The Art of Self-Promotion: 6 Tips For Getting Your Work Discovered - Co - Create - Creativity + Culture + Commerce

Writer and author Austin Kleon shares some guidelines for
promoting your work without spamming from his new book,

Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get
Discovered.
THE ART OF
SELF-PROMOTION: 6 TIPS
FOR GETTING YOUR WORK
DISCOVERED
BY JESSICA GROSE
The subtitle of the writer and artist Austin Kleons new
book, Show Your Work! is 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity
and Get Discovered. But that subtitle could just as easily
be, How to Self-Promote Without Being a Jerkface. Its an
incredibly useful and compulsively readable short book
about how to use social media and networking if youre a
creative person of any stripe.
Kleon, who gave the Keynote speech at this years SXSW,
isnt giving the same tired advice. The key to his method is
to continuously share your work, whether or not you think
its absolutely perfect, or absolutely finished. In fact, he
encourages writers, artists, and musicians to pull back the
curtain on their work and show the process. By letting go
of our egos and sharing our process, Kleon writes, We
allow for the possibility of people having an ongoing
connection with us and our work, which helps us move
even more of our product.
We spoke to Kleon
from his home in
Austin, Texas, about
how to use
networking to your
advantage, how to
set boundaries to
avoid burnout, and
how to stop being
what he calls
human spam.
DONT WORRY
Austin Kleon
The Art Of Self-Promotion: 6 Tips For Getting Your Work Di... http://www.fastcocreate.com/3027752/the-art-of-self-promoti...
1 of 9 7/19/14 12:57 PM
ABOUT BEING A
GENIUS. BE A
SCENIUS
Kleon cribs the term scenius from the musician Brian Eno.
It means that you should get a group of creative people
around you and have a collaborative relationship with
them. Kleon cautions against the artistic myth of the lone
genius pounding away in a garret somewhere. Being a
valuable part of a scenius is not necessarily about how
smart or talented you are, but about what you have to
contribute, Kleon writes.
He created his own scenius online. Kleon says, "I think what
has been the most remarkable in my career is that Ive
never been part of a geographical scene. I didnt move to
New York after college. I didnt move to L.A. I moved to
Cleveland, and theres not a whole lot of a scene there. But
what I did have was the Internet, and I became part of a
scenius by putting my work out there. I started blogging in
2005, and back then, we were all connected, we just didnt
have social media in the same way as we do now. Youd
just post things to your blog and people would send you
comments or emails and youd slowly find people as they
stumbled across your work. When I did work I really liked
and put it online, it attracted the people I wanted to meet.
For me, being online, that was my scenius. That was my
moving to New York in the '70s. Or Paris in the '20s."
Kleon notes that you dont have to be in the same medium
as the people in your scenius. In fact, it helps if youre not.
He says since moving to Austin, hes fallen in with
musicians and filmmakers in addition to writers and artists,
and those relationships have informed his work.
YOURE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST POST, SO SHARE
SOMETHING EVERY DAY
Photo by Blue Lily Photography
Image: Flickr user Vladimer Shioshvili
2 of 9 7/19/14 12:57 PM
When it comes to sharing, Kleon says, The stakes are
pretty low in a lot of cases. If its not your best work,
people will forget about it fairly quickly. Thats the
ephemeral nature of the Internet. And putting up work that
hes not fully confident in has an upside: It can even serve
as an impetus to create more. If you make something new,
it pushes the old work off the page. In some ways, youre
only as good as your last post, and I find that actually kind
of heartening, Kleon says. Even though the flip side is
true--even good work is forgotten--it still inspires Kleon to
produce more. Be constantly working and moving. If
youre doing it right online, putting yourself out there
should lead to more work.
TAKE THINGS ONE DAY AT A TIME
"Ive got my mornings blocked off every day for work," says
Kleon. " I come out to my studio, I meditate for 10 minutes,
get in the zone, and then I write three pages on a legal pad
by hand to get warmed up. You could call it free writing,
probably. Its not very directed. Its half journal, half me
trying to figure out what Im trying to work on for the day.
Then I do one of my newspaper blackout poems. Then the
rest of the morning if I have a longer piece of writing Im
working on, Ill work on that. As long as Ive got my pages
and do a poem, Ill feel like Ive gotten my 'work with a
capital W' done. As my old creative writing teacher used to
say, its just about applying ass to chair."
Kleon says the daily routine is the only way he's found to
both get work done in the short term and be able to handle
it in the long term. "Short term: 'I have to get something in
on Friday, and I have to work this much to get it in.' The
other part is, 'Oh God, I have 50 years to work, but Ill just
take it one day at a time.' Its been the only way I can think
about attacking a career in the short term and the long
term. Theres a reason Alcoholics Anonymous adopted one
day at a time, its just the way to get through life."
3 of 9 7/19/14 12:57 PM
GET INSPIRED BY THE WAY YOUR HEROES LIVED THEIR LIVES
Kleon names the cartoonists Lynda Barry and Charles
Schulz, the artist David Hockney, and the writer Kurt
Vonnegut as major inspirations. But he says that since he
got married and had a child, he has been inspired by others
who have managed to combine creative work and family
life:
"I really look up to artists who have managed to weave
family lives into their art, like Ed Emberly, the childrens
book illustrator. Role models are so important for young
people. When I was younger and had a day job, I looked up
to Philip Larkin and Wallace Stevens, writers who had sort
of boring day jobs but wrote fantastic poetry at night.
I know that a lot of times when were talking about an
artists work, their biography isnt important. But I think
when you are trying to be an artist, biography is super
important. Youre trying to figure out, how did they do it?
How did they do this wonderful book that I love?"
SET BOUNDARIES TO AVOID BURNOUT
Kleon quotes John Cleese on the idea of boundaries. The
Monty Python star said, You have to create boundaries of
space and then you have to create boundaries of time. For
Kleon this means Having an actual work space that I go
to--his converted garage.
Kleon continues: I have to go out the back door, I have to
go into my garage, and turn the computer on, the ritual of
going back and forth, that really helps. My wife has a line in
the book, if you never go to work, you never get to leave
work. I make sure when I go into the studio, Im going to
work.
In this culture we dont set enough boundaries. Here we
are, weve got basically these augmented brains [with the
Internet], and theyve got us working more hours than we
ever have. And I think for creative folks, its even worse.
Were fed this line, youre doing what you love, you should
do it all the time. I didnt get into art so I could work all day
and never see my family.
BUILD UP A NETWORK BEFORE YOU HAVE A BIG PROJECT TO
AVOID BEING HUMAN SPAM
Image: Flickr user Owen Fuller
4 of 9 7/19/14 12:57 PM
I feel particularly sensitive to [self-promotion] as a topic
because I fear I am human spam with this book out. I am
constantly sending out stuff," Kleon says.
The way to avoid
being human
spam is that
before you have
something to shill,
you need to build
up a network of
goodwill, Kleon
explains. That way,
when youre
sending out a
Tweet about your
latest radio appearance, your followers will think, When
hes not on book tour, hes giving me all these interesting
things, so Ill understand it if he needs to be
self-promotional when he has a big product out.
Another tip for avoiding the human spam label? Straight
from Kleons book: "Unless you are actually a ninja, a guru,
or a rock star, don't ever use any of those terms in your bio.
Ever.
[Image: Flickr user Craig Cloutier]
TUMBLR TWITTER
JESSICA GROSE
Jessica Grose is a regular contributor to Co.Create. CONTINUED
MARCH 17, 2014 | 7:31 AM
ADD NEW COMMENT
18

COMMENTS
! JESSI CA GROSE 2 MONTHS AGO
Great tips, and I love the alternative title of How to Self-Promote
Without Being a Jerkface.
5 of 9 7/19/14 12:57 PM
Great advice, especially for recent graduates trying to gain
recognition and stand out in the job market! I enjoyed Kleon's tips
for self-promoting and will definitely begin to practice all of these
as I embark on my career path. Thanks for sharing!
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It's not often that Lynda Barry and Ed Emberly are mentioned in
the same post. That's creative!
Hey Jessica, thanks for the super post and pratical advice. I've
added Austin Kleon's book to my Kobo list. Cheers Geoff
6 of 9 7/19/14 12:57 PM
Amazing article! Super helpful for small businesses and
freelancers. Thanks for sharing your insight. Definitely
bookmarking this!
Some good tips, thanks.
There's so much more than self promotion here. Excellent
guidelines for anybody working in a creative field, and especially
for those of us working freelance.
! ELI ZABETH 4 MONTHS AGO
I agree, so much great advice in general here. Freelancing
can be brutal and feel lonely at times, but we often need to
remember that there are lots of others in our same boat,
and 'ahead' of us too, more than happy to share
tips/advice/help out.
Oh the human spam...nailed my greatest fear and erring
too far in the opposite direction is surely one of my
weaknesses.
I liked your comment about getting a group of creative people
around you and having a collaborative relationship with them.
Some of the most successful managers that I have worked for
were very adept at surrounding themselves with brilliant people.
Although their talent might have been mediocre, they were adept
at rallying people to create exceptional work which mapped back
7 of 9 7/19/14 12:57 PM
to their success. I also believe in the laws of reciprocity. When
you take the time to write a great review or promote someone's
work, you will also get recognized for your own talent.
! JOANNE BREAULT 2 MONTHS AGO
I agree it's a great idea to surround yourself with
likeminded folks. This takes a bit of courage, trust, and
openness, which is a challenge for some of us!
! JOANNE BREAULT 2 MONTHS AGO
I agree it's a great idea to surround yourself with
likeminded folks. This takes a bit of courage, trust, and
openness, which is a challenge for some of us!
This book is brilliant. Fun. Easy to read. Austin Kleon's book may
be short but it is packed with information for people who want to
make online networking connections without creeping people
out.
I loved the concept of 'showing your work' and putting
something out there everyday. As a writer and a start-up
entrepreneur, I struggle with managing different social networks
and Austin's advice about letting people in on the everyday
creative process makes so much sense instead of doling out cold
emails and social network spam.
Comment removed.
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8 of 9 7/19/14 12:57 PM
great insights and for the HR types or whoever writes the list of
qualification for a new hire, also please refrain from using these
words: ninja, guru, or rock star!
I bought the book on KOBO, read it and recommend it.
9 of 9 7/19/14 12:57 PM

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Writer and author Austin Kleon shares some guidelines for

promoting your work without spamming from his new book,

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