How a Series of Blog Posts Turned into a Multi-million Dollar Bestseller
Andy Weir liked his day job and the people he worked with. He also liked to write. In his free time, he wrote books and short stories about science fiction.
He wrote a short story titled The Egg, which gained him a small and loyal following. Next he decided to start a story about an astronaut who gets stuck on Mars. Rather than spend years writing a book and hoping for a big publishing deal, he wrote the book chapter by chapter and published it for free on his blog.
He didn’t have big dreams and aspirations of selling millions of copies of The Martian let alone seeing it turn into a movie. He simply sat down to write the story he wanted to read and shared it with his small and growing audience of readers.
When the book was finished and still open to the public, people started asking him how they could get it on their e-reading devices. Weir collected the posts and shared it on his website for free. Still, people had trouble downloading it so he decided to self-publish it on Amazon.
He picked $0.99 as the cost for his eBook because Amazon would not let you distribute eBooks for free. He continued distributing it for free on his own personal website.
There were 20 sales in the first month, then 100 sales in the second month. The book grew in sales month by month.
In 2013 Podium Publishing worked with Weir to create the audiobook version narrated by R. C. Bray, which became the #1 bestselling audiobook on Audible.com.
By the time Weir signed a publishing deal with Random House in 2014, the eBook had sold more than 35,000 copies. That same year the major motion picture starring Matt Damon, which is based on the book, began filming.
Be Surprised by Success
Focusing on the process and not the outcome is a common theme among successful artists. Like Weir, they ignore the sales and marketing potential for their work and simply create something people will enjoy.
A successful artist gets better at their art each day and shares it publicly every chance they get.
Weir success shows how important it is to ignore traditional paths to success and instead simply put something out there.
As Weir sometimes tells writers looking for advice, if it is good, it will sell. If it isn’t good, go back and create something better. Self-publish your work. There is no excuse.
Inspired by Andy Weir’s interview on the James Altucher Show. Listen here.
