Ignore Everybody

Hugh MacLeod was a young copywriter struggling to get by at a YMCA when he started doodling on business cards in a bar, drawings that grew into the blog gapingvoid.com. His first book turns his views on creativity into 40 short keys, with cartoons. MacLeod argues that diluting a product to make it more commercial only makes people like it less, that waiting to be discovered by a big shot is a poor plan, and that avoiding crowds altogether beats trying to stand out in one. Another holds that an idea need not be big, only one's own. He also asks how new ideas take hold in a cynical, risk-averse world and how creatives earn a living.

Seth Godin included it on his Books for the journey list, and CDBaby founder Derek Sivers described it as concise wisdom on creativity from an artist.