The algorithm is called demand and supply

You know how in Tenet there's this plutonium that's not really plutonium but a piece of the algorithm that can change the direction of time? Well, that's nothing like the algorithm I'm talking about here. Here I'm talking about the algorithm that drives what kind of content gets produced, say, on YouTube.

If you're a YouTuber, you probably follow carefully which videos people watch on your channel - which videos get the most traffic and the most comments. Then, if you want more views and comments,

you replicate the same video over and over again, iterating small nuances according to the feedback you get from each.

Now, when I made videos for WIP, I never really analyzed the data or optimized the content, which is probably why the videos never got many views. If I had, I would've soon realized that the subjects I talked about weren't all that interesting to others. Not that I necessarily would've changed my content accordingly, but at least the chance to do so would've been there.

But when it comes to publishing, I have analyzed the data and used it to optimize the books I publish. I have noticed that certain topics sell significantly more than all the others combined. People want to read about these subjects, so they buy these books, and once they've read one, they'll be more likely to buy and read another on the same subject. This is why I have produced and published "sequels" to these books.

The smart overall strategy is to focus on publishing even more sequels while putting out books on hot and trendy topics of the moment. This way I would be cashing in on the legacy of the old topics while testing the market for new possible series. However, producing books about the same topics requires the writer to come up with something new to say, while saying the same things all over again. And this is really, really boring - unless you

make the hunt for traffic a game - see how far you can push it - set a number of sales to reach.

This eliminates the boredom and creates an exciting game-like experience.

And who doesn't like playing games?