‘Show your work’ by Austin Kleon: A great book or just a well-designed bullshit?

Overview

Whenever I get the chance to read these kinds of great-reviewed and overhyped books, the question of “Is it really great, or is it just good designed” always appears out of the blue.

For a book to be a best seller, it doesn’t necessarily need to have good content on it, it can have a catchy title, great marketing, a great design, etc.

‘Show your work’ is a cute and small book, so don’t let the 220 pages fool you, the book has a lot of drawings and illustrations so pages fly by. I was able to read it in a sitting.

Austin Kleon considers himself as ‘A writer who draws’. He also has written two other books that are in the same style in terms of looks and design “Keep Going” and “How to steal like an artist”

The reason that I chose ‘Show your work’ in between the three others, is mainly the influence of YouTubers who suggest this book and mark it as a must-read.

The book shares with us 10 ways how to publish ourselves online and how to be discovered.

My thoughts

Well, a pretty great book and not a waste of time reading it.

It is presented very well and it’s an absolute joy to see how he visualized every piece of advice that he gave through great illustrations throughout the book. His writing style is not complicated but is pleasant.

Throughout the book, you encounter tons of famous quotes that Austin put on book to reinforce his message that if we are not online, we are dead in the digital world.

Recommended?

I recommend this book for people that are just starting to appear online, it has some great tips & tricks to make this journey smoother, and also to the people that want to remind themselves of the importance of self-promoting without being annoying.

For others, you are not gonna learn much, it’s basically ‘Put your work online, people are gonna know you exist’ but extended.

What am I reading next

I have tons of books on my to-read list and books recommended from good friends of mine. Right now I am reading ‘Digital Minimalism’ from Cal Newport, the same author of the masterpiece ‘Deep Work’. I am so excited to put out my thoughts on it.

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