Want to be a published author?
Unfortunately, our deadline for submissions has passed. THANK YOU to the 155 of you who put in the time and effort to write a thoughtful repsonse to our writing prompt. We’ll announce the winner shortly!
Over the last year, we (Unsplash) have been making a book with the help of our community. We’ve had input on everything from the book cover design to the photos selected for the book to the title.
The book is almost done and it’s now live on Kickstarter.
When we first said we were going to make a book, we underestimated the shit out of what this would take. We’d built websites before. We’d written blog posts before. And we’ve started and are scaling a business. But man, doing a print book is a whole ‘nother world of crazy.
After months and months of writing, editing, designing, and hair-pulling, we’re super excited with where we’re at.
The Unsplash Book is almost complete and will be a 250-page collection of inspiring photography from Unsplash accompanied by original art pieces and essays from some of the world’s most innovative creators. Over 100+ writers, photographers, and illustrators have come together to make this book happen including unique essays from:
- Lawrence Lessig (Founder of Creative Commons & 2016 Presidential Candidate)
- Jeffrey Zeldman (Founder of A List Apart & the Godfather of web design)
- Kirby Ferguson (Acclaimed filmmaker, writer, and creator of the Everything is a Remix series)
- Tobias van Schneider (Net awards 2015 Designer of the Year)
- James Allworth (co-author of the NYT bestselling How Will You Measure Your Life?)
- Lauren Bath (Chef-turned-acclaimed travel photographer with an online following of half a million)
- Dann Petty (Award winning designer and founder of the Epicurrence conference)
- Stephanie Georgopulos (Writer and editor of Human Parts)
- Paul Jarvis (Bestselling author, acclaimed designer, and freelancer guru)
Because Unsplash would be nothing without the support of photographers, writers, designers, and makers from all over the world, we wanted to open up some of the book to feature another piece of work that has the capacity to inspire us all.
Your writing prompt
For the opportunity to be published in the Unsplash Book, please come up with a 300–500 word response to the following prompt:
Inspiration is everywhere around us — from the natural world to the works of art we experience every day. Everything we make is built off of what has come before.
Yet still we fall into the trap of waiting around for ‘the muse’ to show up and ignore the inspiration and raw creative materials that surround us. So how do we break though this?
What is your unique way of finding inspiration in everything around you? How do you see the world differently and how does this impact the way you are creative?
To submit your response: Hit the “Write your response” button at the end of this post and leave a 300–500 word response.
Deadline for submissions: Was Wednesday, Dec 2nd at 11PM EDT. THANK YOU to the 155 people who submitted responses!
Note: You don’t need to write a long essay. In fact, sometimes the smallest statements can make the biggest impact. We love honest and personal stories that show the person behind the art. If you want more inspiration, check out some excerpts from the book.
If your prompt is selected…
We will select one winner. If your work is chosen, we’ll get in touch and work with you to get your story ready for publication.
You’ll be credited in the Unsplash book and included in the profit split along with everyone else in the book. You’ll also receive a free copy of the book once it’s printed (value: $70), a package of secret goods, and a tweet from the Medium and Unsplash Twitter accounts.
Feel free to share your story with the hashtag #unsplashbook and we’ll keep an eye out for it.
We can’t wait to read what you come up with.
Questions? Tweet us.
If you’re not interested in writing at the moment but you’re interested in supporting the book, we’d love to be able to give more to contributors. After we cover the costs from this Kickstarter campaign, we’re not taking any profit. Everything will go to the contributors. We have reward options starting at $10. Anything you can give would be huge for making this book happen. Here’s the link to the Kickstarter campaign.
Thank you for reading and happy writing.
— Mikael and the Unsplash team
