Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
If this is your kinda thing, make sure to check out my YouTube channel. I created a video on this topic but with a twist.
The Book in 3 Sentences
Sharing is a powerful form of growth.
The world is a big place, the internet is the best way to be found.
Don't just take, participate, listen, give back, love freely.
Impressions
This book is one of those books where the key message seems so obvious but at the same time you would never have put it together or articulated it or structured it or hell, executed it, anywhere near as well as this author does for us.
Who Should Read It?
Anyone who is on a creative journey, especially if you are building a brand or business.
How the Book Changed Me?
This blog. This book is literally the reason I bought this domain name and started posting.
Summary + Notes (Broken down by Chapter)
00
The problem most creators have is finding an audience for their work.
It's not enough to be good at what you do, you also have to be findable.
While doing the big work, share components of the process along the way.
01
The age of the lone genius is over. Groupthink is the way to go. Participate in the community of your work.
Being an amateur is an asset. It's far more debilitating to feint being a pro and only put out your best work. Instead be a noob and share your struggle through your noob lens.
Amateurs learn better from other amateurs. They are on similar steps in the journey. The view from an expert at the top serves little purpose to those still early in their journey.
Amateurs should also not be weighed down by getting the best things (gear etc), do with what you have, don't fall into the trap of unnecessary overhead and artificial procrastination.
Don't worry about being good, just share what you love doing and others who love doing it too will find you.
If you're work isn't online it may as well not exist.
02
You don't have to hide the creative process. People aren't just interested in the final result, you would really expand your audience if you showed your behind the scenes work.
It's especially good to share the behind the scenes if your type of work is hard to come by or imagine.
There are a ton of options of what you can share about your creative process. Research, inspiration, notes, sketches, photos, videos, stories, interviews, testing, and on and on.
03
Share everyday. It's easier to use a day as a measure of time to share than it is to use weeks or months.
We are often scared to share bad work, but it's not up to us as the creator to decide if it's good or bad, that is for the audience to decide. So share indiscriminately.
Social media platforms are an ideal place to send out consistent touchpoints for your potential audience. Help them find you by speaking out loud.
Make sure that what you share isn't superficial narcissistic bullcrap. You are trying to establish your work or business or brand and you need to be giving your audience something valuable each time you share, big or small. So ask yourself, is this something of value? A easy rule of thumb measure is to ask 'so what?' when sharing.
What you share can be appetizers or entrees. Put time into the entrees, but throw out lots of appetizers to keep them interested. You can also experiment with appetizers easier than entrees.
Build your brand, get your own place on the internet outside of social media. Your own domain name.
04
Share YOU. Share what you like, do, think, etc as it relates to your brand and as it related to providing value.
Always give credit.
05
Share with stories. Humans love stories, especially with friction.
Dan Harmon's Story Circle:
A character is in a zone of comfort.
But they want something.
They enter an unfamiliar situation.
Adapt to it.
Get what they wanted.
Pay a heavy price for it.
Return to their familiar situation.
Having changed.
Talk about yourself and what you do. Show your excitement and share your journey.
06
Teach what you know, it's not giving away anything, because only you and a few are enamored enough and passionate enough to practice your craft.
Sharing what you know will widen your audience and their interest in you and improve your position.
Anytime you think to yourself, oh that's cool, that's an opportunity to share.
07
It's not enough to just share, you have to digest too. You have to engage, listen and react to what's already out there. You have to listen to others if you expect them to listen to you.
You want hearts, not eyeballs. The quality of followers is better than the numbers.
Do what excites you, don't do what drains you.
Part of creating and sharing is discovering your own kind. They are out there.
Turn online connections into meetups and IRL friends.
08
Roll with the punches. You'll get taunted, insulted, etc. DGAF and keep going.
09
Sell yourself. Never hesitate to ask for money or put a price tag on things. Show your worth with a price tag. You put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into your work, money is the LEAST you could ask for.
Ask for something, even an e-mail, a mailing list is good to have.
Garner good will, sell to your email list.
Pay it forward, any success or money you get can be attributed to someone somewhere, give some back.
10
Never quit, no matter what. Take breaks as long as you want, but never quit.
GLHF,