Author: Austin Kleon
Title: Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered
Published: Mar 6, 2014
Similar to Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work is meant to inspire creative professionals to action, encouraging them to worry less about perfection and connect with their intended audience through showcasing the rough drafts of their work. I know personally I’ve suffered from the fear of clicking “Publish” several times in the past. Putting your work out there for everyone to see is difficult. Austin breaks down “a new way of operating” and 10 steps or pieces of advice to encourage both new and seasoned artists to get over the “Publish” hump and get their work out there. Just like Steal Like an Artist, I came away from reading this book with a renewed energy to publish more content both in the form of blog posts and ebooks than ever before. If you’re struggling to find the energy or courage to pursue your creative passion or get your work into the hands of other individuals, this is a fantastic book for you.
Reading Notes
Again, these are just snapshots that I took away. Literally every part of the book was quotable, and I made many notes in the margins.
If you want fans, you have to be a fan first.
Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you’ll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It’s that simple.
“Whatever excites you, go do it. Whatever drains you, stop doing it.” —Derek Sivers
Fear is often just the imagination taking a wrong turn.
But remember what writer Colin Marshall says: “Compulsive avoidance of embarrassment is a form of suicide.”
“The trick is not caring what EVERYBODY thinks of you and just caring about what the RIGHT people think of you.” —Brian Michael Bendis
Bob Pollard, the lead singer and songwriter for Guided by Voices, says he never gets writer’s block because he never stops writing.
“We work because it’s a chain reaction, each subject leads to the next.” —Charles Eames