Show Your Work!

January 13, 2014
Some people are natural self-promoters. For others, it’s painfully difficult to put their work out there. In this creatively designed pocket-sized book, Kleon (Steal Like an Artist) offers the latter group effective strategies that allow them to share their work without leaving their comfort zone. Kleon advises becoming part of a “scenius”—a group of creative collaborators that can spark ideas, provide connections, and start conversations. Such groups are easily found online via blogs, social media sites, e-mail groups, and more, all of which allow individuals with like interests to connect and contribute. Kleon offers common sense advice (find your voice, don’t be a hoarder) on how to demonstrate your talent, and describes a new way of operating that is less of a sell and more of a conversation. He advises readers to share something small everyday and to tell good stories, but cautions against turning into human spam. He also offers advice on how to handle criticism from online trolls, and overcoming the stigma of being a “sellout.” Kleon’s advice is sassy and spot-on. Illus. Agent: Ted Weinstein, Ted Weinstein Literary Management.

April 1, 2014
Forget the lone genius myth, says Kleon, author of the best-seller, Steal like an Artist (2012). His 10-step journey in this beginner's guide to self-promotion emphasizes audience building and explains the how and why of such approaches as thinking about process rather than product, sharing something each day, teaching what you know, learning to take a punch, and developing staying power. Kleon's use of artists' quotes, photographs, and organizational diagrams enhances the text as he reminds readers of how interested people are in the creative process. Become a documentarian . . . start a journal . . . keep a scrapbook . . . see the work you're doing more clearly and feel . . . progress. When you're ready to share, you'll have a surplus of material. Put work out there and let people take their best shot. Then make even more work and keep sharing it until you learn that criticism can't hurt and may help you. And stick with it. Kleon's powerful advice makes this small-format book not-at-all little.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)