"I just heard a great book ..."

Sales and reviews are starting to come in for the audiobook of The Sense of Death, now available on Amazon and Audible!

During production of The Sense of Death, I figured I better acquaint myself with audiobooks from a listener’s perspective so I signed up on Audible and started using my credits. One of the first books I listened to was Andy Weir’s The Martian—what a great book to start out with!

Click here to see a talk Andy gave at Google shortly after the publication of The Martian. Andy started out self-publishing on Kindle to provide his friends with an alternative to reading the serialized story on his web site and almost accidentally found himself with an agent and a publisher--you can hear his comments on his experience in the publishing world starting at 21:55. (Andy is a programmer as well as an author, and at one point he refers to the reader as “the user” which I think presents a thought-provoking perspective on the author / reader relationship.)

Andy’s very funny writing is supported by R. C. Bray’s equally funny narration (check out a sample on Amazon). I’m glad I listened to the book rather than reading it because I would have been tempted to skip over some of the more technical sections that turned out to be integral to the story. It also made me appreciate the art of effectively-used profanity—maybe I should add more swearing to The Sense of Reckoning! 

With the advent of technologies like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and with our ever more frantic schedules, I believe that audiobooks will play an increasingly significant role in how readers consume content. I’m starting to delve deeper into the audiobook world and would love to engage with any of you who are audiobook listeners to get your perspective--if you are interested in participating in such a discussion, please drop me a note from the About & Contact page and let me know!