In this ~9 minute segment, Andy Weir, author of “The Martian”, discusses how he wrote and published his book.

My takeaways:

1. There’s no shortcut to good writing; you have to do a lot of mediocre writing first.
2. Building up a readership / fanbase over a long period of time is super helpful.
3. Crowdsourcing feedback on your book is smart.
4. Amazon can empower small-time authors in incredible ways.
5. Every good writer is first and foremost an avid reader.

(HT to Addison Pond for lending me his copy of The Martian and pointing me to this interview.)