Show Your Work (by Austin Kleon) – Book Summary

We all have inhibitions about putting our work out in the public. We feel we are not good enough yet, that who will read our work, that what will people think about us. Show Your Work is an attempt to put forth reasons for displaying our work. It motivated me to be consistent about posting my work online.

📚Why should you read it?

This book is for you if you’re a writer finding it hard to create content consistently, a creator struggling to fit into the creator economy, or a beginner hesitant to share your work online due to fear of criticism.

It only takes an hour to read, so grab your copy and finish it in one go!

💡3 Actionable Advice

1. Keep a working journal to write about your journey. Write about your day, ongoing projects, inspiration, thoughts, and more.
2. Maintain a swipe file of ideas and put the things that you like in that file. This will act as your knowledge repository.
3. Create a blog or website to showcase your work.

💬Favourite Quotes

1. Your website doesn’t have to look pretty; it just has to exist. Don’t think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine.
2. Strike all adjectives from your bio. If you take photos, you’re not an “aspiring” photographer, and you’re not an “amazing” photographer, either. You’re a photographer. Don’t get cute. Don’t brag. Just state the facts.
3. No one is going to give a damn about your resume; they want to see what you have made with your own little fingers.

📖Chapter wise summary

1. You don’t have to be genius

There is a myth about creativity that it strikes like a lightening bolt when a person is contemplating in silence. On the contrary, creativity is infectious. It is a byproduct of collaboration. In the modern world, internet makes it easier to find your tribe and stay connected to various people doing creative work.

In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind there are a few.

Zen Monk Shunryu Suzuki

No one is born genius. People move from mediocre to good in increments. Let go of all your inhibitions and focus on completing the work at hand. Be a doer.

The stupidest possible creative act is still a creative act.

Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky

2. Think process, not product

Creativity is a process, not a product. We are often fixated on the end product that we neglect that an excellent product is a result of an excellent process. We should be aiming at setting up a process rather than being obsessed with the best product.

You should become a documentarian of what you do. Starting a work journal is the easiest way to document your work. It will help you see your work more clearly and will make you see through the process. It will also make you feel that you are making a progress.

3. Share something small everyday

Overnight success is a myth. You cannot spin out a product everyday, but you can certainly share your progress along the way.

You can use social media sites to share your daily updates so that people can get idea into your process and progress. Be open, feel free to share imperfect and unfinished work to get a feedback.

If you are unsure about whether to share something, let it sit for 24 hours. The next day, look at the content with a fresh eyes and decide if you want to still share it.

A lot of your ideas will start out as tweets, which will then become blog posts, which will then become book chapters. Small thing, over time, can get big.

4. Open up your cabinet of curiosities

Our taste makes us what we are. It also casts a shadow over own own work. By consuming great content, we tune ourself to create great content.

While we may still not be able to share our work with others, we can share our inspiration and taste with others. Your inspiration are clue to who you are and what you do.

Dumpster diving – finding treasure in other people’s trash. When you find things you genuinely enjoy, don’t let anyone else make you feel bad about it.

5. Tell good stories

Our work doesn’t speak for itself. We need to tell stories about the work we are doing. It will make them understand our work and effects how they value it.

The cat sat on a mat’ is not a story. The cat sat on the dog’s mat is a story.

John le Carre

Structure your stories. It will help your audience better comprehend your work and ideas.

You might think that you are in the middle of the story and don’t know where it is going to end. Well, that should not be an issue as there’s a way to tell open ended stories.

6. Teach what you know

Teaching doesn’t mean instant competition. Just because you know the master’s technique doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to emulate it right away.

Teaching is a positive sum game. It actually adds value to what you do rather than taking away from it. It will make people feel closer to your work because you are letting them know your secrets.

7. Don’t turn into human spam

You have to connect to people and be receptive to other people’s thoughts and feedback.

The forward thinking artist of today aren’t just looking for fans or passive consumers of their work, they’re looking for potential collaborators.

It’s all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others.

Susan Sontaag

8. Learn to take a punch

Bad criticism is no the end of the world. Don’t let the fear of criticism stop you from doing things you love. Take a deep breathe and accept whatever comes.

Remember that your work is something you do, not who you are.

Don’t engage with trolls. Don’t feed them and they will usually go away.

9. Sell out

When an audience starts gathering for the work that you’re freely putting into the world, you might eventually want to take the leap of turning them into patrons.

Don’t be afraid to charge for your work, but put a price on it that you think is fair.

Keep a mailing list. Start a newsletter. However, do not add someone’s email address to your mailing list without their permission.

10. Stick around

Don’t quit your show and you will eventually see the results. Good work is like a chain reaction, each piece of work has potential to lead to another piece of work.

You may take the breaks to avoid burnout.

Work is never finished but abandoned.

Paul Valery