Two Books Every Creative Should Own & Read

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of books out there on the topic of being a creative person and making money doing what you love. I should know since I have at least four shelves dedicated to those kinds of books. But there are two I recommend above all the others as a great place to start. They basically cover all you need to know to feel confident in doing what you love, sharing it, and maybe even making a career out of it that can sustain you monetarily. After all, isn’t that what we really want? To do what we love and earn a living off of it.

Superfans by Pat Flynn

If you’ve never heard of the “superfan” it’s just what you might think it is. Think of your favorite musician or author. Now, I’m not talking about your average favorite where you listen to their album when it’s on Spotify or wait till the paperback edition comes out to buy it. I’m talking about the one where you have been to every concert (even a few out of state or the country), or you have purchased every edition of their book, including any special or anniversary editions and you follow them on Twitter and you subscribe to their newsletter (if they have one). To that musician or author, you would be considered a superfan.

The concept of the superfan came from THIS ARTICLE where it discusses not just the idea of needing a superfan but needing 1000 of them. If you can get 1000 superfans then you can sustain a pretty comfortable living. How? You might be asking (because you rather not read that very long article I just linked to). 

I’m going to use the example of being a writer since that is what I am and what I hope to do for a living. As a writer, I have a few options for what I can produce and sell with the hope of having customers ready to buy. The goal would be to turn those first-time buyers into lifetime buyers. I’ll release a novel, some short stories, perhaps have a subscription model set up somewhere on Patreon or another similar service. Eventually, I’ll branch out with merchandise based on the series of books I’ve written. Over time I might re-release an older novel for the 10th-anniversary edition. I can go on and on. But over time and in that time, the first-time buyer, if they like what they’ve purchased, will come back to buy the next book I write. Subscribe to my monthly thing where they’ll get extra bonus content. My community of “fans” will grow and those fans will buy whatever I’m selling anyone I put something up for sale. That is a superfan. That is what you want.

Breaking that down into dollars and cents it would look a little something like this.

Things for someone to purchase over the course of 1 year:

2 - 3 novels hardback editions @ $24.99 each

Substack/Patreon Subscription @ $5/month

An anthology collection of short stories @ $24.99

1 Superfan will spend $160 a year buying whatever I sold in a year.

Multiply that 1 Superfan by 1000 and that’s $160,000 a year!

Of course, that doesn’t take into account taxes, money that Patreon/Substack will take off the top, and then expenses I may have such as paying for editors, cover artists, etc. But what if I decide to have character prints created from my novels? Or posters of the cool covers? Create mugs and scented candles? So many possibilities. Include that into the equation and with just 1000 superfans I could quit my day job. And so could you.

And if you think about it, do you really need $160,000 a year to live comfortably? I don’t earn that now and I live very comfortably. I could live great with half that which is just $80,000 and only 500 superfans. For me, looking to get 500 seems a lot less daunting than 1000. Or even if I’m just looking to supplement or add to my income, 250 superfans and a possible $40,000 isn’t too bad either.

I suggest getting this book and refer back to it as a reminder of what is possible, how it’s possible, and also that you don’t need 1000 to do what you love and get paid for it. This book is always within arms reach for these very reasons.

Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

This isn’t your typical reference book. It’s more the kind of book you can pick up and literally open to any page for words of wisdom that will help you get through days of doubt.

If you’ve ever felt like your work is meaningless for whatever reason or like you want to give up and not bother because “no one cares about what I’m doing anyway,” then this book is for you. I’m sure we’ve all felt this way at one time or another in our life.

As a writer, I always wonder if what I have to say or the story I want to tell is something that someone else will want to read? Hasn’t every story already been told? What new could I possibly offer to an already full and perhaps oversaturated arena? Then there is the fear of actually sharing my work! Others will see it and critique and what they have to say could be mean. Can I handle that?

Austin Kleon fills his book with short paragraphs of thought-provoking messages that read almost like fortune cookies remind you that you’re worth it and your creativity deserves to be out there. He also has some hand-drawn pages and does some really cool blackout poetry with pages from newspapers that I’ve never seen done before but it’s very cool.

It’s a constant struggle with my internal brain trying to make me doubt that I’m good at storytelling or that I don’t deserve to share my work with the world if I want to.

With this book, it’s small, compact, and as I said, the kind of book you just open to a random page and read what it says. I guarantee it will set you back on track to silencing those negative voices and getting back to doing what you love so you can share it with the world to enjoy.

FINAL THOUGHTS

What makes these two books stand out above the rest is that they are evergreen. Meaning, what they have to share with us today will be true tomorrow and ten years from now. That is the kind of reference book you want to keep on your shelf. The kind that will help you stay the course and be a reminder of why you are persistent in doing what you love.

I hope you find these books as helpful as I have over the years and that they bring you to a place where you are not only doing what you love creatively but perhaps even finding those superfans along the way.