Top 10 Content Writing Books You Must Read in 2023
A Career in Content writing enables us to create different types of content that would help in providing value to online users and target customers. A very significant part of writing high-quality content is cultivating the habit of reading content writing books. Reading content writing strengthens your comprehension skills, helps in refining your writing skills by improving your vocabulary. It also helps to understand the fundamentals of writing the most effective content.
Today in this article we are going to discuss the top 10 content writing books that will surely facilitate your efforts of becoming a better and more skilled content writer in a short period. Any writer must be a voracious reader. The profession of content writing is no different. Content writers have to possess knowledge of the prevalent trends, practices that make for better content writers.
For this purpose, they have to read blogs, journals, publications, books on specific niches to understand how to formulate content that will yield results.
The Utility of Content Writing Books
It is one of the most frequently asked and important questions on the topic of content writing. Why are Content Writing books for the development of a content writer?
Content writing books help you to become a more proficient writer able to handle all aspects of writing. Since content writing is creative, writers at some point on the other experience what is famously known as writer’s block. You must have experienced it yourself if you are a writer. It essentially means that you hit a roadblock in your endeavor to create content. You have difficulty in coming up with innovative ideas. Many times, writers even have given up on projects because of the highly dreaded writer’s block. The content writing books are mainly written by industry veterans who have gone through and experienced all the highs and lows of the profession of content writing. They provide valuable insight into several aspects of the profession.
Content writing books help you to work around your writer’s block, gives you tips, strategies, and tips to continue writing and not abandon a piece of work. More importantly, content writing books are a vast repertoire of information and data. They have helped content writers prosper in the competitive and constantly evolving world of content.
Several topics, subjects, niches are covered in content writing books. Some of them teach you to write on specific topics and how to write for unique, esoteric projects. Others provide case studies, practical examples of personal experiences to help you understand the nuances of content writing. Content Writing Books can not only enable you to fortify your knowledge on aspects of content but also to be discerning. With the digital advancement and mushrooming of digital channels, and social media platforms today, you can not only read the books on any device but can also connect with different content writers. It allows you to engage with them, to understand what contributes to the success of content writing.
Some very eminent names that come to mind when we think of content marketing are Seth Godin, Joe Pulizzi, Jeff Goins, Chris Brogan, Jay Baer.
In the Indian context, you have talented content writers like Anuradha Tiwari, Bhavik Sarkhedi, and many others. They have not only successfully continued with a content writing profession, but some have gone ahead to create companies specializing in content marketing and writing. You can very well one day be one of the people on the list of top content writers in India. One of the main advantages of reading content writing books is that they help to develop your skills and start a career in content writing, no matter your educational qualification or your job experience.
Web Content Writing may be in the form of blogs, landing pages, whitepapers, ebooks. A good content writing book helps you to understand the key concepts of your specific topic need for the area of work. They guide you to become authority leaders. These books enable you to be optimistic and look for opportunities that are sometimes hard to sense.
Here is a List of 10 Books That You Should Read for Starting or Thriving in This Content Writing Industry. These Content Writing Books Cover a Wide Range of Topics Including Specific Niches, and Best Practices of Content Writing.
1. Content Strategy For the Web – Written by Kristina Halvorson
Christina Halvorson is a renowned writer, content creator, entrepreneur, and thought leader on the subject of content strategy and marketing. She has successfully created her own agency Brain Traffic which is involved with content strategy, and consultancy. Content strategy For the web is an extremely helpful book for content writers across industries and sectors. This book skillfully depicts how just having a website with an aesthetic design is not enough. You need high-quality content to drive traffic to your website.
The book also explains the need for budgeting and how unnecessary costs can be avoided by creating content that is ranked high on search engines. Auditing, analyzing content for Search Engine Optimization, understanding the rules and responsibilities are explained in detail in this book. The book covers a comprehensive understanding of the process of content creation, execution, and dissemination of the articles successfully.
2. Everybody Writes – Ann Handley
The list of content writing books to read is incomplete without mentioning Everybody Writes by Ann Handley. Ann Handley is a motivational speaker and business consultant. A brand herself, she is a writer, digital marketer, and content creator. She inspires content writers, and digital marketers to create strategies that generate exemplary results. Everybody Writes is a book that speaks of spreading information to online consumers in a way that evokes a positive response from them.
The book also describes the importance of creating a brand out of your organization and communicating authentic information to your target consumers.
Everybody Writes provides an insight into business writing and how content marketing at its core can help consumers and businesses establish a relationship that is long-lasting based on mutual trust. The book is a great source of resources for people to understand the connection between marketing, sales, and content writing. Content writing facilitates sale as a fact. It substantially increases your brand reputation as well. It can be an excellent book for beginners but can provide powerful insight into marketing to those who have significant experience in the field as well.
3. The Successful Author Mindset- Joanna Penn
Joanna Penn is a renowned award-winning New York Times and USA best-selling author. She has been instrumental in guiding content writers to create well-structured content that inspires target consumers. It is an extremely high rated book that deals with the various issues that come with the content writing job. The book speaks about the mindset that is required for others to become successful content writers. This book offers strategies and techniques of great writing along with giving important information on how to deal with the ups and downs, highs and lows of a career in content writing.
It is a gold mine for aspiring writers as well as established content writers who can glean valuable information from this book. The author also has a podcast named the Creative Penn where she provides upcoming writers on the advantages, disadvantages, expectations of a content writing career among other things. This can be regarded as one of the go-to books for self-help as well as a self-publication that is in vogue today.
4. Made to Stick – Chip Heath
Chip Heath is an American academician who has specialized in organizational behavior. He is well renowned for writing best sellers on content writing and related topics. His book Made to Stick talks about the importance of good ideas for smooth business activity. The book delves deep into what facilitates the creative process and helps you come up with winning ideas that can get your results as fast as possible. Chip heath has ample experience in creating credible, informative, content. This book is an expert guide on how to write the perfect content to gain visibility.
Content writers need to possess empathy, a strong sense of understanding the pulse of your consumer. The core substance of the message you want to convey to your target customers should be memorable.
This book is an exemplary guide to help you navigate your content writing process efficiently. It takes complex elements of the marketing process and breaks them into simpler concepts for a better understanding of people from diverse fields.
5. Six-Figure Blogging Blueprint – Raza Imam
When you think of starting a blog and earning money from it there are lots of questions that you need answers to. Six-Figure Blogging Blueprint is a book by Raza Imam which teaches the fundamentals of blogging. It is a comprehensive detail of the blogging process and how to start earning from your posts. Six-Figure can be considered as one of the top 3 books of advice for bloggers both starters and experienced. The topics basically deal with writing and promoting your content on a blog and the advantages of content management system sites like WordPress. It also gives tips to increase your productivity and become an ace blogger within two months.
6. On Writing Well – William Zinsser
William Zinsser was an extremely popular name in the world of content writing. He had several achievements in his career and worked as a feature writer, editorial writer, literary critic among others. He was also a regular contributor to leading magazines. On Writing Well is a popular book for content writers across industries. It has great reviews for its detailed incisive strategies for exemplary writing.
The book is replete with invaluable advice, instructions on how to increase your efficiency, stop making the mistakes that generally pull you down. Overall it gives clarity on how to enrich your content through impeccable grammar, word skills, and overall writing skills. There are plenty of examples given on impactful writing that are detailed and informative. The content writer should make an effort to analyze the examples given to perform better.
7. The Content Code – Mark Schaefer
Mark Schaefer has written plenty of books in content writing and social media. He works as a consultant providing information on the nature of social media and other digital channels. The content code deals with the six strategies that help to enrich your content and propel your business to newer heights. It is an extremely useful book for aspiring content writers and for people who want to switch a career to content writing from other professional fields. The book is an exhaustive study that goes beyond the traditional forms of writing and helps to achieve the next level of success.
Content Code has innumerable ideas to share about the judicious distribution of budget to the different aspects of content marketing. It also emphasizes the importance of content writing in the whole marketing process as the numero uno element to derive great success.
8. How to Write Great Content – Andy Williams
How to write great content is an exemplary book that delineates the importance of good content over everything else. The book is filled with actionable advice on how how to write content that is scannable by Google. Following these rules will help you better your Search Engine Optimization efforts.
How to write great content was first published in 2017. It provides ample examples that give you a clear idea on how to create impactful, inspirational, informative, content that will not only help you increase your visibility but will also get you backlinks from credible websites. Backlinks and good content go hand in hand. Certain elements, practices, and phrases are significant in writing good content. This book introduces you to the features that would help you in getting qualified traffic to your website.
9. The Elements of Style – William Strunk Jr and EB White
The Elements of Style attempts to teach you the different ways in which your content can have the necessary impact on your readers. The writer has intended the book for people who are starting their careers in content writing and novices to understand the practices that can help create concise, significant, content. Content writing entails a lot of storytelling in essence. This book can be an eye-opener for writers who use their imagination and formulate impactful stories to resonate with their online readers. It gives you tips on how to do away with unnecessary sentences, phrases, words. It describes the successful craft of writing that will help you become as content writers skilled in your particular niche.
10. Get Content Get Customers – Written by Joe Pulizzi
Get Content Get Customers is one of the finest books written by content marketing stalwart Joe Pulizzi. That is, to drive potential buyers to your website with content writing strategies. Author Joe Pulizzi is a pioneer in content writing, and marketing. In this book, he has depicted the qualities that would help drive prospective buyers to your website. Disseminating relevant information, creating a buyer persona, and catering to the different needs of consumers based on the behavioral pattern are some of the key areas covered in the book.
The book additionally provides valuable insight into how social media content writing works. The book clearly explains how to create content specifically for social media and other digital channels with examples. It is a must-have content writing book for writers, business executives, involved in the field of writing, social media content marketers, and digital marketers in general.
The whole point of investing in content marketing is to create content that is compelling enough to inform and move online customers on an emotional level. It is to provide information about your products and services honestly.
Now, Let’s Sum Up What These Books Want to Convey as the Essentials of a Good Content Copy:
Clear Communication Skills:
Content writing should have the property of clear communication to be able to convey the message as efficiently as possible. The tone, positioning, and language should be consistent and simple. Brevity also holds a lot of importance. Readers comprehend short sentences better and retain the information more precisely.
Strong Sense of Grammar:
Grammar and the choice of words play an essential role in the effectiveness of your content. Complicated words, difficult language has no utility in content writing.
To get the desired attention of your customers your write-up has to be appealing. For that, you have to display creativity in simple, clear text.
Catchy Headlines and Stellar Introduction:
More often than not you will see people rummaging through articles by going over the headlines and introduction. Headlines and the introduction comprise the most pertinent part of a content copy. It helps to draw the reader in immediately. While writing content you always have to consider the fact that the attention span of readers is roughly a few seconds. You have to be able to create an impact within those first few seconds with a headline that is unique, specific, and promises answers through the content. A riveting introduction should follow.
Do not Exaggerate:
It is important to describe each point in detail but make sure not to exaggerate one point so much that it feels overstated. Readers will be annoyed with the same point being raised, explained time and again.
Value-Driven Content:
The main purpose of content writing should be to provide as much value as possible to the potential customer in regards to the brand, product, or service. Content writers should provide authentic information and be transparent to build trust with the consumers.
Outline your Content Copy:
Any content copy is much better structured, and organized if an outline of that subject is prepared beforehand. This enables a content writer to have a clear idea of what to incorporate and when. Outlining your content copy also helps in remembering details that might be forgotten later. Suppose there is a key fact you want to mention. If you outline your copy, you can refer to the outline while writing your content. It also helps to keep on track and not move away from the set objective of the content.
Do Not Use Difficult Words and Jargon:
Avoid using any complicated words or jargon when you are communicating with your target consumer. In the case of B2C businesses, you are directly talking to your consumer who is not an expert in the product or brand you are writing about. Including technical terms is useless. For B2B, you can use them as and when necessary.
Address the Main Element of the Content Right Away:
Content writing helps to rank better in search engines by displaying on the first few pages or Google bing Yahoo etc. To achieve this, you have to follow certain principles of search engine optimized content. One of the main principles is to explain in the very fast few lines what your content will be about. This will help the reader to navigate your content page and look for the relevant information that can be of assistance.
Conclusion
So here you have the top 10 books content writers should not ignore to become more discerning, skilled, and knowledgeable. The books teach the fundamentals as well as the advanced elements that make for good content writing. They also have plenty of practical examples that show how content has been successful in getting the desired results. Every content writer has to keep in mind that creating high-quality content is a time-consuming effort that requires organized thinking, research, analysis, and facts to bolster your write-up.
Industry veterans always emphasize quality over quantity. Create long-form content that provides as much information as possible about a topic. Take your time, research the subject thoroughly, and understand the advantages and disadvantages, and implications of the topic you are writing on. It is important to consider all aspects of the topic to give a detailed description of the topic. It is the nature of content writers to spend a substantial amount of time reading content in different forms like blogs, journals, ebooks, white papers, case studies, etc. Additionally, the above books provide useful tips and comprehensive strategies that can help you excel in the field.
Frequently Asked Questions-FAQs
Q1. Which is the best online Content Writing Course?
IIM Skill ranks on top that offer best online content writing course in the world.
Q2. What is the minimum duration of the content writing course?
The course duration is minimum 3 Months, 1 month training & 2-month internship.
Q3. I am a homemaker and have done my 12th in commerce, can I enroll for the Course?
Yes, this course is eligible for anyone who is studying, working or is a homemaker.
