Austin Kleon · 2014 · creative visibility
Show
Your Work!
Being discoverable is not the same as bragging. It is making your process useful enough for people to follow.
dispatch
Share the process before the pedestal appears.
interactive tool
Share Card Builder
Choose what you have and how public it can be. The builder writes a low-friction share prompt.
artifact
visibility
Practice public process.
Define your public notebook
Choose one place where process can live: blog, newsletter, social account, portfolio notes, or internal team channel.
List shareable process types
Write five things you can share without pretending the work is finished: sketches, sources, questions, mistakes, constraints, or lessons.
Create a credit habit
Prepare a simple format for naming sources and influences. Crediting well makes sharing more generous and more credible.
Write a tiny teaching post
Draft one short explanation of something you learned recently. Keep it specific enough to be useful in under two minutes.
Share one work-in-progress note
Post or send one small process fragment today: what you tried, what changed, or what question you are working through.
Save one useful source
When something influences your work today, save it with a note about why it mattered. Future sharing starts with good attribution.
Explain one decision
Write one sentence about a choice you made in your work and the reason behind it. This turns invisible judgment into visible value.
Printable plan
Build your mini action book.
Pick setup actions and daily habits from Show Your Work!, choose a start date, and download a printable checklist with real calendar pages. Nothing is stored.
Build Mini Action BookQuestions
Frequently asked
What is Show Your Work! about?
Show Your Work! is Austin Kleon's guide to making creative work discoverable by sharing process, sources, lessons, and useful fragments. It reframes self-promotion as generosity: let people learn from how the work is made.
What are the key takeaways from Show Your Work!?
Readers on HourLife most often highlight ideas such as: “Process is content.” “Visibility can be generous.” “Credit creates context.”
Who should read Show Your Work!?
It's a strong pick for readers exploring Build a Career You're Proud Of, Creativity & Making, and Digital Literacy. HourLife distills its core idea into community-voted insights and one practical action worth trying.
What's one thing I can do after reading Show Your Work!?
Define your public notebook — Choose one place where process can live: blog, newsletter, social account, portfolio notes, or internal team channel.
How long does it take to read the Show Your Work! summary?
About five minutes. The HourLife summary distills Show Your Work! into its core idea, 5 community insights, and 7 practical actions you can apply right away.
More from the author
Follow the source.
Browse every HourLife page connected to the writer behind Show Your Work!.
Take it with you
Downloads & shareables.
Print it, pin it, post it. Ways to take Show Your Work! off the screen and into the world.
Read the Text Summary
The core idea, key takeaways, and how to apply Show Your Work! as a clean, readable page.
Read summary → Checklist · PDFAction Checklist
Every action from this page as a printable to-do list with a 7-day tracker.
Download PDF →Book Summary Card
Shareable card with the book and its top-voted insight. Good for saving or social posts.
From reading to doing
Turn this book into a daily practice.
Save the insights that land, build the habits that stick, and keep what you learn from Show Your Work! working long after you close the page — inside HourLife.
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