> Never read the Martian but I was told it was the same thing.

The Martian was actually originally published in a serialized form, one chapter coming out every so often.

> It didn't start out that way though. "The Martian" began as a series of self-published chapters on Weir's personal blog.

> Then Weir decided to put the book on Amazon, selling it for the website's lowest possible price ($0.99).

* https://archive.is/https://www.businessinsider.com/how-andy-...

> Having been rebuffed by literary agents when trying to get prior books published, Weir decided to put the book online in serial format one chapter at a time for free at his website. At the request of fans, he made an Amazon Kindle version available at 99 cents (the minimum allowable price he could set).[9] The Kindle edition rose to the top of Amazon's list of best-selling science-fiction titles, selling 35,000 copies in three months, more than had been previously downloaded free.[9][11] This garnered the attention of publishers: Podium Publishing, an audiobook publisher, signed for the audiobook rights in January 2013. Weir sold the print rights to Crown in March 2013 for over US$100,000.[9]

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(Weir_novel)#Publi...