3 Books to Read if You're Ready to Share Your Work

I have far too many books in my house.

I grieve the day that we move, because that means taking all the books with me.

Out of all of the books on my shelves, I picked 3 of them to take with me on our travels this summer. I’ve been extremely busy with client work, but  bothered by the fact that I've been relatively quite on social media about the work I do.

Case in point: I would mention something about a project that I swore I had mentioned to my wife before, and she’d have no clue what I was talking about. I knew that I was at the point where I needed to (finally) begin sharing about the work I do with the world online.

These are the 3 books – so if you’re ready to stop stuttering when asked about what you do and ready to start communicating with your audience online in a way that works – look no further. Here are 3 books that I found insightful and provided actionable steps for me to take immediately.

Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

Show Your Work! is about why generosity trumps genius. It’s about getting findable, about using the network instead of wasting time “networking.” It’s not self-promotion, it’s self-discovery—let others into your process, then let them steal from you. Filled with illustrations, quotes, stories, and examples, Show Your Work! offers ten transformative rules for being open, generous, brave, productive.

One of my favorite quotes from this book was:

“Teaching people doesn’t subtract value from what you do, it actually adds to it. When you teach somehow how to do your work, you are, in effect, generating more interest in your work. People feel closer to your work because you’re letting them in on what you know.”

If you’d like to get it on Amazon, here’s the link.

Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process is a proven solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their businesses. This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides readers with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Building a StoryBrand does this by teaching readers the seven universal story points all humans respond to; the real reason customers make purchases; how to simplify a brand message so people understand it; and how to create the most effective messaging for websites, brochures, and social media.

One of my favorite quotes from this book was:

“In every line of copy we write, we’re either serving the customer’s story or descending into confusion; we’re either making music or making noise.”

If you’d like to get it on Amazon, here’s the link.

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

Since it was first published almost a decade ago, Seth Godin’s visionary book has helped tens of thousands of leaders turn a scattering of followers into a loyal tribe. If you need to rally fellow employees, customers, investors, believers, hobbyists, or readers around an idea, this book will demystify the process.
It’s human nature to seek out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, economic, political, or even musical (think of the Deadheads). Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and time. Social media gives anyone who wants to make a difference the tools to do so.

One of my favorite quotes from this book was:

“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”

If you’d like to get it on Amazon, here’s the link.

What would you say are the most valuable books you have read that contributed to the work you do? I’d love to hear them — especially if you’re in a season of transition.

Leave a comment below or share it with me on Twitter or Instagram.