Show Your Work: Why Self-Promotion Is Not A Dirty Word
© ilhanx
Well, we all have had the issue of fighting our instinct of hiding under a boulder before we let the world in on our work, let alone promoting ourselves. I’m not sure if you’re still at that stage but I am and it’s been quite a challenge.
Why You Should Promote Yourself
I started my Unlearning blog, site, and started sharing my photography after reading Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered by Austin Kleon. Simply put, the book was effective because it made me feel the urge to put actions behind my goals. My primary goal is to write. Writer’s block is quite a problem for me, and it has persisted through even my strongest desire to write and share my work.
“Become a documentarian of what you do.”
Show your work does a great job of putting the focus on creating, even if it’s a sentence, rather than sharing a finished product or project. By becoming a documentarian, the final pieces aren’t holding you back from creating initial pieces in the first place! Though a simple concept, it was a done deal once I saw its application in my journey.
So What you look like an Amateur?
Fear plays a huge role in all of this especially the fear of looking like an amateur. A beginner. How dirty. Imagining a panel of great writers examining every sentence or thought is an effective way to never write a day in your life. I want to be a great writer but the path to getting there will be filled with many mistakes, especially amateur mistakes. Pertaining to this, Austin Kleon suggests reading obituaries regularly. This again creates a sense of urgency in every area of your life, not just creating and sharing work.
I won’t be reading obituaries daily but just thinking about it has a particularly powerful effect on me. I start imagining the items on my whiteboard not being ticked off as well as the dark thought of a life where being a writer is not only abandoned but an afterthought. An absolute horror. So I must go write. I must go take more pictures I find inspiring. I can afford to create something each day, and though I might not share it every day, I can at least share something a few times a week.
Share, Share, Share
Above all, showing your work is all about sharing the unfinished work. By putting work out there, you’re also taking a chance with yourself. You’re betting on your story. You won’t be the most confident at the beginning of the process, but the goal is to build that confidence over time. Through patience, it can happen. Moreover, Austin Kleon makes it clear that your work doesn’t have to be for free - you can share finished products for a living without guilt. And if it’s for fun, that’s alright.
In Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered, Austin Kleon perfected the language to speak to those stuck. And it all could change with a tweet, a blog post, or having the courage to complete a sentence. I will keep etching away, daily, or like this blog, weekly.
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