10 Content Writing Books That You Should Read in 2023
One can easily form sentences by putting together a few words and make a paragraph by putting those sentences together. However, creating a great piece of content is more than that. It’s your style of writing that reflects your personality. It can present you as a brilliant person or can make you look mediocre.
Content marketing is a great tool for businesses to promote their products and services. However, to make your content stand out from the crowd and attract genuine audiences, you must be aware of the best practices and tools required to create good content for the web.
If you are a content writer who creates blogs, articles, social media posts, journals, press releases, case studies, knowledge articles, etc., for various businesses or a business owner who wants to promote your business through content marketing, then the best source to learn the art of creative and unique content writing are books.
Reading helps a person improve vocabulary, gain a fresh perspective, develop thoughts, and fortify their knowledge on various topics. The more you read, the more you learn and grow as a writer.
There is not a single book that covers everything about content writing. Therefore, we have rounded up the 10 best content writing books that you should read in 2023 to brush up your writing skills for the web and other platforms.
Author: Ann Handley
This book on content writing by Ann Handley focuses on content based on brand recognition. Although the book focuses on pure content marketing, the tricks and tactics the author speaks about are way different from the norms of selling content.
Ann Handley is an expert in the domain of content. Forbes recognized Ann Handley as the most influential woman on social media. Forbes women included her in the list of top 20 bloggers.
In this book, Ann Handley shares her expert knowledge about the strategy and technique of creating content, publishing, and distribution, with essential tips to get results. She speaks a lot about influencing customers through stellar online communication. The book is strongly recommended for those individuals who are planning a career in content writing or are in a stage where they require planning, publishing, and marketing their content.
Author: William Zinsser
One can learn a lot about content creation through this classic book. It explains the value of humor, surprise, brevity, and simplicity while creating non-fiction content. It is an ideal book to learn the nitty-gritty of content creation for everyone, whether he is a copywriter or a professional writer for the web.
The author of this book, William Zinsser, is an acclaimed content writer with several achievements in his career. He has worked as a feature writer, editorial writer, literary critic, and regular contributor to leading magazines.
This book is filled with invaluable advice and instructions on how to enhance your efficiency, avoid the mistakes that generally pull you down, and have clarity on how to enrich your content through impeccable grammar, vocabulary, and overall writing skills.
With more than one million copies already sold, this book has been and will always be a valuable resource for content writers.
3. The Successful Author Mindset
Author: Joanna Penn
The author of this book Joanna Penn is a motivational speaker and an entrepreneur. Her website, which is one of the best ten websites for writers, features all her books and write-ups. In this book, the author emphasizes the importance of having the right mindset to create accurate content. Therefore, this book speaks tons about the psychological state and different aspects of a writer.
The book also talks about criticism and self-doubt, which are genuinely practical problems of most content writers. This book is one of its kind of a starter pack and a perfect guide for beginners and amateur content writers.
Author: Mark Schaefer
If you want to know more about the role of content marketing in digital marketing and know about the tips and tricks to initiate the method of content marketing, then this is the book for you. It covers six major content marketing strategies and fundamentals.
It is an extremely useful book for aspiring content writers and for those who want to switch a career to content writing from other fields. This book was awarded as the best SEO book by the Book Authority and is also listed as one of the top 5 business books of the year by INC Magazine.
Author: Andy Williams
This book is an exemplary book on content writing that describes the importance of good content over everything else. The book was first published in 2017. Although the latest available edition of this book was updated for 2021, it is still a must-read for content writers in 2023 if they haven’t read it yet or are interested in knowing how to improve your SEO efforts for better ranking in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
The book is enriched with examples to help you get a better understanding of how to create impactful, inspirational, and informative content to help you increase your visibility as well as get backlinks from credible websites.
6. Word Word: Surviving and Thriving as a Writer
Author: Bruce Holland Roger
If you are an aspiring content writer and want to know about the different strategies that you can use to pursue your career as a content writer, then this is the book for you.
The book talks about how and what it’s like to have a career in content writing. If you want to know how to get paid for your content and how to work for a better future, then you should definitely read this book.
Also, if you are getting bored with your freelancing work, then you should check out this book first to hone your content writing skills.
Author: Kieran Morgan
This book gives a comprehensive and accessible overview of key components in technical writing. Suppose you are a budding content writer or non-technical writer or have been assigned the task of creating technical documentation or managing a documentation project. In that case, this book is going to serve as a go-to resource for content creation.
It breaks down technical writing for the web into a simple, five-step process that can be used to create almost any piece of technical documentation, such as a user guide, manual, or procedure.
8. Six Figure Blogging Blueprint
Author: Raza Imam
It is the top-most ranked book under the blogging category that teaches a lot about blogging. The prime objective of this book by Raza Imam is to teach blogging in 60 days.
If you want to start your career as a successful blogger, then this book includes all the required information about content writing. It will help you discover topics like choosing your niche for blogging, the secrets of designing a blog, and much more.
You will also learn how you can create a profitable revenue structure around any blog by reading this book. With lots of content strategies for blogging, this is a must-read for writers, especially bloggers.
Author: Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett
Joe Pulizzi, the co-author of this book, is a content marketing stalwart. In this book, he talks about content writing strategies to drive potential customers to your business website.
Some of the key areas included in this book are imparting relevant information, creating a buyer persona, and catering to the varied needs of consumers based on their behavioral patterns.
In addition, the book also offers valuable insight into how to write for social media and other digital channels, along with suitable examples. It’s a must-read content writing book for social media content marketers and digital marketers in general.
10. Unleash the Power of Storytelling
Author: Rob Biesenbach
In content writing, presenting facts and statistics is not enough to express your ideas. You must also know the art of storytelling to build trust and compel readers to take action. This book on content development will help you learn how to craft and deliver powerful, moving stories to achieve what you want from work and life.
The book explains the art of storytelling in a step-by-step manner to identify, develop, and convey impactful stories. You will learn to know about essential elements of presenting a good story while avoiding common storytelling myths and traps.
In addition, the book also includes many real-world examples to explain how storytelling can be used in company presentations, job interviews, and meetings with customers.
Final Thoughts
Although many books on content writing are released every year, it’s impossible to read them all. Therefore, spending your time and money on only those books that have stood the test of time is better. I hope the above-mentioned books about content writing will help you in developing your content-writing skills.
I’d love to know which book(s) from above you liked the most after reading. If you think I missed any of your favorite books on content writing, please leave a comment and give me some recommendations!
Happy reading!
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