Show Your Work!
Show Your Work! is a forward-thinking and necessary book that explains why generosity trumps genius. In this essential guide, bestselling author Austin Kleon shows how to take that critical next step on a creative journey getting known, by creating a user’s manual for embracing the communal nature of creativity ― what he calls the “ecology of talent.” Filled with illustrations, quotes, stories, and examples, Show Your Work! offers ten transformative rules for being open, generous, brave, productive. It shows readers how to unlock their creativity by stealing from the community of other movers and shakers. From broader life lessons about work to the etiquette of sharing and the dangers of oversharing to the practicalities of Internet life, Show Your Work! is an inspiring manifesto for succeeding as any kind of artist or entrepreneur in the digital age.
10 WAYS TO SHARE YOUR CREATIVITY AND GET DISCOVERED
You don't have to be a genius.
Think process, not product.
Share something small every day.
Open up your cabinet of curiosities.
Tell good stories.
Teach what you know.
Don't turn into human spam.
Learn to take a punch.
Sell out.
Stick around.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
"Austin Kleon is one of the brightest new minds on the creative landscape. Show Your Work! demonstrates why. With simple yet profound insights, and an array of his amazing images, he casts aside old stereotypes of the creative life and tells what it's really like."
―Daniel Pink, author of To Sell is Human and Drive
"[Show Your Work is] timeless; readers can return to it repeatedly throughout life and still glean useful ideas and tips... Anyone starting out (or starting over)...will find upbeat encouragement here."
―Library Journal
“Some people are natural self-promoters. For others, it’s painfully difficult to put their work out there. In this creatively designed pocket-sized book, Kleon offers the latter group effective strategies that allow them to share their work without leaving their comfort zone…. Kleon’s advice is sassy and spot-on.”
―Publishers Weekly
“[The] subtitle could just as easily be, ‘How to Self-promote Without Being a Jerkface.’ It’s an incredibly useful and compulsively readable short book.”
―Fast Company
“Kleon addresses with equal parts humility, honesty, and humor one of the quintessential questions of the creative life: How do you get ‘discovered’? In some ways, the book is the mirror-image of Kleon’s debut ― rather than encouraging you to ‘steal’ from others… it offers a blueprint to making your work influential enough to be theft-worthy.”
―Brain Pickings
“A must-read for anyone involved in the creative process.”
―LibraryReads
“Kleon’s powerful advice makes this small-format book not-at-all little.”
―Booklist
“In this motivating book, packed with smart approaches, ideas and quotes, Kleon teaches you how best to navigate through creative work in the present day. . . . A certain and deserved bestseller.”
―The Bookseller
“It’s not often that I find myself reviewing a book that I can say has already changed my life. . . . At a crucial turn in this fabulous little wallop of a book comes the simple directive, ‘Share something small every day.’ That ‘something’ oughtn’t be your Instagrammed latte or a selfie, but something ‘useful or interesting’ about your work.“
―BookPage