The Math of Making Money from Weird Shit

A brutally honest breakdown of why weird creators need to reach more people, how to build loyal fanbases, and the math behind making money from niche art.

Hi,

Real talk. In order to succeed making money doing weird stuff, you probably need to talk to 2-10x more people than somebody making basic ass shit.

Yes, it’s true. There is simply a bigger market for basic ass shit than weird ass shit, because everyone can skim the surface of something and feel like they “get it.”

It’s frictionless. Familiar.

Weird? Weird takes a second. People have to slow down and actually engage with it. They have to figure out what the hell you’re doing before they decide if they like it. And a lot of them won’t. That’s fine. That’s expected…if we expect it.

For every person who likes the basic version of something, maybe 10–50% will like a weird version of that thing, and probably even fewer will like your weird version, depending on how weird it is.

Depending on how that math maths, that equates to 2-10x the reach to get the same results.

That is math, and math problems are solvable.

When I decide to release something really weird I have to tell myself that it w…