Whether you’re applying for a job, a grant, a school program, or trying to attract potential clients, a portfolio is an absolute must for any creator looking to promote their work. You already have a carefully-curated website and top-notch social media presence—how can you take your online promotion to the next level?

Publishing your work as a digital portfolio or look book via Issuu is a great way to uniquely showcase your talents online. While print portfolios have their uses, it’s likely that most of your clients and collaborators are going to encounter your creative work online before seeing it in print. A digital publication that can be shared with clients or on your personal website is a compelling way to show off your work.

What is Issuu?

Issuu is an online publishing platform that offers creators tools to publish and share their work with a global audience. With more than 100 million unique visitors monthly, Issuu offers a chance for your work to get discovered by people from all over the world.

The platform offers tools that include a shareable reader that can be embedded on any channel, the ability for publishers to editorialize their portfolio into a magazine format, create “Stories” to get discovered on Issuu and other networks, as well as the ability to embed video for any portion of your work or links to make your portfolio interactive.

Want to know if your images are really connecting with your intended audience? Issuu gives you access to useful statistics to let you know how many people are engaging with your work. Ready to sell a collection of your images or find a new revenue stream? Issuu gives you the tools to make money from your content.

Why publish your work on Issuu?

The term “portfolio” can mean different things for different creatives. You could be showcasing graphic design, preparing a visual presentation, or outlining a clothing catalogue. Got a last-minute interview with a client? Trying to tailor your work to land a specific gig? Taking a tablet “on the go” to demo your work, or being able to send through a look book link for a quick browse is a convenient and clean way to get your work seen. But the clients you find aren’t the only ones who can get their eyes on your work, as digital publishing opens your work up to a global audience.

How to get started

Issuu allows you to publish work in formats that include PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoints, and more. Publishing via Issuu is simple: you just upload your work and it’ll be converted for the Issuu reader. You then add basic details such as the type and date of your content, whether you want it to be publicly available or privately listed, and, if you have a Premium or Optimum account, whether or not you’d like people to be able to download your content.

Once you’ve published a look book, portfolio of work, digital zine, or whatever other creative work you’ve decided to share, it can be discovered and read by Issuu’s audience. Your work could be selected to appear on the platform’s homepage, a surefire way to expand your reach and gain new potential clients or fans of your work.

Exclusive to Format Magazine readers, Issuu is offering a 20% discount when you sign up here. Give it a try now and see if digital publishing’s right for you.