Show Your Work!
(Austin Kleon) - Book
Summary, Notes & Highlights
BOOK
It completely changed the way I thought about sharing
stuff online, and encouraged me to help others..
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. The Book in 3 Sentences
2. Who Should Read It?
3. How the Book Changed Me
4. My Top 3 Quotes
5. Summary + Notes
A new way of operating
1. You don’t have to be a genius
2. Think process, not product
3. Share something small everyday
4. Open up your cabinet of curiosities
5. Tell good stories
6. Teach what you know
7. Don’t turn into human spam
8. Learn to take a punch
9. Sell out
10. Stick around
The Book in 3 Sentences
1. Share your thoughts and your process and your work online.
2. You don’t need to be an expert to share your work - beginners can
easily help other beginners.
3. By sharing your work online, you’ll attract an audience of people who
care about the same stuff you do - this can change your life.
Who Should Read It?
I think this should be required reading for everyone in the world. If you’ve got
an interest in creativity (of any sort) or entrepreneurship or business (of any
sort), you should stop reading this and just read the book.
Even if you don’t have the slightest interest in creativity, entrepreneurship or
putting yourself out there in any capacity whatsoever, you should still read this
because it’ll open up neural pathways and possibilities that you never knew
existed.
It also takes less than 30 minutes to read, so you’ve got no reason not to.
How the Book Changed Me
How my life / behaviour / thoughts / ideas have changed as a result of reading
the book.
It made me more comfortable with sharing my thoughts and my work
online
It made me generally more comfortable with putting myself 'out there'
My Top 3 Quotes
Amateurs know that contributing something is better than contributing
nothing
Carving out a space for yourself online, somewhere where you can
express yourself and share your work, is still one of the best possible
investments you can make with your time
The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others.
Share your reading list. Point to helpful reference materials. Create
some tutorials and post them online. Use pictures, words, and video.
Take people step-by-step through part of your process. As blogger
Kathy Sierra says, “make people better at something they want to be
better at”
Summary + Notes
A new way of operating
The world has changed. It’s no longer enough to just make stuff and hope that
people find it. You have to be findable.
Think of your work as a never-ending process. You can share your process in
a way that attracts others.
Imagine if your next boss didn’t have to read your résumé because he already
reads your blog. Imagine being a student and getting your first gig based on a
school project you posted online. Imagine losing your job but having a social
network of people familiar with your work and ready to help you find a new
one. Imagine turning a side project or a hobby into your profession because
you had a following that could support you.
Or imagine something simpler and just as satisfying: spending the majority of
your time, energy, and attention practicing a craft, learning a trade, or running
a business, while also allowing for the possibility that your work might attract a
group of people who share your interests.
All you have to do is show your work.
1. You don’t have to be a genius
Find a Scenius - We need to move away from the lone genius myth of
creativity.
“Scenius” is a healthier way to think about creativity - “a whole scene of people
supporting each other, looking at each other’s work, copying from each other,
stealing ideas, and contributing ideas”.
Anyone can contribute to the scenius. You don’t have to be an expert.
Be an Amateur - Sometimes, amateurs have more to teach us than experts.
An amateur understands the beginner’s mind. The expert doesn’t.
Find something you want to learn. And learn it in front of others. Share your
process. Share your successes, and more importantly, your failures. Help
others who want to be on the same path.
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2. Think process, not product
Take people behind the scenes - The finished product model of creativity is
a relic of the pre-digital era. Where the only way artists could find an audience
for their work was to show the finished product in all its glory. The internet has
changed this. People really do want to see how the sausage gets made.
Audiences want to see the person behind the product.
Become a documentarian of what you do - As Gary Vaynerchuk says,
“document, don’t create”. Share screenshots as you’re going along. Take
photos of your process. Write down your thoughts in a notebook. Whether you
share it or not, documenting your process has its own rewards.
3. Share something small everyday
Sharing vs Oversharing - Share stuff that might be helpful or interesting or
entertaining to someone on the other side of the screen.
I think of it as “Will this potentially help at least one person in the world? If so, I
should share it.”
Get your own domain name - You need a personal website. Yes, even you
reading this now. You might not have anything to write yet. But trust me (and
Austin) - you need a personal website. Go find a domain name, preferably
www.[yourname].com, but if that’s not available, use another extension
(eg: .co.uk, .com.pk, .io, .me etc, there are hundreds of them). Figure out how
to install a blog on it (eg: Wordpress or Ghost, I prefer Ghost personally). Yes
if you’ve never done this before it’ll take some time and you’ll have to do some
Googling. But it’ll be one of the best investments you ever make with your
time.
4. Open up your cabinet of curiosities
Share other people’s work - We all like different things. If you can share the
stuff you like, if you can curate it for others, good things will happen.
Credit is always due - Obviously, if you’re sharing other people’s work, you
want to credit them. Attribution = providing context for what you’re sharing. It’s
about putting little museum labels next to the stuff you share. Preferably
attribute with a link. Eg: thanks Austin Kleon for writing this book.
5. Tell good stories
People want to read (and hear) good stories. You’ll become more effective at
sharing yourself and your work if you can tell a good story.
Talk about yourself at parties - It’s okay to talk about yourself if people ask.
Don’t think of it as an interrogation. Think of it as a chance to connect with
someone who might be interested in your work.
6. Teach what you know
The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it
is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to
you. You open your safe and find ashes. -Annie Dillard
Teaching people doesn’t take away from what you do, it adds to it. When you
teach someone how to do your work, you’re actually generating more interest
in your work. People will feel closer to it because you’re teaching them what
you know.
When you teach and share your work with others, you’ll get an education in
return. People will see your stuff, connect with it, and reach out to you with
recommendations and their own thoughts. This is magic.
7. Don’t turn into human spam
If you want fans, you have to be a fan first. If you want to be accepted by a
community, you have to first be a good citizen of that community. If you’re only
pointing to your own stuff online, you’re doing it wrong. You have to be a
connector. The writer Blake Butler calls this being an open node. If you want to
get, you have to give. If you want to be noticed, you have to notice. Shut up
and listen once in a while. Be thoughtful. Be considerate. Don’t turn into
human spam. Be an open node.
You want hearts, not eyeballs - Stop caring about how many people read
your stuff and how many people follow you online.
The vampire test - “Whatever excites you, go do it. Whatever drains you, stop
doing it” - Derek Sivers
Meet people IRL - Make online friends, and then meet them in real life. Meet-
ups are great. If you know someone online and you’re in the same town, grab
a coffee with them. When you’re travelling, let your online friends know you’re
going to be around.
Meeting people online is awesome, but turning them into IRL friends is even
better.
In fact, as I write this in a coffee shop in central Cambridge, I’m sitting with a
guy called Ross. He’s a doctor with an interest in medical education, and he
found my work online. He emailed me saying he was in Cambridge and
wanted to grab lunch. We’ve been hanging out for the past 4 hours - first we
grabbed lunch at a burger place, and then we came over to this coffee shop.
I’m writing this book summary. He’s sitting opposite me reading a book that I
recommended (The Third Door by Alex Banayan). We’re IRL friends now :)
8. Learn to take a punch
When you put stuff out there, you’re going to get a bit of criticism. This is
natural. Learn to take it. Don’t let the fear of haters stop you from putting
yourself out there. They’re a tiny minority, and they have no real power over
you.
Compulsive avoidance of embarrassment is a form of suicide. - Colin Marshall.
Don’t spend your life avoiding vulnerability. If you do, you and your work will
never truly connect with people.
9. Sell out
We need to get over our “starving artist” romanticism. There’s nothing wrong
or evil about money. Charging money for stuff doesn’t hamper your creativity.
Michaelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling because the pop
commissioned him.
But at the same time, be careful about selling the work you love.
Beware of selling the things that you love: When people are asked to get out
their wallets, you find out how much they really value what you do. My friend
John T. Unger tells this terrific story from his days as a street poet. He would
do a poetry reading and afterward some guy would come up to him and say,
“Your poem changed my life, man!” And John would say, “Oh, thanks. Want to
buy a book? It’s five dollars.” And the guy would take the book, hand it back to
John, and say, “Nah, that’s okay.” To which John would respond, “Geez, how
much is your life worth?”
Keep a mailing list - Even if you don’t have anything to sell right now, keep a
mailing list. There are people who run multimillion dollar businesses off their
mailing lists. The model is simple - give away free great free stuff on your
website. Collect the emails of people who enjoy reading it. When you have
something remarkable to sell or share, send them an email letting them know.
Pay it forward - When you have success, help people who reach out to you.
Help people who helped you get where you are.
Caveat - Don’t sacrifice your art or your work for the sake of answering emails.
Be as generous as you can, but selfish enough to get your work done.
10. Stick around
Don’t quit - Keep doing your work, and keep sharing.
Take sabbaticals.
Don’t be afraid to change things up. It’s not really starting over. You’re still
keeping everything you learned before. You’re just starting from chapter one
again.
