Show Your Work!

Ideas for sharing your work with others. Based on the book Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon.

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Write about someone's work that you admire.

And link to their site.

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Share a guilty pleasure.

We all love things that other people think are garbage and that aren't hip.  Don't self-edit your taste and your influences.  Share one of the ordinary and uncool things that influence you and your work.

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Start a mailing list.

Even if you don't have anything to sell yet, start collection email addresses from people who come across your work and want to stay in touch.

Keep your own list, or get an account with an email newsletter company like MailChimp and put a sign-up widget on every page of your website.

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Connect in meatspace.

Plan a "Show Your Work!" meet up with colleagues or friends.  Share works-in-progress, tell stories, and teach one another.

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Ask for a recommendation.

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Share a cool tool.

(Kevin Kelly)

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Update your bio.

Bios are not the place to practice your creativity. Keep it short and sweet.

Strike all the adjectives from your bio. Don't get cute. Don't brag. Just state the facts.

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Share your family tree.

Climb up the family tree of the writer, artist, activist, role models who influence you and your work.  Share what you learn about them.

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Register a domain name.

If you don't already have one, register a domain name and claim your own little piece of turf on the internet.

Your website doesn't have to look pretty; it just has to exist.  

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Shoot a six-second tutorial

Use the Vine app and see if you can teach something in 6 seconds.

Above: how to do pushups at your desk

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Teach with YouTube

Turn on your camera and explain how you do something. Be as simple or complex as you want. Post the video to YouTube or another video sharing service.

Above: Bootsy Collins explains funk

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Make a top ten list.

Come up with a list of things that you're really into at the moment. Make it as long and eclectic as you want. Share it.

Above: John Porcellino's King-Cat Top 40

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Share a work-in-progress.

Share a rough draft or unfinished piece. See how people respond.

Above: a page from Tom Gauld's sketchbook

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Start a daily project.

Looking at a blank page of paper is pretty scary, but if you’ve got this repeatable project set out, you know what you’re supposed to do. — Kate Bingaman-Burt

Schedule a small amount of time (say, a half hour) every day, make something, then share it online. See how long you can do it.

Examples of year-long daily projects:

Chad Hagen's Make Something Cool Every Day 2009

Noah Scalin's skulls

Lisa Congdon's hand-lettering

You'd be surprised how long a daily project can go on. For 8 years, Kate Bingaman-Burt drew something she purchased. For 14 years, James Kochalka drew a diary comic in his sketchbook.

Small bits of work over time turn into something big.

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Teach with pinboards.

Starting a pinboard on Pinterest is one of the easiest ways to start collecting and sharing information on a subject you know or you're learning about. Check out the "Film School" boards film producer Ted Hope has created on Pinterest to : Film School 101, advanced degree, crowdfunding, etc.

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Recommend a film.

If you see a good movie, share it.

For a while, filmmaker @MarkDuplass was tweeting his favorite films currently streaming on Netflix.

See also: share your library

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Tweet your favorite sentence.

Take inspiration from @shamblanderson, and tweet the best sentence you read every day. You can also tweet the best sentence you heard, said, or wrote.

As always, be sure to credit the source.

See also: keeping a commonplace book