"Big data entrepreneur Allen Gannett overturns the mythology around creative genius, and reveals the science and secrets behind achieving breakout commercial success in any field. We have been spoon-fed the notion that creativity is the province of genius -- of those favored, brilliant few whose moments of insight arrive in unpredictable flashes of divine inspiration. And if we are not a genius, we might as well pack it in and give up. Either we have that gift, or we don't. But Allen shows that simply isn't true. Recent research has shown that there is a predictable science behind achieving commercial success in any creative endeavor, from writing a popular novel to starting up a successful company to creating an effective marketing campaign. As the world's most creative people have discovered, we are enticed by the novel and the familiar. By understanding the mechanics of what Gannett calls "the creative curve" - the point of optimal tension between the novel and the familiar - everyone can better engineer mainstream success. In a thoroughly entertaining book that describes the stories and insights of everyone from the Broadway team behind Dear Evan Hansen, to the founder of Reddit, from the Chief Content Officer of Netflix to Michelin star chefs, Gannett reveals the four laws of creative success and identifies the common patterns behind their achievement"-- Provided by publisher.

"We have been lied to about the source of creative genius. We have been spoon-fed the notion throughout our lives that creativity is the province of a brilliant few. And that moments of insight come to us unbidden, in flashes of genius -- through our dreams, or in the shower, or in a sudden moment of divine inspiration. We are told about the young Mozart, whose effortless genius trumps the methodical and hardworking Salieri; or the creation of Paul McCartney's song "Yesterday", perhaps the most popular single in music history, which came to him in a dream one morning; or J.K. Rowling's inspiration for the Harry Potter books, which came to her while sitting in a delayed train bound for London. What we aren't told is the real background behind such hits. Recent research has revealed the science behind increasing our odds of achieving commercial success, whether in music, in writing, in creating a startup company or orchestrating an effective marketing campaign. Psychologically, human beings are enticed by the novel and unfamiliar, which attracts us like honey to a bee; but when a song or idea is too novel, too far outside of our experience, instead of enticing us, it pushes us away. Because there is a second, equally powerful drive in us -- for the safe and familiar. The key to achieving commercial success is to find that sweet spot between the novel and the familiar. In The Creative Curve, that is what Allen Gannett shows us how to do"-- Provided by publisher.