Andy Weir — author of 'The Martian' and 'Project Hail Mary'. In the 90s, he was an ordinary programmer at Blizzard, from which he was fired in 1995, essentially being called a talentless hack.

But instead of giving up, Andy started writing science fiction and posting chapters on his blog — just like that, for free. His blog subscribers were science fans who fact-checked his writing, for example: 'How to grow potatoes on Mars?'.

When the book was finished (2011), fans asked for an e-book version for e-readers. Andy listed the book for $0.99 — the minimum price allowed on Amazon. Unexpectedly, the book became popular, catching the attention of publisher Crown: they bought the rights and published the novel in print. And in 2014, the book became a New York Times bestseller.

💡 Interesting fact: The film rights for 'The Martian' were bought before the book even appeared on store shelves in print. Fox studio saw the potential of a story that professional publisher Crown only noticed after its success on Amazon.


🚀 So Blizzard lost a programmer, but the world gained a great writer.

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