Writing for the marketplace

In the video interview between Jack Conte and Casey Neistat, I referenced a few days ago, I mentioned that Neistat would still make videos even if he didn't get millions of views. The exact quote is:

J: What if your videos don't get millions of views? Would you still make videos?
Casey: Yeah!
J: And you did, you did still make videos.
C: Yeah!
J: Yeah. So you really don't give a fuck.
C: I used to make them and put them on VHS tapes and give them to people, and hope they'd watch them. I didn't care.

He says later:

C: The minute I stop trusting how they (the videos) make me feel and start looking to how they make others feel, is that's when you fail

There is a danger here in conflating, making stuff, and making a living.

Indeed, we could just make our own stuff and not care about the audience. However, if we do it without keeping the audience in mind, we may spend too much time, money, and energy on a project without any reward.

Again, you can do it if you just want to write and create art. But if you're going to make a living, you need to consider the audience somehow.

The ideal goal if want this to be your living, is like Gabe says: "have some natural talent that tends to work well in the marketplace."