the whole thing yourself.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:33:42</time>
And unless you're an illustrator, it can get quite expensive.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:33:47</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:33:47</time>
And I don't want to take any work away from illustrators because I love our illustrator.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:33:53</time>
But again, they have to make a living and that costs money usually.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:33:57</time>
What I mentioned something being that you brought up an illustrator.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:33:59</time>
I have a fantastic illustrator who helped me with my book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:02</time>
And the way that I got to her name is Helen Ale was because again, didn't know any illustrators.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:08</time>
Do not know how to illustrate myself.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:10</time>
So I said, I went on Instagram and I looked up children's book illustrators.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:14</time>
And I sent the same message to everybody that was a children's book illustrator that I could find so many messages saying, I have a book idea.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:23</time>
I put this idea out there to this person.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:26</time>
Not until I was comfortable with the person that I was speaking with.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:29</time>
I think about it, I'm like, I'm just putting this idea in someone's hands.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:32</time>
We'll see what they do with it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:33</time>
And she just blew me away.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:35</time>
But it was just me reaching out to many people just to say, I have a book idea.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:39</time>
I'm brand new at this.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:40</time>
Would love if we could maybe work together.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:42</time>
Would love to see your work.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:43</time>
And they.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:43</time>
Some have sent me their portfolios and I loved the way she drew her characters.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:48</time>
So I just went with her and it was amazing.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:50</time>
And I'm just.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:51</time>
I was so grateful for what she did.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:53</time>
Her name is Helen Ale and I was just honored to work with her.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:34:56</time>
But it was me saying, I, I hope of doing the right thing.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:35:00</time>
I don't know.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:35:00</time>
Fantastic.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:35:01</time>
And you know what, Tanya, after we finish the podcast show, if you want to send me her link, if she felt it's important, we'll put that in the show notes so that someone else is looking for an illustrator.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:35:12</time>
And if she's looking for some board, we're happy to do that.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:35:16</time>
We had a similar situation where we had to go out and find our own illustrator.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:35:21</time>
And we were very fortunate because we already had developed Our character, we had developed it to the point where we even had a sample made up of our character.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:35:34</time>
So I needed to find a illustrator.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:35:38</time>
And the reason I tell the story is for aspiring authors.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:35:42</time>
There's a lot of illustrators out there.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:35:44</time>
If you take your idea and your concept or even if you have that, you want that plushie to come to life.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:35:52</time>
It's incredible what illustrators can do and help you on your journey and bring your words to life.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:35:59</time>
Definitely.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:35:59</time>
And I was.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:00</time>
I gave her.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:01</time>
I had the idea of piggy banks and clock and money just being a consistent theme.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:08</time>
But her, she really.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:09</time>
She helped me develop the character.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:12</time>
She helped me develop just the ideas, but it was just basically we never met in person.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:17</time>
We spoke on, like, over zoom one day, and I told her a little bit about my vision, and she just was like, okay, what do you think of this?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:24</time>
I'm like, oh, she totally gets what I'm looking for.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:26</time>
It just felt comfortable.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:27</time>
And I took that gut feeling and I went with her.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:30</time>
But I was amazed at how she put it together.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:36:33</time>
And even though your illustrator is special, so many.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:36:38</time>
I want everybody to know there's a lot of special illustrators out there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:41</time>
People are very talented.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:36:43</time>
It's incredible.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:36:44</time>
You know what?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:36:45</time>
If they're children's book illustrators, they get it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:36:49</time>
Like, you know what?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:36:50</time>
They get it, and it's good to have that.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:36:53</time>
So we've talked about your star reviews, and that's something that came after you brought your book to life.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:37:02</time>
Now I'd like to talk to you a bit about your success before it even.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:37:07</time>
You even sold your first copy.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:37:09</time>
Talk to me about how did you envision success, and how are you in the future envisioning success?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:17</time>
I would say that before I sold my first copy, it was when I received the book, and it was a couple.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:23</time>
And this is something you would be familiar with, too.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:26</time>
I had Amazon put it together, and then it had to be changed a few times.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:32</time>
There were, you know, some tweaks that need to be made, or I noticed that, like, just from.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:36</time>
Because I had to upload all the pages, maybe I missed the page.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:39</time>
Something happened where it's like, I noticed that I had to look through it a few times.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:42</time>
When it was finally completed, I received it in my hand.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:45</time>
I'm like, this is.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:46</time>
It's amazing to really see it come to life and be even.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:49</time>
Just even when it was still in the works.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:51</time>
Just amazing to see it be in a book form.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:53</time>
And especially because I.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:54</time>
I love children's books so much.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:37:55</time>
So just being able to, to hold it and look at it and put it on my son's shelf with his other books was just such a great feeling.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:02</time>
And so I also felt that success, of course you would love reviews and you would love sales and it's.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:08</time>
Of course we're looking to, to have that, but I really wanted to go do those, as I said, those book readings in schools.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:14</time>
I've done two book readings in school so far and I have two other ones coming up in March.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:20</time>
That to me was such a.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:22</time>
That's after the book was out there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:23</time>
But that was such an honor for me because that's where I saw the book when I was originally thinking about it was like, oh, this should be in schools.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:30</time>
Maybe this could be a lesson.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:32</time>
So that was really cool to see and to feel.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:38:34</time>
So tell us about the, the very first book reading.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:38:38</time>
Because you had this vision in your mind, right?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:41</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:38:41</time>
And then now you got to go to and do it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:38:44</time>
So tell, tell us the vision in your mind and the reality of what happened.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:49</time>
It was just, it was such a surreal moment.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:52</time>
I was like, wow, I'm actually going to school.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:54</time>
And it was.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:55</time>
My nieces and nephews attend that school.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:57</time>
And I was just so happy.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:38:59</time>
My sister in law reached out to her principal and they were open to me coming in.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:04</time>
I was just really honored to be part of that.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:06</time>
And I thank them for that opportunity.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:09</time>
And so reading it to them, reading it to the children in the school, they were so receptive to it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:15</time>
They were really excited about it and the principal was so.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:19</time>
It was just such a nice feeling.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:20</time>
Kids were asking me to sign their books and to autograph like their little.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:25</time>
We did a little craft together too.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:26</time>
And they were like, can you autograph my pa.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:28</time>
Like my paper?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:29</time>
So it was really sweet.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:30</time>
And I was like, these children were just absolutely wonderful and they were into the idea and excited about it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:35</time>
And so that was just a great feeling.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:37</time>
And I remember when my nieces and nephews would walk into that I would like well up.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:41</time>
But I was getting emotional because I was like reading to them.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:43</time>
So that was.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:44</time>
I could get emotional now thinking about it, but it was a really great experience.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:48</time>
That was wonderful.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:49</time>
The second reading I did was at a school friend of mine also.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:52</time>
She's.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:52</time>
I'd love you to come and read to my.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:54</time>
At my daughter's school again.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:55</time>
I was honored.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:56</time>
I did that again.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:57</time>
Same same thing, same concept with the children.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:39:59</time>
They were really excited about it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:01</time>
The groups were a little bit bigger in the second group than they were in the first group.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:05</time>
But still just a great.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:06</time>
So I was just adjusting to how I was presenting my information and my ideas to them.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:11</time>
But it was just wonderful, really.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:13</time>
Just both schools were really great.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:16</time>
It was great experience.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:17</time>
That's one of the best feelings when I'm reading to the children in the schools.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:40:21</time>
Good for you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:22</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:40:22</time>
Also, tell me about.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:40:25</time>
Libraries are very important.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:40:27</time>
I don't know if you have a library card, but I have a library card.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:40:31</time>
Have you thought about reading at libraries and have you approached any yet?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:36</time>
Yes, it's.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:36</time>
It's so funny.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:37</time>
Um, my son does an.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:38</time>
An online library class.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:40</time>
He does one.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:41</time>
So they mentioned that if I wanted to share the book to them, I could.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:44</time>
The children are a little young for that, so I think my book's a little bit more of a.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:48</time>
That the level is a little different, but still, it's great to have exposure and experience.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:53</time>
And I.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:53</time>
In terms of libraries in my area, I have not yet approached them just like the.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:57</time>
In person, but I would really love to.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:40:59</time>
I did another book reading at.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:41:02</time>
A lot of it came from my son.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:41:03</time>
The things that I've taken him to play places he takes a Zoombini class.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:41:07</time>
I did a reading there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:41:08</time>
So those places I've been to.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:41:10</time>
But libraries would be fantastic.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:41:12</time>
I just haven't.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:41:12</time>
I haven't gone to my local library to show them the book yet.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:41:15</time>
I want to delve a little bit more into your role of writing and the reason I know we're getting a sense of who you are as a children's book author.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:41:24</time>
I noticed on your Instagram account, and again, I hope you don't find that I'm being critical.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:41:30</time>
This is not.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:41:32</time>
I noticed on your Instagram account you don't mention yourself as a children's book author.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:41:39</time>
The only way is you have a link to Amazon, to your book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:41:44</time>
And I thought being.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:41:45</time>
Being a children's book author, like, I'm pretty darn proud of that.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:41:50</time>
And I'm just curious on why you haven't got up on the top of the school or whatever and shouted out, a.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:41:59</time>
A children's book author.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:42:00</time>
Why isn't that on your Instagram profile?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:02</time>
That's a really great point.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:04</time>
I'm gonna add it to my Instagram profile.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:06</time>
I actually.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:07</time>
I think sometimes with this being.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:09</time>
That's the first book, and I'm getting used to the title of being a children's book author and getting used to saying it with.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:15</time>
I'm so proud of it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:16</time>
I'm so excited about it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:17</time>
Yeah, I would definitely add it to my Instagram profile.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:42:20</time>
It's a terrific book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:42:22</time>
It really is.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:42:23</time>
I love it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:42:24</time>
So you definitely got it on the soapbox or whatever.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:42:29</time>
And shout out to the top of the world that you're a children's book author.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:42:33</time>
It's just a thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:42:35</time>
It's a fantastic book and that everybody should read, whether you're a child or you're an adult.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:41</time>
Thank you so much.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:42</time>
I'm.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:43</time>
And I really appreciate that because I'm gonna add it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:42:45</time>
Okay.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:46</time>
Add it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:47</time>
After we.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:42:47</time>
After our conversation, talk to us more about how much time.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:42:51</time>
How is writing fitting into your life and how much time are you devoting to writing now?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:42:57</time>
I'm devoting more time to it, I'll say, because I first.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:00</time>
That was just as I said before the idea came to me.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:03</time>
It happened to be put out there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:05</time>
And I'm.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:06</time>
I'm also putting time into reaching out to schools and getting.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:10</time>
Getting those events that I can set up for.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:12</time>
For the book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:12</time>
But actual writing, I started to just spend.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:15</time>
It's not so much time.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:16</time>
It's just like maybe 10 minutes a day.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:18</time>
I do write some ideas down, not.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:43:20</time>
Quite putting a buck into it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:43:22</time>
You're putting about 20 cents.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:24</time>
Yeah, it's maybe about 20 cents.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:43:26</time>
I couldn't resist.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:27</time>
That's a good one.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:28</time>
I.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:29</time>
Yeah, I put a little bit of time with my.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:31</time>
I.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:31</time>
I also have.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:32</time>
I feel like my.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:33</time>
With my son being like a busy, active toddler, I have just sometimes when I have pockets of time, I put a little bit of time into writing because I think it's.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:41</time>
It makes me happy, too.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:43</time>
It brings me a lot of joy.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:44</time>
It's just my.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:44</time>
But even if it's not the actual book itself, it's ideas or something down on page.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:43:49</time>
On a page, you know, to get something out there.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:43:52</time>
Good for you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:43:53</time>
This isn't quite the end of our interview, but I wanted.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:43:56</time>
Because I described at the beginning about all the efforts you went to put this public relations book kit together.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:04</time>
I wanted to save it closer to the end because I wanted people to get a sense of who.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:08</time>
Who you are as a children's book author.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:11</time>
And I'm just going to describe to the listening audience one more time.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:15</time>
I received this special package, this marketing package with a signed copy with a.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:22</time>
A clock, a piggy bank, a dollar clip shaped like a dollar sign as a money clip.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:29</time>
The bookmarks and the stickers, all very unique.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:32</time>
And the thing that I thought, wow, when you took the time to actually write the message in your book that you did to me, I just loved it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:41</time>
And when you said, I hope you Find some wonderful ways to spend your money, time.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:46</time>
And you made it out to dear Papa Rick Harris and family like that just stuck.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:53</time>
Tell us all about this.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:54</time>
Tell us how you came up with the idea.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:56</time>
Tell us now.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:44:57</time>
It's a little bit of a selfish thing for me, but I'm, I.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:45:00</time>
You said that I wanted to thank you for your wonderful podcast.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:45:04</time>
So tell us about all this.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:06</time>
Well, I do.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:06</time>
I love your podcast.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:07</time>
I think it's so wonderful.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:08</time>
And I really, I reached out to you because I felt, I just feel such a warmth from you and such a.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:15</time>
You very, you're always very welcoming.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:17</time>
I feel it today, obviously, but also always very welcoming to your guests and I know how important your grandchildren are to you and your family.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:22</time>
So I wanted to send it out to you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:24</time>
I, I thought about a few podcasts that I listened to.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:28</time>
I thought about a few people that I admire and I said to myself, I want to do something different.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:36</time>
I don't want to just send the book or I don't want to just reach out and apply to be part of a podcast.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:42</time>
I, I want someone to see it and I want that person to.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:45</time>
They like it, they'll reach out.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:46</time>
But I also, I'm a very.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:47</time>
I love themes.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:49</time>
I've.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:49</time>
All of my students and all of my family, they know I'm.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:53</time>
If I'm gonna do a party and it has a theme, I go all out with the theme.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:45:57</time>
So this was where I said I want to put everything that I can think of that can apply to the book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:02</time>
Like piggy banks and me, the clocks.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:04</time>
Like, I just, I wanted something that set the book apart from other stories.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:08</time>
Even every.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:09</time>
I, as I admire all different children book authors and all stories, but I wanted to put a little of myself into it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:14</time>
And as I said, when I, when somebody has a birthday or a holiday, I'm like, what I.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:19</time>
How I wrap things, I always have some kind of theme to it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:46:22</time>
So this is why when I opened the box up and it even was purple inside, I went.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:46:27</time>
And that's one of the.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:46:29</time>
Like my, all three of my granddaughters, their favorite color purple, purple and pink.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:46:35</time>
Even the pajamas that we bought yesterday for we, we actually celebrated Christmas yesterday, just the way family situation worked out.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:46:44</time>
But even the pajamas were pink and purple.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:48</time>
Those are my favorite colors too, pink and purple.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:50</time>
So purple.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:50</time>
Purple is my first favorite color.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:52</time>
So that's where I got the idea of the.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:54</time>
Even the book itself, the COVID there's a lot of purple in it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:57</time>
That was something I did ask my illustrator.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:46:59</time>
I wanted to have that.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:47:00</time>
Those colors in there.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:01</time>
Wow.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:01</time>
Fantastic.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:47:02</time>
Oh, thank you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:47:03</time>
It means so much that you enjoyed the book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:47:05</time>
The book package too, because I was really excited about putting that together.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:09</time>
I have to tell you something in my office.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:12</time>
I have show you this.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:13</time>
You're going to say, what the heck is he doing?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:15</time>
Okay.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:15</time>
I don't know if you can see there's a bear, a Christmas tree bear.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:47:20</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:21</time>
You're thinking, oh, my God, what's this guy?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:47:23</time>
So cute.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:24</time>
Because my granddaughter, my oldest granddaughter and I had this fascination with.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:29</time>
Because our name, our main character's name is caboose, and caboose is spelled with a K.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:36</time>
Because my oldest granddaughter, her name is Kira, which starts with a K.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:41</time>
And so that's how we came up with the name.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:43</time>
We came up with the name from Caboose because her.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:45</time>
Of her fascination with cabooses.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:48</time>
And it was because of my dad's toy train that I have put in a shadow box.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:47:53</time>
Because if you look nowadays and there hasn't been cabooses around for 25 years because they stop using them.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:02</time>
And so the only way you get to see them is go to a park where they might have a train and they have a caboose or whatever.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:10</time>
But for children, they have no idea of the history behind Caboose.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:15</time>
And Caboose is such a fun name to say.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:48:18</time>
Such a fun name.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:48:19</time>
Yeah, I love that name.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:20</time>
We got Christmas bear tree that I have in my office.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:23</time>
And every time we find a train ornament, we buy it and it goes on this tree.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:29</time>
And of course, it comes out once a year.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:31</time>
It's just something I do with the grandkids.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:33</time>
And now they look for tree ornaments or train ornaments for me.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:48:38</time>
Train.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:48:38</time>
It's a theme.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:39</time>
Absolutely.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:40</time>
And that's what I want.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:41</time>
Are you talking about theming it and how you've taken it to another level?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:46</time>
And I just want people to realize that I always say in the show, I probably say this in every show, is that there's no right or wrong way to do things.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:48:57</time>
When you're starting to promote your book, some people use a PR firm, and that PR firm reaches out to you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:49:06</time>
Now, that comes at a cost.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:49:08</time>
And Tanya, putting these, your public relations book kit together, definitely came at a cost.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:49:14</time>
If you don't mind sharing, how many of these did you do up and how many did you send out?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:49:20</time>
Maybe about seven.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:49:21</time>
Seven, okay.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:49:22</time>
Yeah, Not a ton.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:49:23</time>
But I did it to people that I felt would appreciate them.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:49:26</time>
Well, you're making me feel even more special on thinking, wow, that's incredible.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:49:33</time>
Thank you again.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:49:34</time>
This is to help other people is what was the reaction from the other six.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:49:40</time>
I got two responses that gave me, and they were people that I follow that I admire.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:49:46</time>
One is an author who was really, I was honored to hear back from her.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:49:51</time>
She said she was really happy and really just thank you so much for the kit and the.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:49:56</time>
And, you know, all the goodies.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:49:57</time>
And she wrote me a beautiful email.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:49:59</time>
Someone else that I also admire, who I follow, she's just someone that's like a self.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:05</time>
Someone that helps with like self improvement.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:06</time>
Someone who I felt I was thinking of people that I believed would really enjoy the package.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:11</time>
But also this person was someone who I felt inspired me throughout the year to.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:15</time>
To achieve goals.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:16</time>
So I, I mentioned and I personalized each.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:20</time>
Each book, what I wrote inside of the books, like I did for you also.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:23</time>
And I wanted to let them know that I appreciated like the confidence I was given to do the book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:28</time>
So that was something I mentioned and that was an honor to receive a message back from her.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:33</time>
Some people I didn't hear back from, which is also fine because you send it and you see where it goes, but those were you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:39</time>
And thank you for that.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:40</time>
And then the two other messages were really appreciated.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:43</time>
Another podcast that I was on, she also really appreciated the book package and I was honored to.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:49</time>
So really, I would say four out of the seven got back to me with maybe about.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:53</time>
Maybe seven.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:53</time>
I would say about seven.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:54</time>
I do.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:55</time>
I know the exact number, but it wasn't a ton.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:50:57</time>
But it was the people I felt who would really enjoy the book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:51:00</time>
Wow.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:51:01</time>
That phenomenal.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:51:02</time>
And it's just, it's nice to share.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:51:04</time>
You can't expect everything that you send out in to the world will come back to you, but you deserve anything that comes back at you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:51:13</time>
What a great job.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:51:13</time>
And I just encourage other aspiring authors to know that, you know what, what Tanya did was very special.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:51:22</time>
And there's more than one way to promote your book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:51:27</time>
And not to get into the weeds too much here, but so the two people that were not.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:51:33</time>
One was a children's book author, one was an influencer.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:51:36</time>
And then have they helped you at all in promoting your book?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:51:41</time>
Caster1 and I would say the person who was a pod on a podcast that I reached out to, she was.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:51:46</time>
She put it out there for me as similar to how you are, which was wonderful.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:51:50</time>
The others were, I would say, not so much that they helped me promote the book, but gave me the confidence.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:51:55</time>
The first one who was an author, she actually did give me some advice prior to writing the book.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:00</time>
It was also appreciated because she told me.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:02</time>
She gave me some information in terms of what to do.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:04</time>
It was like I just reached out to her and she sent me an article about if you're a beginning writer.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:09</time>
But it was a writer, general writer, even.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:11</time>
Just not just for children's book authors.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:13</time>
Just like, what would be.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:14</time>
That's how I found out about if you wanted to get a literary agent.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:17</time>
So that was.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:18</time>
So she absolutely helped me with the process.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:21</time>
The other person for the podcast.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:23</time>
Yes, for sure.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:23</time>
And then the other one was just really.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:25</time>
I appreciated so much that she.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:52:27</time>
Wow.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:52:28</time>
Nice.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:52:28</time>
Nice technique.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:29</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:30</time>
Thank you so much.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:31</time>
I.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:31</time>
I really.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:32</time>
It's.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:32</time>
It was.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:33</time>
It's so sweet.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:33</time>
But you're.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:34</time>
I feel like you're.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:35</time>
You're.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:35</time>
The excitement you have about the package was the most I've received.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:52:39</time>
So thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:52:39</time>
I got to tell you one more thing.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:52:41</time>
I.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:52:42</time>
Pure package.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:52:43</time>
And I put it under the bare Christmas tree in my office because I knew my grandchildren were coming over last night.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:52:51</time>
Every grandchild's different.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:52:52</time>
So when you have your next child, I can tell you right now, every child is different.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:52:57</time>
I knew one of them.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:52:59</time>
She would be the most fascinated.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:01</time>
And she was.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:02</time>
But she waited till the very end before she talked to me about it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:07</time>
What's going to happen to.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:08</time>
I.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:09</time>
I couldn't.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:10</time>
I said to her, I'm talking to Tanya tomorrow.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:12</time>
So I just said that.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:14</time>
So she's old enough to realize that I couldn't just bundle it up and send it home with her.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:20</time>
So anyways.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:21</time>
But I wanted you to know that I hadn't under the Christmas tree and she noticed it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:26</time>
This bundle we will be.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:28</time>
Except for the book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:28</time>
I.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:29</time>
That's why I got another one will be going to our youngest granddaughter.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:53:32</time>
That's so sweet.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:33</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:53:33</time>
I'm so happy.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:34</time>
That's so nice advice.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:37</time>
You've definitely shared a lot of advice in being a children's book author.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:40</time>
But would you have any other advice that you'd like to share with aspiring book authors who are thinking, how do I be like Tanya and how do.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:53:49</time>
Like, how do I make this happen?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:53:51</time>
I'm still learning.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:53:53</time>
I feel like every day exactly what to do.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:53:55</time>
But I think you have to be yourself and you have to be unique.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:53:58</time>
Like the book package.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:53:59</time>
That something I really wanted to do something that I felt that was like me and someone else who has their own ideas and their own way of promoting or putting it out there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:09</time>
They would have their own, like, unique.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:11</time>
Putting your unique spin on it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:12</time>
And I think that's that would be wonderful to.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:15</time>
When you want, when you share a story or you have whatever it is you want to put out in the world, you just, you put your own spin on it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:20</time>
I think that's important.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:21</time>
But I just, I think the best advice I can give.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:25</time>
The only thing I could say is what I did with this book was something I've wanted to do with many different ideas I've had.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:32</time>
And it's just, I just took a chance and I just went for it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:35</time>
And I said, I don't really mind if I make mistakes along the way.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:39</time>
I don't mind if I think sometimes I, I try to do things that I want it to be so perfect before it can get out there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:46</time>
And this time I'm like, no, it's okay.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:47</time>
Put it out there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:48</time>
I believed in the story.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:50</time>
I did.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:51</time>
But I said, you know, just, even with reaching out to illustrators, like I took a really big chance.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:54:55</time>
I spoke to someone, I put my idea in their hands and they were, they made me obviously so thrilled.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:55:01</time>
But took a chance with that and just really took a leap of faith.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:55:05</time>
And it was just constant, like trial and error and just seeing what would happen.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:55:09</time>
So I best advice is just keep going.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:55:12</time>
Do what you put it out there.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:55:13</time>
Keep going until it happens.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:55:15</time>
Keep going until it happens.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:55:16</time>
Because that was a goal of mine, was just to, as I said, to complete it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:55:19</time>
And that's why I, I went the self publishing route because I wanted it out there.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:55:23</time>
Because I felt that if I've delayed it too much by trying to figure out the perfect literary agent for me, trying to figure that would have just.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:55:30</time>
The book probably would have never been right because I'd really do it.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:55:33</time>
But no, that's too much reason to know.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:55:35</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:55:36</time>
And I, I want to pick up on your theme about self publishing for a moment because first of all, you talked about it was neat.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:55:42</time>
You talked about getting it right when you're downloading to Amazon to actually have the book come to life.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:55:49</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:55:50</time>
I can tell you that even with a company like Ingram Sparks, which actually reaches out to other book retailers like Barnes and Noble and those type of other book retailers, it can get to be a little sticky.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:05</time>
And you can't get frustrated.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:07</time>
You just, you just got to keep going like you said.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:10</time>
And I had a little problem with Ingram Sparks.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:13</time>
But you know what?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:14</time>
Eventually I was able to get it fixed and away I go.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:17</time>
The other thing is that I want under people people to understand is that this book is evergreen.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:24</time>
Like Tanya's book, Money time is evergreen.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:27</time>
Because this, you know what you might say this is for 3 to 10 year olds or whatever your audience is.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:35</time>
The beautiful thing about our world is more 3 to 10 year olds just keep coming.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:40</time>
So the opportunity to have this book stay timeless is incredible.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:45</time>
And the message is timeless.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:47</time>
And the other thing I wanted to mention to you because when someone said to me, you know, that your books are given away mostly as gifts, they're bought by parents to give.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:56:58</time>
It's not a child is running around with 20 bucks in their pocket to buy your book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:02</time>
So it's usually the parent or the grandparent or family member buying the book for the child.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:10</time>
And so I only want to share this with you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:12</time>
Is that because we're self published?
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:15</time>
I wanted to make a change because I heard about this thing called a book plate.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:20</time>
Have you ever heard of.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:57:21</time>
I have, yes, in our book.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:23</time>
So I hope I grab one.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:24</time>
So this one doesn't have a book plate.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:27</time>
Then I'm hoping I find one that I have with a book plate.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:31</time>
Ah, okay.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:32</time>
And I was thinking about your clock.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:34</time>
Okay, so look at this.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:36</time>
So we got a heart.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:57:38</time>
How nice.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:38</time>
Can you see that?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:57:40</time>
Yes.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:40</time>
Now it says this book belongs to and.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:44</time>
Or the parents can write it or grandparent or whoever, the friend can write a nice message in there.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:57:50</time>
So I was thinking in your book you could think about on this blank area, you could put the same kind of idea, but make it a clock or whatever.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:00</time>
I'm just throwing that out at you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:58:01</time>
Wonderful idea.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:02</time>
Oh, thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:03</time>
And I like sharing these things because it's important that people realize that none of this is stagnant.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:10</time>
The nice thing about publishing on Amazon also is that it's print on demand.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:16</time>
It's not like we.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:17</time>
You went out and printed like in the old days, printed thousands of copies and then had them sitting in your garage.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:58:25</time>
Exactly.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:27</time>
So that's the nice thing about it is you can go in and modify your book within moments and just upload that part to Amazon and away you go.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:38</time>
You've got your own personalized book plate.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:41</time>
But anyways, I just wanted to share that with you because I think your book is fantastic and it'll be around forever.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:48</time>
And also I wanted to share that advice for aspiring authors.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:58:53</time>
It's a great idea.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:55</time>
Thank you.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:58:55</time>
I've spent so much talking with you about aspiring authors, but I really want to talk about, and I always save it for the last part of the show is encouragement for the readers.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>00:59:08</time>
So why should children's book readers purchase your book and where is your book available to be purchased?
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:59:16</time>
Oh, thank you.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:59:17</time>
Well, I think that children's book, well, children's read readers and parents or teachers should purchase the book because we all could benefit from some, you know, discussion and advice on time management.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:59:30</time>
I think, and I say that for adults and children and all of us, we have many things we want to do and many things we have to do.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:59:38</time>
And I want everyone to be able to feel that they're, you know, they have a well rounded day and a well rounded life and they're able to, even when it comes to writing a children's book, if this isn't, if this is a goal of yours, fitting that into your day, whatever the goals are.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>00:59:53</time>
So I think it would be, that's my advice to them to that I think it's great to purchase the book because it just gives you some ideas on a way to think of time differently.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>01:00:01</time>
And it's available on Amazon at this time, Amazon.com Excellent.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>01:00:06</time>
Final thought.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>01:00:07</time>
Sure.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>01:00:08</time>
I guess I would just.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>01:00:08</time>
Well, first of all, thank you so much, really, for having me and your encouragement.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>01:00:12</time>
And you just, you've given me.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>01:00:14</time>
I've just felt so filled with kindness and warmth and I'm just so excited to be here.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>01:00:19</time>
And my final thoughts are, as I said before, just if anybody has any ideas to get a book out there, if it's a children's book, if it's a novel, whatever it is, just go for it, do it.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>01:00:29</time>
Because we need different ideas put out into the world.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>01:00:31</time>
We need everybody's unique perspective on life.
<cite>Tanya Cuesta</cite>
<time>01:00:35</time>
So I think that's my final thought.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>01:00:37</time>
Fantastic.
<cite>Host</cite>
<time>01:00:38</time>
Tanya, thank you so much for being on Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors.