Nerds, I have to be honest with you. I suck at self-promotion. There was a time in my life when I was reasonably good at it, but now I’m just terrible.

My memoir, Still Just A Geek, is going to be released in like 34 days. Today, I will finish the audiobook narration. I have lots and lots to say about it, and I will when I have time to catch my breath and reflect.

Until then, though, I wanted everyone to know about this thing we’re offering everyone who has pre-ordered (or pre-orders in the next 33ish days) the book, as posted on my Facebook before the weekend:

Okay, self-promo completed, as long as I have your attention, I wanted to share some stuff. I think most of you know that I’ve been narrating Still Just A Geek for audio two weeks. I’ve been given permission to add in occasional thoughts as they occur to me, and because I am working with my favorite director in the industry, who I trust implicitly, I can be as vulnerable as the material deserves and in places demands. I’m emotionally wrung out, and physically exhausted, so I know that I am leaving everything in the booth, putting everything I am capable of putting into this narration.

Still, we (the director and I) felt like the audiobook needed its own introduction, so I wrote one yesterday that I literally just now realized is kind of a good pitch for the audiobook, if someone is on the fence about it. Here it is:

Hey nerds! This introduction is specifically for this audiobook. There are a few things I want you to know before we get started that are obvious to readers, but not to listeners. The first half of this book is my 2004 memoir, Just A Geek. All the material in that book is from around 2000 to about 2004, when I was in my late twenties. The second half is essays and speeches I’ve written in the last handful of years. If I did this right, you will hopefully see how I grew and changed as a person, and as a writer.

I’ve heavily annotated and reflected on who I was and what I wrote in the early aughts. In the print version of this book, it’s very easy to see where almost-50 me is talking about the experiences of almost-30 me. In audio, I suspect it will present a challenge, at least at first. I’ve worked to lower my voice and clearly indicate when 2022 me is speaking, and not 2002 me. When I feel that isn’t clear enough, I’m just going to tell you that we’re going into footnotes.

I’ve worked with this director and this studio for over a decade, and this is unlike anything we have ever done together. Industry professionals tell me this is kind of a new thing for audio memoirs, and I wanted to offer a suggestion that may help ease you into the whole experience.

I suspect it will help if you imagine that we are sitting in a room together, and I am just telling you my story. I’m reading to you from the book I wrote 20 years ago, occasionally looking up to reflect on it. I’ve adopted a more conversational tone, then, for this narration than I do when I’m narrating someone else’s words. This is a conversation. It isn’t a performance.

I’m actually writing this introduction the day before I finish recording the book. I’ve been working on it for two weeks, saying most of it out loud for the first time in 20 years. It turns out that saying it all out loud woke up stuff in me that stayed asleep when I was writing it, and while I narrated it, I had additional thoughts I wanted to add, additional context or whatever which came up that wasn’t there until it was. You can identify this entirely free bonus content because it is usually preceeded by something like, “this is just for this edition” or “here’s something I’d forgotten until just now,” and so on. I make a joke a couple times about how I’m going to annotate the annotations in another 20 years, but it turns out I have already done that.

There are also a few footnotes from the print edition that I cut, because they really only work in print, and are almost entirely jokes that I don’t think you’re going to miss. But, you know, full disclosure and all that.

Finally, a content warning. I talk a lot about my traumatic childhood. I talk about experiencing abuse, neglect, and exploitation. A lot of that was incredibly hard for me to read, much more challenging than it was to write. I need you to know that this book gets raw, vulnerable, and intense in a few places. If any of that sounds like it could be difficult for you, I want you to know ahead of time, so you can be prepared.

We’re going to spend a little over 20 hours together, if you stick with me to the end. I want you to know how grateful I am that you are giving me so much of your time, that you are listening to my story. You’re going to hear about a son who just wanted to be seen and heard, from the father that he grew up to be; a father who will do his best to give that kid, that teenager, that struggling twenty-something the voice he never had. On behalf of every person I’ve been at every stage of my life, I want to say thank you, from all of us for listening.

I feel like the audiobook will be something special. At least, it will be to me, and if anyone else feels the same way, that makes me really happy.