Welcome to Edition #93 of Gorick's newsletter, where Harvard career advisor and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Gorick Ng shares what they don't teach you in school about how to succeed in your career.
Sign up now to receive Gorick’s weekly career strategies!
→ Read time: 7 min
STORY
How The Martian went from blog post to bestseller & blockbuster
It’s 1999—and software engineer Andy Weir was just laid off.
The reason?
His employer, AOL, had just merged with Netscape—and 850 jobs were cut. Weir’s was one of them.
With employee stock options in hand, AOL stock at an all-time high, and a requirement to sell those options within 60 days of getting laid off, Weir wondered:
Could this be a blessing in disguise?
He was a software engineer by day, but a writer by night. This was intentional. “I liked regular meals,” Weir recalls. “So I went into computer science.”
But now that his seemingly secure career was no longer so secure, he decided: “I’m gonna take a shot at being a full-time writer.”
So, over the next 3 years, he wrote an entire sci-fi novel and then pitched it to literary agents—only to hear “no” over and over again.
So, he got another full-time programming job—but kept writing on the side.
Over the next 8-ish years, Weir posted various short stories and comics to a personal blog and, by 2009, amassed a small but loyal base of around 3,000 readers.
After releasing 2 novels and 666 comics, one story about an astronaut stranded on Mars called The Martian “really took off.”
Feeling the momentum, Weir decided to release a new chapter every 2 months. Each time he posted a new chapter, he’d ask his fans—“hard-core science geeks”—to “tell [him] what [he] did wrong.”
A reactor technician from a US nuclear submarine corrected the accuracy of a plotline. Engineers emailed him with corrected calculations. And many agreed that they needed an easier way to read his work: “Can you just put it on Kindle?”
So, in 2012, Weir self-published The Martian on Amazon Kindle.
Within two months, it had sold 35,000 copies and became the #1 bestselling sci-fi book on Kindle. Then a literary agent reached out: “Do you have an agent? If not, you want one?”
In 2013—about 20 years after he was first rejected by a literary agent—Weir landed a book deal—and shortly thereafter, a movie deal.
In March of 2014, the book became a New York Times bestseller. In April of 2014, Weir finally quit his full-time software engineer job to write full-time.
In 2015, the book became a Hollywood movie starring Matt Damon.
Weir writes to this day and is the author of Artemis, Cheshire Crossing (a graphic novel), and Project Hail Mary, another New York Times bestseller.
UNSPOKEN RULE
Build your dream in pieces.
As we’ve discussed before with MrBeast and Joe Biden, it takes about a decade to become an overnight success. I call it The Ten Year Rule.
It’s not just about waiting a decade, though. It’s about getting started (and getting started now)—beginning with what you already have.
And if you’re thinking, but I don’t have anything, you do!
You have 3 “things” that are really assets:
- Who you know
- What you know
- Where you are
What were Weir’s assets?
- Who: Weir didn’t know any literary agents or publishers… but he did “know” his 3,000 blog subscribers, who gave him encouragement, feedback, and support.
- What: Weir didn’t know astrophysics to write a realistic space story… but he did know how to research, write, and, most importantly, ask for feedback.
- Where: Weir wasn’t in Hollywood (the center of gravity for filmmaking) or New York City (the center of gravity for publishing)... but, he was in a full-time programming job that gave him the financial stability to write as a hobby.
In other words, Weir didn’t have everything, but he did have something—and that something was enough to help him start.
There are 2 critical words in the prior sentence: (1) something and (2) start.
And when it comes to starting—he started small. The Martian wasn’t a novel yet. In fact, it wasn’t even a story. Instead, Weir put out comics and chapters, through which he built his human capital, social capital, and reputational capital.
This could be you!
First, ask yourself, “What do I dream of doing in the future?”
Then, try filling in the following blanks:
1. WHO: “I don’t (yet) know any ______ who can help me [achieve this big goal], but I do know ______, who can help me [achieve this smaller goal].”
- E.g., “I don’t (yet) know any major shoe manufacturers who can help me mass produce my designs, but I do know my former track coach, Bill Bowerman, who can help me build a prototype.”
2. WHAT: “I know how to ______ and ______, which can get me closer to achieving [smaller goal].”
- E.g., “I know how to import cheaper products from overseas and sign distribution deals, which can get me closer to building a shoe company.”
3. WHERE: “I know it would have been ideal for me to live in ______ because then I’d ______. The advantage to living ______, though, is that I’d get to ______.”
- E.g., “I know it would have been ideal for me to live in Japan because then I’d be able to access the relevant shoe manufacturers directly. The advantage to living so close to the University of Oregon, though, is that I’d be closer to my end users: college athletes."
(Psst: Do my examples sound familiar? This is the founding story of Nike, which you can read about here.)
Not every dream you chase will work out. But, as Weir learned, small moves can lead to big results, especially if you’re intentional.
See you on Thursday for our “Ask Gorick Anything” of the week!
Gorick
What’s an “unspoken rule”? They’re the things that separate those who get ahead from those who stumble—and don’t know why. You can learn more about these rules in the workplace in my Wall Street Journal bestselling book called—you guessed it—The Unspoken Rules.
***
Every newsletter is free and a fraction of my work.
Here are 4 of my paid offerings that may interest you:
1. Keynote speaking: My 2025 calendar is filling up! If your organization is looking for speakers for graduation season, manager training, new hire / early career orientation, AAPI Heritage Month, ERG summits, or something else, let’s chat!
2. HOW TO SAY IT: Flashcards that teach you to know what to say in every high-stakes professional setting. Get 260 fill-in-the-blank scripts and self-guided video tutorials. Free shipping on all orders over $40.
3. Fast Lane to Leadership: My online course that takes you from day 1 in a new role through to a promotion with 28 modules and 28 cheatsheets (3.5 hours of content). U
4. The Unspoken Rules: My Wall Street Journal Bestseller that Arianna Huffington calls “a blueprint for anyone starting their career, entering a new role, or wanting to get unstuck.” Used by top companies and MBA programs.
