I’m going to go off-topic for just a second here to do a tiny bit of self-promotion. That’s permissible in a blog, isn’t it?
My vast underground network has informed me that my first book, The Big Splat, or How Our Moon Came to Be, was recently named as one of the Best Audiobooks of 2010 by the editors at audible.com. Actually, it was picked by one editor at Audible.com. You can go to this page to see all of the books on the Best of 2010 list (including their choice for the #1 audiobook of the year). Scroll down to the bottom of the page where it says “Editors’ Picks,” and click on Corey’s List. You’ll find The Big Splat third on the list.
I don’t know who Corey is or what his selection criteria were, but the four other books he picked for his Best-of-2010 list were all by people you might have heard of: Loretta Lynn, Christopher Hitchens, Keith Richards, and Flannery O’Connor. I feel honored to be in such company! For one thing, they all have Wikipedia pages and I don’t.
It was a surprise to hear about this because The Big Splat came out so long ago (2003). It’s long past the time for winning prizes, making best-of lists, etc. [I did make one other best-of list that I know about — Booklist magazine’s Editor’s Choice list for 2003.] However, I did know from my publisher that Audible.com had bought the rights to make an audiobook of The Big Splat. I just didn’t know that they were going to go and make it one of their top choices of the year!
Ever since I heard about this, I’ve been noticing that Audible.com has been advertising like crazy on the Internet. Apparently it is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, and I’ve been seeing their display ads everywhere. Maybe they’re just desperate because Apple’s iPad has taken all of their Kindle business away, and they think that audiobooks are the Next Big Thing?
Anyhoo, if you want to support your favorite author of moon books and chess blogs, you can of course buy the Big Splat audiobook at Audible.com. However, I won’t actually make any money from it! That’s because Audible just paid a lump sum for the rights. The only way I actually earn any royalties is if you buy the old-fashioned hardback edition or the slightly less old-fashioned Kindle edition, and you can do either of those things here. (Just a suggestion.)
Okay, back to chess now! 😉
