Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, there were some early blog adopters (like John Scalzi) who published a first novel on their blogs, chapter by chapter. Scalzi, at least, eventually got a book deal out of it, and Old Man's War launched his very successful career as a SF writer.
It didn't hurt that Scalzi had background in journalism (or something along those lines) already either.
Nor that it was a well-written book with snappy dialogue and a good hook.