Lessons Learned Writing My Second Space Book

It’s out! I’m so excited, proud, thrilled, ready to collapse – it’s out! On Monday, I published my second book, Becoming Off-Worldly: Learning from Astronauts to Prepare for Your Spaceflight Journey.

This is a book for future astronaut hopefuls like me. I loved hearing all the fun and insightful stories of what surprised astronauts about their spaceflight experiences. I was so touched by the stories of space pioneers who helped create this new era of commercial human spaceflight as well as those who have signed up to put their lives on the line to fly.

It took me almost two years to write Becoming Off-Worldly and it was worth it. It’s my favorite work I've ever written. I really love this book.

If you’ve ever published a book, you know it’s a feat. It’s also a labor of love. I’m not aiming to be a best selling author, yet only best sellers are financially successful enough to justify the many, many, MANY hours of research, interviews, writing, rewriting, editing, publishing, marketing, and everything else. It’s a lot more work than typing a blog article and pressing publish. It’s a project!

I call my first book, Rise of the Space Age Millennials, my “starter book.” I raised initial funds on a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign and stumbled my way through self-publishing. I made so many mistakes and learned so much along the way. I’m still very proud of it, but there are many things I want to change. I plan to release a new edition later this year to improve and add to the work with voices from a younger generation.

I didn’t make the same mistakes the second time around. I made completely new ones! And yet, with all the learning as I go, I created a truly good book that I’m immensely proud of. Becoming Off-Worldly earns its place among the other books on your bookshelves.

Not that I expect the book to be on many bookshelves because I’m embarrassingly bad at sales. But that’s getting ahead of myself.

Starting from the top. If any of my readers want to put yourself through the roller coaster ride that is book writing and publishing, I’m rooting for you! If I can do it, you can do it! I’m a scientist, not an English major. Here are some lessons I learned the hard way that I hope you can avoid.

Lesson 1: Too Many Interviews

This was a lesson I mostly but not entirely learned from my first book. I did just admit to being a scientist, yes? Maybe because of my X-ray astrophysics background where photons are scarce and each one valuable, I really wanted more data. People provide data. A large number of interviewees provide a collection of quality data!

But I was writing a book, not creating a survey. It was difficult to introduce readers to the 103 interviewees in my first book. There were many diverse voices but the reader couldn’t remember one from another. It was too much noise.

So of course I’m adding a few more interviews in the next edition. Will I never learn?

With my second book, I set out to focus on telling the stories of just a few individuals. I really thought maybe 5 astronauts tops would agree to speak with me. But I kept hearing yeses and making new connections. Who can say no to an astronaut agreeing to tell a space story or two? I ended up with 17 flown astronauts interviewed plus 4 “future fliers” who flew before the book was published. Altogether there are 32 interviewees featured plus a foreword author.

I had a cut-off time for interviews, really I did. I called it my biological deadline. I planned to finish the interview stage of my book by the time my third child was born in August 2020, take a few months’ break, then enter the writing stage.

But I kept coming across new people I just had to include! The Inspiration4 crew was announced in early 2021. I heard a fun, quirky interview with a future ISS private astronaut who I just had to connect with. My friend Kellie got her ticket to fly. How could I pass on anyone whose voice could add so much value to the insights in the book?

I am so, so thankful to everyone who agreed to be interviewed for the book! This book wouldn’t exist without their stories and insights.

Lesson 2: Persistence Can Pay Off, But I Can’t Win Them All

Even with over 30 interviews in the book, the ones I didn’t get still bother me. There was the one who agreed to an interview then ghosted me. There are the two who acknowledged receipt of my request then became unresponsive. Seriously people, just reply to decline, don’t make me send email after email and then leave you an awkward voicemail! Those three interviewees could have added such great perspectives and it’s our collective loss that I could not include their stories in the book.

I also tried and failed to interview a Russian cosmonaut. They all seem to be connected to the Russian government, even after they retired from their spaceflight careers. I asked for help from NASA astronauts who flew with cosmonauts as well as assistance from an organization whose entire membership has flown in space and got nothing. My goal was for the book to be culturally diverse and I succeeded in many ways, but the lack of a Russian perspective is a hole.

There were also the companies who were completely uncooperative despite the book being free positive publicity for them. I’m figuratively glaring at two spaceflight facilitators in particular. But their silence made room for me to shine a spotlight on their competitors who did add their voices to the book and got that free publicity.

Lesson 3: Be Quiet When Recording Interviews

Do you know how hard it is to accurately transcribe an interview over an imperfect connection? It’s even harder to transcribe when I’m tapping my fingers, moving around paper, laughing over what someone is saying, or doing who knows what to make whatever noise I’m hearing as I listen to the same sentence ten times trying to understand the words coming from my interviewee’s mouth.

It’s a skill to be still and quite and just let the other person talk.

Lesson 4: Write Without Distractions

Everyone works differently. Some people like to write in coffee shops or libraries or parks among noise and crowds and endless distractions. That’s not me.

I need a quiet room alone for a solid hour or two or three to really get into the flow of writing. Bonus if I can keep away from email and social media.

I have young children so this is very difficult to arrange. A supportive husband who has been working from home since the start of the pandemic gets the credit by providing me with those solid blocks of time alone to get into the flow.

Lesson 5: Allow More Time for Editing and Release

I rushed my first book. I spent so long self-doubting and procrastinating on the writing, by the time I finished the manuscript, I just wanted it done. I wanted it published on my birthday, very soon after I finished writing, and it shows. I ended up with cover art I didn’t like, writing that needed more refinement, and a boatload of typos.

With my second book, I hired not just an editor, but also enlisted the help of proofreaders. I allowed for more time to prepare the manuscript and art. I had a last-minute manuscript edit when an interviewee needed me to change her introduction, but that didn’t feel like an emergency because I had the time to make those changes.

Not only did I feel that I could prepare the book better, I felt that I could prepare myself better for the release date. I was physically (well, digitally) and mentally prepared by the time of book launch. The extra time even allowed for a soft release to ask for endorsement blurbs and early reviews.

I still wanted it published on my birthday (this past Monday). And I have another biological deadline. Today I’m T-7 days away from the estimated due date of my fourth child. I knew there was a possibility I might publish the book while nursing an early-arriving newborn if circumstances arose. Life is always happening no matter what deadlines you give yourself which is all the more reason to allow for buffer time if possible.

Of course, even after all that extra time and help, I still managed to find all kinds of typos after publication. Oops. I’ll fix them eventually.

Lesson 6: Pay For Good Help

One thing I did right with my first book as well as my second book was to pay someone I trust to edit my book. Bonus that he works in the space sector and could fact-check as well as edit. Good editing is worth paying a professional for.

Advice everywhere is to pay a professional artist for cover art. I had great luck with finding an interior artist for my first book. And my company’s graphic designer is invaluable. But I’ve had terrible luck finding a quality cover artist. I’ve paid artists twice now for cover art I didn’t like. So, I went against common advice and designed my own cover for my second book. I think it turned out better than the first time! The key here is to pay for good help, and I just haven’t found a good cover artist yet.

There have been issues with formatting and typesetting with both of my books. The end result is good, but not without the struggle of multiple revisions. Both individuals came highly recommended so I’m not sure what to do differently next time (if there is a next time). Maybe I just need to accept that formatting a book takes extra time due to the need for revisions. In the end, I am glad I’ve paid for professionals to format my books this instead of attempting to do it myself.

Lesson 7: Get Those Early Readers

One thing I didn’t do – didn’t even think to do – with my first book was to ask anyone to write a foreword, endorsement blurb, or early review. I didn’t allow for enough time between finishing the book and publication to allow for such extras. Nor did I know who to ask or how.

If it wasn’t for my editor introducing me to Frank White, I wouldn’t have thought to include a foreword. Frank’s generous words offered valuable context and insight right at the start of the book. Among the holiday season and his work responsibilities, he needed time to read the book and write such thoughtful words. I’m glad I factored in that extra time before publication.

Frank’s kind offer to write a foreword gave me the courage to reach out to some of my interviewees and one person who had no connection to the book to ask for blurbs, essentially testimonials from people whose opinions matter. I don’t know if I would have been brave enough to even ask for words of praise from such high-profile individuals if I hadn’t already been encouraged by Frank’s involvement. I was thrilled when I got so many positive responses, more than I could include on the back of the book! I’m so thankful for the encouragement.

I rejected the very notion of caring about reviews with my first book. I was writing for myself, so what did reviews matter? But reader reviews really do matter to potential customers who want the assurance that the product is good before they invest their money and time. If a book is brand new and it has no reviews, potential readers might pass it over compared to a new book that has several early positive reviews.

I really didn’t focus much on early reviews with this second book, either, but at least I understand them better. I was shocked to see a recent space book receive over 100 of 4- and 5-star reviews on Amazon despite it being pretty poorly written in my opinion. I realized that the author probably gave out hundreds (or thousands) of free copies to get so many reviews, just as he had given a free copy to me to read. The sheer number of decently good reviews is enough to encourage people to take a chance on a product.

I have been giving out more free copies of my book this time around, but more as a thank-you gift rather than a request for reviews. If I could go back in time, I’d make an extensive list of people I want to give books to and do so before book launch so I’m not in the situation I’m in today, suddenly realizing I should gift someone an ebook copy days after publication.

Lesson Still In Progress: Marketing and Sales

Readers, I have no idea what I’m doing as I try to get this book into others’ hands. I’m a scientist, not a salesperson. Even after founding my own company 6 years ago, I’ve been learning the business side as I go and I’m still terrible at sales.

I know I created a quality book. I know so many people would enjoy it and learn from it. I have no idea how to get “so many people” to even know about it, much less read it.

Becoming Off-Worldly has the potential to touch so many lives. It gives hope to those who long to have their chance to touch the stars and admire our planet from above. It gives actionable advice to anyone preparing to fly to space, whether next week or some future unknown date. It explores lesser known perspectives about what surprised astronauts about spaceflight and what motivates commercial space pioneers.

If I had a larger budget, I’d go back to Lesson 6 and pay a professional to design and execute a marketing campaign. But alas, my marketing budget is just not that large as of yet.

Have any advice for me on how to get my book into reader’s hands? Or can I help you with your book writing or spaceflight preparation? Post in the comments, reply on social media, or send me a message.

You can buy a copy of the book on Amazon or Astralytical. Get a free Becoming Off-Worldly sticker when you buy an autographed copy (US shipping only). Request a copy through your local library or favorite bookstore.

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If you enjoy the book, please consider leaving an honest review on your favorite book review site.

Pre-register for the Prepare to Become Off-Worldly Astronaut Training course and get $50 off registration! Or send me proof of your honest review of Becoming Off-Worldly to enroll for free.

Rise of the Space Age Millennials - Thank You!

The 7th Next-generation Suborbital Researchers Conference

Before the chaos of the coronavirus and mass cancellations, there was the 7th Next-generation Suborbital Researchers Conference. I’ve attended all 7 of them, usually spaced 1.5 to 2 years apart. This year, I was a member of the organizing team. In addition to running the social media accounts, I organized a panel and helped with other things along the way. Additionally, I gave a talk and was a panelist for another panel.

It was fun but anxiety-inducing to organize a panel on the connection between suborbital research on new vehicles launched by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic and orbital research on the ISS. I’ve organized panels before and have no problems identifying and inviting potential panelists. I confirmed four speakers: two ISS managers (one from NASA and one from my former employer CASIS / ISS National Lab, a nonprofit that handles Earth-benefitting ISS research) and two researchers who have flown experiments to suborbit and orbit (a NASA engineer and a university medical doctor and professor).

What made this panel different was a SpaceX CRS launch to the ISS scheduled Sunday night after the official start of the conference. Two of my panelists were attending the launch. If the launch was delayed a day, they would be unable to attend my panel and I’d be down to two panelists. It turns out the SpaceX launch was delayed – by 5 days! So my panelists attended the conference and then attended the launch.

Snow! Just before conference kick-off on Sunday.

In addition to constant social media posting and engagement, I staffed the registration desk Sunday evening and Monday morning. I’m an extrovert, so greeting people when they arrive is fun. Find their name badge, hand them their program and flyer packet, give them some give-away swag (this time, a conference pen and a Virgin Galactic “remove before flight” keychain tag), let them know about the ZeroG Corporation raffle, and ask if they have any questions. If they are a friend, catch up a little bit with small talk. If they are a journalist, student, or VIP, there was additional information to tell them. I had helpers during both sessions who I trained to take over when things got too busy.

Sunday evening was the conference opening reception. We wandered around the hotel’s side lobby while caterers carried plates of food around and a couple Colorado politicians spoke words of welcome. I spent most of the time at the registration desk but ran off for a few minutes at time to take photos of the speakers for social media posts and grab some food.

As he was filling out his raffle ticket, three-time space shuttle astronaut and first commercial astronaut Charlie Walker, who I’ve met several times at this conference throughout the years, informed me that he had experienced plenty of microgravity time and would give away his ZeroG parabolic flight ticket if he won. He offered to give it to me. What a story that would be – an astronaut winning a raffle and giving away his ticket! Every time he saw me at the conference, he knew the exact number of hours until the winner would be selected on Wednesday morning. He was so excited about it for someone who didn’t plan to keep the winnings!

Astronaut Charlie Walker filling out his ZeroG Corporation raffle ticket

Alan Stern kicked off the talks Monday morning. Although he is a planetary scientist and can speak endlessly about Pluto and other Kuiper belt objects, he’s also passionate about the commercial space industry and suborbital science. This conference is his baby and he has tickets to fly himself with an experiment someday. As a grad student, Alan was my inspiration realizing I could be a scientist and work in the space industry simultaneously, that the two worlds can come together.

Other Monday morning speakers included Ryan Hamilton of Southwest Research Institute, Kevin Coleman of the Federal Aviation Administration’s commercial spaceflight office, George Whitesides of Virgin Galactic, Steve Squyers of Blue Origin, Eric Stallmer of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, Steven Collicott of Purdue University and CSF SARG, and finally, my favorite, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who high-fived me as he was boarding an elevator after his talk.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine speaking at NSRC-2020

Fellow book author Alan Ladwig had a whole table for book signing. His book is a historical look at space tourism. I had brought 6 copies of my book to sign and sell. We traded: a signed copy of mine for one of his. He’s also an artist and doodled as he signed. He gave a talk about his book during the conference which was great because it was full of amusing old stories.

Alan Ladwig and I showing off our books at NSRC-2020

I attended as many of the talks as I could so I could be there with my phone to take photos and write up content for social media. I was constantly sharing the posts of others as well. It kept me quite busy. I didn’t take as much time as I usually do to network in the hallway.

My talk was second-to-last Monday afternoon. I presented insights on how to market suborbital spaceflight to millennials based on the research I conducted for my book. I didn’t know if anyone would still be in the room or if they’d be off at the poster and networking session starting 15 minutes later. There was still a small audience, so I gave it my best. And despite some initial technical difficulties displaying my presentation correctly, it went great! There was no time for audience questions, but I got so many complements after the talk.

I wrote up a one-pager on how to market spaceflight to millennials, available here.

Giving my talk on how to market spaceflight to millennials at NSRC-2020

Tuesday was exciting to me because of one newly arriving attendee: Beth Moses. She is Virgin Galactic’s astronaut trainer. In 2018, she became the first woman astronaut on a commercial vehicle, the first woman suborbital astronaut, and the first person to unstrap and float around in a suborbital spaceflight. She was the seventh person to be awarded FAA commercial astronaut wings, the first six being pilots and she being the first passenger. She’s my suborbital astronaut role model.

I met her briefly at the registration desk, which I wasn’t working at the time but happened to be there resting. I sat front row to watch her panel with Michelle Peters of ZeroG on how to train for microgravity research missions. I finally got a chance to pose for a photo with her at the VIP reception that evening.

Meeting Beth Moses

Tuesday was also the panel I organized which went quite well! We only had a few minutes for audience questions, but the information presented was great and Q&A session went well too. Mission success.

The very last hour of the Tuesday afternoon sessions was the panel I was added to a week before the conference on the importance of researchers flying with their research on suborbital spaceflight missions. There were seven panelists, which is a huge number for a one-hour panel, but it worked out pretty well. Only astronaut Charlie Walker gave intro slides and the rest was Q&A. I took a different approach than most of the others and spoke about what I learned from researching for my book about normalizing spaceflight, creating that human connection, bringing spaceflight to the masses to stabilize the field financially and politically the way we take air travel for granted today, and opening space to other scientific disciplines such as psychologists researching the way humans perceive the planet and ourselves after experiencing spaceflight.

Wednesday was the final day of the conference. I sat in on talks by my graduate advisor Josh Colwell and former lab college Addie Dove of UCF, reminiscing about the experiments I spent years on in grad school.

The two raffle winners were announced for free tickets on ZeroG’s “weightless” parabolic aircraft flights. I’ve flew two campaigns in grad school and absolutely loved it, even though I got sick. I’d still fly again in a heartbeat! I was chatting with my former CASIS colleague Ed Harris who now works at Keck Observatory in Hawaii. He was in the middle of telling me that if he won, he plans to donate his ticket to a scientist in Hawaii who can fly Hawaiian student experiments, when suddenly the whole lobby was looking over at us. Ed had won! I’m so glad because his generous donation to support Hawaiian schools is much better than me flying for a third time.

The final session of the conference, right after lunch, was full of more top speakers. My favorite space journalist Jeff Foust of Space News gave an analytical view of suborbital spaceflight: where it was predicted to be, where it is now, and where it could grow to be. Beth Moses gave another talk, this one a more detailed look at her job as an astronaut trainer and research facilitator with more details about her own spaceflight. Dylan Taylor of Space for Humanity inspiring talk about the philosophy of opening up spaceflight with ideals that mirror my own. And Alan Stern wrapped up the conference with thank-yous.

Those 5 remaining books I brought with me to autograph and sell? I sold all of them! I probably could have sold a couple more if I had brought more.

Why do I continue being involved in NSRC when my work is now broader and I’m no longer directly working with suborbital research? It’s a small an intimate gathering, a welcoming community, a good mix of multidisciplinary attendees and presenters, and very forward-thinking topics. It’s a seamless fusion of science, engineering, public outreach, government, and commercial space. And because it’s not annual, it’s not repetitive in an ever-changing field. Even though my work is broader now, I still wish to be a suborbital astronaut/ space tourist. When I fly, I’ll take an experiment with me. I’ve trained to be a suborbital scientist. Aside from a lunar astronaut, suborbital astronaut who I desire to become.

The Marathon that is Writing, Publishing, & Selling a Book

I'm playing with a book idea. Anyone out there in the "millennial" generation working in the space industry willing to be interviewed?

— Laura Seward Forczyk (@LauraForczyk) March 7, 2016

This is the tweet that began the creation of the book, Rise of the Space Age Millennials: The Space Aspirations of a Rising Generation. It was just a thought, an idea that popped into my head. I never thought of myself as a book author. And yet a little idea kicked off an almost four-year process of researching for, writing, and publishing my first book.

“Are you writing this book for fame or for money?” a few people asked me along the way. Ha, neither! I knew from the start this would be a niche book with a tiny customer base: space-interested millennials and space-interested readers of other generations to some extent. I never dreamed this would be a New York Times Best Seller or that it would make me thousands.

True to my nature, before writing the book, I researched how to publish a book. I read a lot of guides and personal accounts. I was under no illusions. According to a statistic I found, most self-published books sell fewer than 250 copies ever. Knowing how tiny my market is for this book, I decided I’d be pleased if I sold 10 books. Last year I ran a Kickstarter fundraiser and pre-sold 34 books, so I increased my goal to 100 books. Selling 100 books does not bring fame nor fortune.

So why write it? Because no one else had. It was a topic I was interested in and there was no other resource out there like it. Millennials get a bad reputation due to stereotypes filled with half-truths that didn’t ring true to me. My goal was to give my millennial peers a voice. I wrote the book for myself and for them.

Being a scientist, the first thing I wanted to do was collect data. I interviewed over 100 millennials (101 to 103 depending on how I count it) with a set of questions covering topics ranging from space inspirations, work preferences, connectivity, and space goals. I’m a physical scientist, not a social scientist, so creating interview questions and interpreting the answers stretched me. I did the best I could to represent their views.

My initial introduction draft contained all kinds of statistics. Workforce demographics in the US, at NASA, and at companies such as SpaceX. Statistics about my millennial interview panel. A look at how millennials compare to previous generations. I come from a scientific background and I approached the presentation scientifically. But that doesn’t make for good storytelling. Book writing is entirely different from the technical writing I’m used to. I scrapped that version and instead focused on individuals’ stories and the trends as a whole. I wrote the book with a space-interested audience in mind but with a clarity that could be understood by anyone.

One of my biggest downfalls was impostor syndrome, the fear that I’m not worthy to be doing what I’m doing. After all, I have no formal training in book writing and I’m not famous. Why would anyone want to read a book I wrote? Why would people spend money on my book? How dare I think my writing is good enough to be read by the masses. This fear still plagues me. The only motivation that pushed me forward was reading so many bad books in the past couple of years. I’ve disliked or felt ambivalent about most of the books I’ve read for pleasure recently, both modern and “classic.” Yet those books were still published and sold, recommended to me, and ended up in my hands. If they could do it, so could I.

Unfortunately, negative feedback did paralyze me. Approximately 3 years ago, before I had even begun writing, I presented my initial research results to a local AIAA chapter. The room was filled with members of the silent generation and baby boomers, maybe a generation Xer or two. Aside from me, there was only one other millennial in the room. I presented direct quotes from my interviews and explained some of the trends I was beginning to see. They hated it. They disagreed with it. They fought back on everything I said simply because it was counter to their worldview. Nothing I said helped them to overcome their initial biases to understand the material I was presenting. I left my own presentation early, feeling dejected and disillusioned. If I couldn’t convince a space-interested crowd of the value of my material, why write the book?

Time passed. I suffered a computer crash and then another. I lost files. I built up my business. I got pregnant and had a second child. In the passing time, I had moments of motivation that encouraged me to work on the book, but that never lasted long. The book was largely shelved.

Eventually I realized if I didn’t motivate myself, all my hard work up to that point would be for nothing. So last year, on my birthday, I ran a Kickstarter campaign. I created draft cover art and a promotional video. I asked people for help in acquiring initial funds to pay for art, editing, and publishing. My goal was $1,000 and I raised over $2,300 which also gave me enough funds to create an audiobook. The support was truly motivating! Plus, I knew if I took people’s money in pre-sales, I would finish the book.

But it still took time. Last year was the busiest yet for my small business. I got pregnant and had a devastating late miscarriage. Progress was slow and I needed an end date. I had planned for April, which got pushed to the summer, which got pushed back even later once I realized how many Apollo anniversary books were flooding the market. Finally, I settled again on my birthday, January 17. Book launch day.

Before I knew it, it was November and my manuscript wasn’t yet completed! I worked as best I could for weeks, finally getting it to my publisher in December. I knew I was cutting it close.

My initial dive into self-publishing reading almost 4 years ago led me to believe self-publishing was easier than traditional publishing, especially for a first-time author. The freedom, flexibility, speed, and increased royalties in self-publishing appealed to me. I doubted I could get a publisher to agree to my tiny niche market book. And yet, nothing about self-publishing is easy! I learned the hard way over and over that first-time authors who self-publish have a lot to learn.

I hired a freelance artist to redesign my cover art and to make a spine and back cover. At the time, I did not know anything about trim sizes and page numbers. After a few iterations, I was pleased with the final product. Only much later did I realize the dimensions of my cover art were all wrong! Cover art unexpectedly ended up being the most frustrating part of the entire book publishing experience. After 6 or 7 tries, I think I’ve finally gotten the cover art to where it’s supposed to be, even if it is a little stretched.

Last-minute I decided to hire another artist, a talented young woman in the space industry, to create interior art. Working with Caroline was a breeze and my chapters now begin with her beautiful little illustrations. It’s the details that make the book format so enjoyable over a blog or other plain text communication.

I expected editing to be tough, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I had done a fair amount of proof-reading ahead of time. But it’s always humbling to see just how many mistakes I made without even realizing it. My editor Bart offered so many wonderful suggestions, the hardest part was implementing them all in the time constraint I had. Although I know I missed some mistakes, including an embarrassing one I caught during the typesetting process, I’m pleased with the quality of the book. I’m never pleased with the quality of my writing, but it is what it is. I’ll never be as good of a writer as some, but I’m better than others.

I hired another freelancer to format and typeset the book for print and ebook formats. He did a decent job, but after a few iterations to fix all the little mistakes, I really felt the time crunch. It was under one week until book launch!

I also learned last-minute, as I was preparing my book launch webpage, media kits are expected. I knew of press kits from rocket launches, not book launches. In the final days before book launch day, I created a media kit with a press release, photos, information, and even a mock interview.

As much as I had read and read about self-publishing, I was not prepared for the nightmare that is the publishing process on Amazon. Publishing the ebook (both on Amazon and Barnes & Noble) was fairly straightforward and I had that task accomplished days early. But print publishing was another story.

For such a huge company that almost holds a monopoly on self-publishing, Amazon’s instructions are atrocious. I give them a D for unclear and contradictory information, vague error messages, and long response times (approximately 20 hours between submissions and rejections). Finally, a day late, the paperback was on sale. But it was an early customer who informed me the art wasn’t great and I needed to fix it. So, finally, now the paperback is on sale and in good shape, no thanks to Amazon.

Amazon conveniently ignores Prime user status when selling author copies. So not only do I need to pay for shipping boxes of books, I also need to wait longer than the standard 2-day delivery. It’s embarrassing to me I still haven’t shipped out pre-order books, let alone the autographed books that have been ordered over the past week since book launch. But, it will be done by tomorrow morning when I can finally get to the post office.

After doing even more reading about marketing, I’ve come to understand book sales are a marathon, not a sprint. Book launch is just the beginning. I did a little bit of organic social media marketing before book launch and over the past week, plus documenting my findings and experiences in this blog. My goal to sell 100 books has almost been reached. As of this writing, I’m 90% there.

I did three podcast interviews about the book prior to its release and I have a radio interview lined up soon. I’m giving my first live audience talk about the book at a conference in March, specifically about how to market space and space business to space-interested millennials. I plan to turn that talk into a guide to publish for free on my company’s website. Marketing will continue until the book topic is no longer relevant, which may be when millennials really are running the space sector.

Publishing Space Millennials isn’t over yet. This weekend, I’ll play with my new microphone and pop filter. I’ll download audio recording software and try to get an idea how to create an audiobook. Over the next few months, I’ll record myself narrating the book for the readers who prefer to listen.

My dabble into book writing and publishing isn’t over yet. For over a year now, I’ve had an idea for a second book, but I haven’t allowed myself to pursue it until this book is completed. The topic: how to prepare and what to expect as a space tourist. Wish me luck!

To purchase Rise of the Space Age Millennials and help me reach my goal, visit: https://www.astralytical.com/rise-of-the-space-age-millennials .

Edit: Goal of 100 copies sold achieved in the first 9 days. Thank you all!

Rising Space Millennials to Mars & Beyond

Mars image courtesy of NASA

Astronauts landing on Mars. Permanent settlements on the Moon and Mars. Private space stations. Advanced rocket propulsion. Deep space tourism cruises. The discovery of life on one of our Solar System moons or a distant exoplanet. Even global peace and unity through space activity. These are some of the predictions and dreams space millennials have for their time in the workforce as described in my upcoming book, Rise of the Space Age Millennials.

The summer of 2019 was all about reliving the glory days of Apollo (as we remember them now). The astounding achievement of landing astronauts on the Moon in 1969 deserves the praise and celebration it received 50 years later. Written accounts and oral histories contributed to our nostalgic reflections on what we've accomplished over the past half-century.

Relatively few pondered what we'll accomplish over the next half-century. Where will humanity be in space when we celebrate the centennial of the Apollo 11 lunar landing? Can you imagine 2069?

The generations that built the early space age will be long gone by then. The current rising working generation of millennials will be nearing retirement. Generation Z and the generations to come will be carrying the torch forward for humanity into the cosmos. I asked approximately 100 millennials working in the space sector or studying to work in the space sector what they hope we will accomplish before we retire.

Refreshingly, their outlook was bright! A few cynics offered skepticism we'd get much farther out into space than we already are. But the vast majority of respondents had lofty goals and high expectations. I fully admit to a selection bias in my sample. All respondents were working or pursuing work in a field they love and only those willing to share their dreams with me responded. There's also something to be said for the optimism of youth before it's crushed into realism and cynicism by delayed projects, canceled programs, and broken promises. And yet, millennials in their 20s and 30s who have already seen their share of shifting priorities and timelines still remained optimistic.

Mars Mars Mars. No destination calls to millennials the way Mars does. Many millennials shared my desire to return humans to the Moon, but almost universally, Mars was the most important goal. Just about every one of the millennials respondents believes they will witness humans land on the red planet in their lifetimes. NASA's current focus on taking the Artemis Generation to the Moon, then Mars, just as Constellation and other programs previously promised, is in line with millennial expectations for the future. Whether it's a government program or a private company such as SpaceX, millennials assume a future on Mars.

How we get to Mars is still an area of active debate. Some millennials call for a push reminiscent of the Apollo era, complete with an Apollo-sized NASA budget, to achieve a grand goal for the global space community. Some millennials call for a more incremental approach, improving life support systems, radiation shielding, and propulsion technology before sending our pioneering astronauts deeper into space than ever before. Some call for a large government initiative while others put their faith in the ambitious of innovative new companies. The path we take is still to be written.

Who participates will look different than the Right Stuff astronauts of 50 years ago. Millennials in the United States represent a more diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural population than previous generations. Each successive generation is getting more diverse. On average, millennials also value diversity and inclusivity more than their older colleagues. Many millennials I interviewed mentioned the imperative of a more representative space workforce and the importance of involving the international community. Future human expeditions to Mars will be more representative of the global population.

It was a pleasure getting to know my peers better through these interviews. For more insights on these topics or others, I invite you to read Rise of the Space Age Millennials (released January 17, 2020).

The Birth of a Book

March 7, 2016. It started with a thought, casually tweeted: “I'm playing with a book idea. Anyone out there in the 'millennial' generation working in the space industry willing to be interviewed?”

Millennials this. Millennials aren't that. Millennials are doing this and killing that. So many articles, so many stereotypes, so many negative portrayals. I didn't feel fairly represented.

The story I wanted to know wasn't being told: how are millennials changing the world through space exploration? What grand accomplishments does my generation hope to achieve in space? What do we prioritize and value? What are our individual and collective dreams? And through asking these questions, can I read between the lines to understand whether any of the millennial stereotypes hold true?

I never saw myself becoming a book author. I never saw myself becoming a small business owner, either, but life takes us on unexpected journeys. The idea, planted in my mind, publicly sprouted on Twitter, grew. Numerous people stepped up to volunteer their thoughts and support.

I sincerely appreciate my gracious and talented interviewees. Without them, this book would not exist. I am but one millennial. By the time the interviews were completed, 100 voices from multiple countries, a diversity of disciplines, and a mix of employers had given Rise of the Space Age Millennials life. All I had left to do was to put it all together.

Life got in the way. I had an infant. We moved four times. I had two computer crashes and thought I lost data until I rediscovered my back-up. I had a second baby. There were lots of starts and stops, long stops. At times, I thought the barriers were so high, I would never finish it.

The seemingly insurmountable barrier was one I had erected in my own mind. No one praises my writing. It's good enough to get by for my usual purposes. But it's not popular or award-winning. I don't have a gift for prose. My writing is functional but not fun. Why would anyone pay to read my writing for the fun of it?

I convinced myself I was no good at book writing and I shouldn't take money from people to give them an amateur book that could be better written by someone else. Why waste everyone's time? Why set myself up for rejection?

It took a lot of bad books to change my mind. I knew how to pick them in 2018. I read one forgetable book after another. Some of them were okay. Some of them weren't even worth my time to finish. The best book I read all year, Oh Crap! Potty Training, is wildly popular yet I'd grade it a C for writing excellence.

And then it occurred to me: every book I had read was recommended to me or was somehow placed in my awareness despite the fact that they were average to poor quality. If those books got published and put on shelves, why shouldn't my book have the same opportunity?

I conquered my fear of rejection by choosing to ignore it. I was writing for myself to finally get this book out of my head. I no longer cared whether it sold. Ten seemed like a respectable low bar; I decided to try to sell ten books and call it a success. I vowed to do my best not to read reviews or glance at star ratings. It doesn't matter. Someone will love it. Someone will hate it. My book isn't for everyone, but it's for someone. It's for me. And maybe it's for others too.

I calculated the bare minimum budget I needed to publish with editing, art, and publishing costs. I rounded: $1000. Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing crowdfunding platform; I needed to raise at least $1000 or I'd get nothing at all.

I raised my goal within the first 2 hours of the campaign. I met my stretch goal as well: enough of a budget to record an audiobook. I was flattered by the positive response. The topic interests people. I hope my writing will as well.

As of this posting, there's 24 hours left in the Kickstarter campaign. Preordering the book through the campaign allows me to include extra perks such as thanking contributors in the book, autographing, consulting, and traveling for a lecture and book signing.

If you're reading this within the last 24 hours, you still have time to support the Kickstarter campaign and preorder your copy: https://kickstarter.com/projects/spacemillennials/rise-of-the-space-age-millennials

I still have plenty of work left to do. I won't truly believe it's real until I'm holding it in my hands. I'm not going to let anyone stop me, not even myself.

Hey Space Millennials – Want to Be in a Book?

I hadn't intended to write a book. The idea popped into my head one evening. Curious, I ran the idea past my space community sounding board, Twitter. The response I've gotten has been surprising! Within days I had several interviews lined up, some of which I'm already examining the answers.

Rise of the Space Age Millennials (working title) will explore the views and attitudes of the next generation of space leaders. Those born between 1981 – 2000 are entering the workforce and rising to positions of responsibility and action within the space science and space industry. How do those of my generation feel about the promise of future space achievements? What motivates them? How do they differ from their older colleagues? And what about those millennial stereotypes – are these inaccurate generalizations or do these traits affect the way in which we work and progress space efforts?

Questions to millennials include:

What excites you about current space programs?

What space destinations should humans travel to?

Would you support another Apollo-like mission?

How important is mission length? What about multi-generational missions?

How important is safety? What are your feelings on risk?

What will millennials accomplish in the space industry?

In forming the interview questions, I thought about what I'd want to know if I were the reader. This is my generation, but I can only speak for myself and the conversations I've had with my peers. With a larger pool of data, I can see trends emerging. Or, conversely, explore the diversity of opinions.

I'm aiming for the book to be out by the end of the year. I've never written a book before, so I could be kidding myself. Advice in book writing and publishing would be appreciated.

Are you a millennial or do you know a millennial working in the space community who might be a good fit for this book? If so, please contact me to be on the Millennial Panel.

Click here to watch the vlog: Adventures in Book Writing.