[narrator]

The Martian is probably the best example of an author really embracing the 21st century. You give the text of the book away for free on a website and make money off the people who want the audiobook, the movie rights, the kindle, etc. In the 21st century, entertainment is free, attention is expensive, so you have to give away your free entertainment to get attention and then sell the entertainment in more rarified mediums like movies, audiobooks, even kindle, that require higher production costs than writing a blog.

[ellegriffin]

Yes! I actually interviewed Andy Weir for another piece for this exact reason. https://ellegriffin.substack.com/p/publishing-industry-truth

[selimthegrim]

Peter Watts does this too.