These industries are vicious precisely because so many people want to be in them. Their ranks are filled not just with those great creators who are actually doing the hard work, but with legions more who will do literally anything to avoid that work while maintaining their positions (or illusions) of power. Together, they form a suffocating gauntle

A reality of our culture is that if you or your product has never been covered in the press, there is a risk that people will think you’re a nobody. Unless something is brand-new, it’s very rare that someone or something is both definitive and unknown. That’s why press matters and why it is part of most successful marketing plans. Still, this signa

By patience, I’m not referring just to the amount of time that creation will take, but also the long view with which you evaluate your own work.

You may be important in your world, but they are important in theirs.

Promotion is not how things are made great—only how they’re heard about.

These words of Steven Pressfield in his wonderful book The War of Art are a haunting and humbling reminder: “The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.”

So much in the history of art and culture hinges on moments like this. Faced with soul-crushing feedback or rejection, how does the creator respond? With petulance and anger? With open-mindedness and interest? With obsequiousness and desperation?

strategic choice took a toll on the brand, primarily because it took a toll on the trust between the publications and their readers—the

most customers won’t get excited about a moderate improvement—because most people don’t even care.