Book in 3 Sentences
- Share your work, your behind of scenes of how you do your work, and your thoughts online, for free. In some years, this will be the best decision you would have made.
- You don’t need to be a Guru in that field to share your work. Think internet as a forum to contribute. You don’t need to post the best content. You just need to contribute, adding to the richness of it all.
- If you share your work/thoughts online, the people working on the same things/having the same thoughts as you will connect with you – and this can change your life.
Who should read it?
This has to be a mandatory read for everyone in the world. If I was the controller of the world, I’d make this book mandatory for all 8th graders. Anyways, If you’ve got interest in creativity (writing, videography, photography), or entrepreneurship, you must read the book.
Also, for those who want to change their life by opening up to the world: this book is the starting point. Putting yourself “out there” genuinely has the potential to change your life. It will take an hour or so to read, so there is no reason not to.
How the book changed me
It made me more comfortable in putting myself “out there”, i.e. sharing my work, processes and thoughts online.
It made me start this website on which you are reading these notes.
It made me start a weekly newsletter, which has more than 100 subscribers when I am publishing these notes
Via my website, newsletter, Twitter and digital garden, various people have contacted me, and we’ve discussed awesome ideas on things I am interested in. It resulted in me meeting awesome people from different parts of the world. And making more friends is never a bad thing.
Also, I’ve come in contact with people who have the same professional interest as me/who are studying the same subjects as me. I’ve been on a number of Zoom calls (thanks COVID!) discussing interesting solutions to problems I’m working on, and the other person is also working on/has worked on/in interested to work on.
Best Quotes
- Blogs, social media sites, email groups, discussion boards, forums—they’re all the same thing: virtual scenes where people go to hang out and talk about the things they care about. There’s no bouncer, no gatekeeper, and no barrier to entering these scenes: You don’t have to be rich, you don’t have to be famous, and you don’t have to have a fancy résumé or a degree from an expensive school. You don’t need to be rich, famous, expert. You don’t need to be a genius. You just need to contribute.
- It sounds a little extreme, but in this day and age, if your work isn’t online, it doesn’t exist.
- Don’t think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine. Fill your website with your work and your ideas and the stuff you care about. Over the years, you will be tempted to abandon it for the newest, shiniest social network. Don’t give in. Don’t let it fall into neglect. Think about it in the long term. Stick with it, maintain it, and let it change with time. Build a good domain name, keep it clean and eventually it will be its own currency. Whether people show up or not, you are out there. Doing you thing, ready whenever they are. And this will change your life
Highlights & Notes
A new way of operating
There is a saying which goes as follows: “Be so good they can’t ignore you”. But Austin argues that being good is not enough. You need to be findable.
Benefits of constantly putting your work out there:
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.
1. You don’t have to be a genius
Find a Scenius: For sharing the work that we do and to reap the advantages of it, we need to move away from Genius and towards Scenius. A Scenius is “a whole scene of people supporting each other, looking at each other’s work, copying from each other, stealing ideas, and contributing ideas”.
You don’t need to be a genius or a guru to share your work online. You just have to contribute to ideas, to the things you are interested in, and make the web of the internet more dense and rich.
Be an Amateur: The best way to get started on something is to assume you are an amateur. This will give you the permission to make mistakes early on.
Being an amateur throughout your life will give you a sense of freedom to try different things, and not being afraid to make mistakes in public: which is exactly what you need.
2. Think process, not product
Show your progress behind the scenes
The finished product is what people used to admire in the pre-digital era, where artists could only influence by their end product. In this age of the internet, artists and “makers” share their progress, and people are interested in what you do behind the scenes; they are interested in connecting with you on a deeper level. Social Media platforms have made this so easy.
Be a documentarian: This is the classic Gary Vee advice: document your life. Even if you are not willing to share your work, documenting life has its own rewards. Take photos, videos. Maintain a journal, write your thoughts. It does not have to be all nice and good.
3. Share something small everyday
Share, but after making: There are things that will be useful to people, and something will not be. Ask to yourself: “Will this be useful to at least 1 person on earth?”. If yes, then share it.
Get a website of your own: I (and Austin) believe everyone should have a website of their own. And get your name as the domain name. www.[yourname/something else you like].com.
Even if you have nothing to share yet, Trust me (and Austin): you need a website. If .com is not available, use a .in/.co/.net. Figure out how to insall a blog on it (WordPress/Webflow/Squarspace/Ghost, there are tons of opions out there; I personally prefer WordPress, because it is the most common and you have tons of tutorials online).
If you have not done this before, it will need some googling. But trust me this will be the best investment of your time and money.
4. Open up your cabinet of curiosities
Share other’s work: Share the work you like by other people on the internet, but give proper attribution. Attribution means giving proper context for what you are sharing.
Example: Austin Kleon is an amazing writer of the awesome book Show You Work. The book has a lot of life-changing ideas.
Remember, this is a scenius. We need to share other people’s work, and give our viewers proper sources from where the ideas and information come, so that they can dig deeper into the rabbit hole of that topic if they want.
If you cannot create things, curate things: Share the list of things you like on your website, such as your favourite blog articles, your favourite videos and podcast episodes. And everything you like and dislike about the world. Remember, it is all contribution, and even if one person will find it helpful, share it.
5. Tell Good stories
People want to hear and read about good stories. Putting yourself out there will give you clarity, on how you can tell better stories.
Keeping your audience in mind will help you tell good stories. When you value their time, keep it real, and learn to speak and write, it’ll do wonders for you.
6. Teach what you know
A lot of sharing your work online is just about teaching people what you know. Someone else might know the same things as you, but it always pays off to still share what you know, because your side of the story will be different from the other person, hence the lessons of your teaching.
Sharing is caring: when you learn something new, do the world a favor and teach others. Share your book list on that subject. Point out useful reference materials. Create tutorials online. “Make people better at something they want to be better at.” And remember sharing will not take away value from you. It will only add to it.
7. Don’t turn into a 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 to win hearts, not races: If you care about how many people read/watch your content online, you are playing the wrong game. Don’t steal. Provide genuine value. Don’t worry about your followers. Care about genuine followers.
Meet people IRL (=In Real Life): Making friends online is fun and all, but meeting them online is the best. Because you know about each other a lot because you 2 follow each other online, there is no small talk and conversation starters. You can discuss bid ideas and your common points of interests.
When you are travelling, let your online friends know where you are going, and meet them.
For example, I recently met someone who read my newsletters regularly, and we started talking online and I came to know that she is a guitarist. When she was in my city due to some work, we decided to meet after her office hours, and it was so much fun. We grabbed coffee at my favourite cafe, and we talked for a while. She showed me some beginner guitar tutorial websites, and some tips on how I could improve my chord changes. I told her about the latest python project I had been working on (she’s into tech as well). We then went to the lake, where we talked about stuff that we posted on our social media channels. No introductions, no small talks//formalities. Only quality time.
8. Learn to take a punch
Once you put things out there, you will get a bit of criticism. That is inevitable. Learn to take it. Because once you have put something out on the internet, it is no more yours only. Don’t let the fear of these haters stop you from putting yourself on the internet. These people have no power over you.
“The trick is not caring what EVERYBODY thinks of you and just caring about what the RIGHT people think of you.”
9. Sell out
Get over the “starving artist” romanticism. There’s nothing wrong or evil about money. Charging money for stuff doesn’t hamper your creativity.
But at the same time, be careful of the work that you charge your money for. When people are charged money out of their wallets, they then begin to think if the investment is worth the money or not. Make sure you charge for the work you are absolutely sure is worth the money.
You owe a debt:
“Above all, recognize that if you have had success, you have also had luck — and with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt, and not just to your gods. You owe a debt to the unlucky. So, give back what you learn.
Work, then show: Don’t sacrifice your art or your work for the sake of commenting on your posts and answering DMs and E-Mails. Be generous, but selfish enough to do your work
Keep a Mailing list: There are people who run billion dollar businesses off their mailing lists. Give away free great stuff, collect E-Mails of people who enjoy your stuff, make them your subscribers, send weekly/monthly content. It will pay in the long run.
10. Stick around
Keep doing your work. Don’ quit.
Chain-smoking ft. Austin Kleon: “Instead of taking a break in between projects, waiting for feedback, and worrying about what’s next, use the end of one project to light up the next one. Just do the work that’s in front of you, and when it’s finished, ask yourself what you missed, what you could’ve done better, or what you couldn’t get to, and jump right into the next project.”
But, take gap years/sabbaticals:
They will help you recharge, prevent burnout, and bring the best out of you. A life without breaks is a life not lived.