Be a Genius, but One We Can Understand
and other annoying things about markets
It is hard to be a creator in America.
America values things using data. Data means quantifiable measurements— so literary agents look for a following, editors look for a market, publishers seek monetization, companies want branded product sales…. everything boils down to numbers.
Numbers are left-brain things. They go well with lists. Plans. Steps. Projects.
Creators are right-brain people. We do well with randomness, synergy, connectivity, coinages, making sense out of chaos. We like to merge things that have never been together for no reason except to satisfy our own curiosity: feathers and gears, sunsets and meteor showers, delicate china cups full of steaming hot jasmine tea and car chases.
We want to be first. Or better still: unique.
It is hard to project a data set to sell a product when you hope there is no path from which you have come, and no direction that you clearly must go.
The perfect art seems to come from nowhere and changes the world.
But you know who has the most creative power in America? The market.
Because the market is the consumer that will give you the data points to prove your value…
