Keynote: How I Accidentally Used Open Source Ideology to Make a Bestselling Novel
summary
A software engineer posts The Martian posted serially chapter-by-chapter to a personal site, builds a 3,000-reader mailing list, and uses readers as volunteer fact-checkers to iterate like an Agile release. Finished ePub and Mobi go up for free, then onto Amazon Kindle Direct publishing priced $0.99, which triggers Amazon discovery and climbs genre bestseller lists. That visibility leads to a Random House book deal and 20th Century Fox option, then screenplay work (Drew Goddard), Matt Damon attached, and Ridley Scott directing.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Introduction to the talk
- 1:50Failed first novel attempt
- 2:55Writing online for a small audience
- 3:59Serializing The Martian online
- 5:24Publishing The Martian on Amazon
- 7:10Book gains unexpected popularity
- 8:12Agent and publisher come calling
- 9:14Simultaneous book and movie deals
- 10:42Movie production challenges
- 11:28Conclusion and Q&A
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