The following post is a list of books that would be helpful for bloggers – particularly those wishing to make a business from their blogging activities. It has been compiled both from my own suggestions as well as those of a number of other bloggers (see the bottom of the list for those who helped).
When I called for suggestions for books I said that they don’t have to be blogging specific (although they can be) but rather they should be books that help bloggers to improve any aspect of their blogging. As a result the topics in the list are quite wide and cover a range of topics including marketing, creative thinking, web development, other business topics as well as a few blog specific books. I’ve tried to put them in some sort of categories – however I don’t know all of them so please forgive me if my categories are not quite right. All books are linked to Amazon with affiliate links
Blogging
- ProBlogger the Book (mine!)
- 31 Days to Build a Better Blog (another of mine – this one is an ebook)
- Blog Marketing
- Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers
- The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right
- Blogwild!: A Guide for Small Business Blogging
- Blogging for Business: Everything You Need to Know and Why You Should Care
- Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))
- Money For Content and Your Clicks For Free: Turning Web Sites, Blogs, and Podcasts Into Cash
Copy Writing
- Zen in the Art of Writing
- Write It Right: The Ground Rules for Self-Editing Like the Pros
- 1000 Most Important Words
- Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing
- On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (On Writing Well)
- Rules for Writers
- Choose the Right Word: Second Edition
- Advertising Secrets of the Written Word: The Ultimate Resource on How to Write Powerful Advertising Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters and Mail Order Entrepreneurs
- Breakthrough Advertising: How to Write Ads That Shatter Traditions and Sales Records
- The Copywriter’s Handbook, Third Edition: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells. Revised and Expanded
- Hot Text: Web Writing that Works
- Advertising Secrets of the Written Word
- Tested Advertising Methods
- Ogilvy on Advertising
- The Story Factor
I don’t get a subtitle? :(
soon to be worthy of this list:
http://danzarrella.com/coming-soon.html
HEHEHEHE bloodsuckers ;)
my suggestion:
Sun Tzu: The Art Of War.
sorry JW – i just pulled them in directly from Amazon with ecto – they appear as they come in. Not sure why it didn’t like your subtitle!
Hi!
First time commenting here. But a regular reader. I just thought Ray Bradbury’s ‘Zen in the art of writing’ belongs here too.
It is a book that fires up a writer like little else can. I notice often that people get so tangled up in the technicalities of blogging that the ‘writing content’ part suffers. Hence.
Feel free to differ. :)
[…] Darren Rowse over at problogger.net has put up an awesome list of essential books for bloggers. […]
[…] Darren Rowse over at problogger has an amazing list of books that any blogger or potential blogger should read. All the books are available at Amazon with links provided by Darren. Now where is that credit card? Technorati Tags: Darren Rowse, pat phelan, problogger, roam4free, roaming chargesShare and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
Essential Books for Bloggers…
Thems a lot of books. Or, you could just keep coming here, and just read and click links and stuff. Reading’s for the birds….
[…] General Aug 11 at 2:23 pm by tdh -Darren Rowse (the Problogger guy, but you already knew that) has compiled a nice list of books bloggers should or could read. As usual he’s telling his readers to contribute so you should. […]
[…] Essential Books for Bloggers Indicações de livros (tags: livro blog) […]
These two may be of interest for a “new media/new consumer” category:
Joseph Jaffe: Life after the 30-second spot
Tomi Ahonen and Alan Moore: Communities Dominate Brands
Turning into a great list. Another one that might be a goodie is James Surowiecki’s Wisdom of Crowd’s.
[…] Essential Books for Bloggers …erm, yeah, I’m not sure if this is an all-inclusive list, but its a start. Some practical, some more didactic on business ideas and so on. A nice starting point. (tags: reading books blogging) […]
“Influence …” by Robert Cialdini is one of the most powerful books I’ve EVER read from a marketers perpsective.
Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
by Steve Krug
Advertising Secrets of the Written Word: The Ultimate Resource on How to Write Powerful Advertising Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters and Mail Order Entrepreneurs (Hardcover)
by Joseph Sugarman
Breakthrough Advertising
by Eugene M. Schwartz (Author), Martin Edelston
A Rulebook for Arguments
by Anthony Weston
Discovering Arguments: An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Writing, with Readings
by Dean Memering, William Palmer
The Art of Looking Sideways
by Alan Fletcher
1000 Most Important Words
by Norman W. Schur
Line by Line: How to Improve Your Own Writing
by Claire Kehrwald Cook
On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
by William K. Zinsser
Rules for Writers (Spiral-bound)
by Diana Hacker
Choose the Right Word: Second Edition
by S. I. Hayakawa
The Elements of Style (Paperback)
by William I. Strunk
Write It Right: The Ground Rules for Self-Editing Like the Pros
by Dawn Josephson, Lauren Hidden
…
Darren,
5 books that ask us to think critically about what’s going on around us, & thereby make us more incisive, insightful, and critical bloggers:
Glenn Reynolds – An Army of Davids
Dubner & Levitt – Freakonomics
Steven Johnson – Everything Bad is Good for You
Virginia Postrel – The Future and Its Enemies
Thomas Friedman – The Lexus & The Olive Tree & The World is Flat
Hot Text by Jonathan and Lisa Price :) That is one of the books I love reading.
“Money for Content and Clicks for Free: Turning Web Sites, Blogs, and Podcasts into Cash” by J.D. Frazer
And another vote for Krug’s “Don’t Make Me Think,” which someone else mentioned above.
[…] Speaking of books . . . Check out a nice list of books on ProBlogger that will help you better understand what we’re talking about when we say “new media.” […]
[…] Essential Books for Bloggers Great list resources for bloggers! (tags: books blogging Problogger resources) […]
Happy to see “Blogging for Business” by Shel and me on the list!
I even read it recently – sounds funny, but by the time a book get publish
I haven’t read any of thoughs books and am doing fine. I think the internet should be a place to learn for free and for me that and librarby tuaght me everything needed to know. The only book I would like to pick up is what google never told you about adsense.
I realize that part of creating a list like this is for you to cull suggestions from readers, have others link to it, have the blog entry itself become a living resource that garners a lot of attention, opinion, and traffic, resulting in a catch all for any book a blogger would need to read. However…
This link is now so large, that it quickly overwhelms, and there is no starting point. You admit that you have not read them all, which I feel negates your value here – I read your blog because of your voice, and how you filter things. (big fan by the way)
I think this list would be more useful if you offered a starting point. Either a top book in each category, or the first three books someone should read, or first five, etc. Give reasons why. Then you can list the rest of the books below, accomplishing the same thing in terms of community involvement.
As blogging becomes a true business, a list like this quickly includes very broad topics that relate to all businesses, such as marketing. There are a lot of books on marketing, and business books in general is a huge field. Is there value in many of them for bloggers? Absolutely. Does listing them all do me much good? No. For one, if I am interested in blogging, then chances are I spend a lot of time reading…. blogs. I read books as well, but my book time is much more limited, so I want to use it strategically.
Hope these comments are helpful. I really appreciate your blog, and putting together a list like this.
-Dan
Point taken Dan.
My intention in starting the list was to come up with books I’d read that would help bloggers but as I began to share it with a few others I found that I started discovering how little I had read.
In essence what this list now is is a combination of books I’ve read and books that I’m going to read. I’ve just ordered most of what I havn’t yet read via Amazon.
I guess I was hoping that the list would present readers with a lot of options to pick and choose at and hoped that the titles and the reviews/descriptions at Amazon would help people filter them further to work out which books suited their particular needs.
However it’s become quite large hasn’t it! Down the track I’d like to refine it some more and will take your points on board.
[…] Highlights: Blogging for Dollars Blog Juice Calculator Books for Bloggers 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog […]
Is there any book on keyword research also, that is not having filler content, but with statistical content?
[…] I ran across a compilation of books for bloggers put together by Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger. Although many of these are directed at business bloggers, many are applicable to education and give a glimpse at how blogging is impacting society. If you are currently a blogger, or just curiously interested, check out this comprehensive list. […]
Thanks for this, these books will really help!
[…] What bloggers should be reading August 11th, 2006 Darren “Pro Blogger” Rowse, no relation to Kevin, shares his essential books for bloggers. […]
something is right here. every book title i click links me to amazon.com
:)
Great list! Now if only you could add another 5-6 hours to the day, I could read some of them AND post to my blog! :)
Dr.E
I just wanted to pass on a thank you to you. I read your blog alot. I’m really new at blogging. If you ever wondered if your information helps, it does. I have learn so much and I will be passing this site along to any viewers that happen to come my way.
I didn’t put my blog address because I”m not looking for leads to my site, not yet anyway. I just wanted to say thank you.
I didnt know that their are so many books on blogging as such. The list seems exhaustive to me. It would be really helpful if you could tell me which of the books have you personally refered to. I am planning to establish a professional blog which is in preliminary stages right now.
Great list of books. This is my first time on your site… I’m hooked. I’ll definitely be back…
Have a great day
Warmly
Charltez
WOW! What a great list of useful books. I´ve been visiting your blog for a long time and I´ve realized that you´re a successful blogger and marketer. Honestly, most of bloggers learn from you and your blog. I am personally impressed whenever I check your blog.
To your success!
I haven’t read any of thoughs books and am doing fine. I think the internet should be a place to learn for free and for me that and librarby tuaght me everything needed to know. The only book I would like to pick up is what google never told you about adsense.
Sun Tzu: The Art Of War
Best book for military and others
Could you specify the ebooks are exclusively meant for blog advertising and marketing?
A good book on starting out in business, not about blogging, is Fred de Luca’s (the co-founder of Subway) Start Small Finish Big.
A good book on marketing is Marketing Without Money. It studies 20 Australian entrepreneurs. It has a genuinely new and thoughtful approach
I think all of these books are very helpful for bloggers,but they can cost a lot for a beginner.Are there any free ebooks about blogging tips and strategies?
And all of them from amazon.com,is it a little subtle?
But to be frank these books are really good for blog advertising and marketing.
Hello
About two weeks ago I visited your blog( problogger) and came across a web link that gave me access to some of the coolest books on money and investing !
I was able to download two books via rapidshare.com
But now I cannot remmember that particular website from which I downloaded the two books.
Did you come across such a website that permitted downloading of ebooks via rapidshare.com?
Any help given is greatly appreciated
Thanks
This is a great one that should be on the list. The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/
The guy is a great self publicist as well with some awesome techniques for getting more out of your time. Essential for bloggers out there.
Hello everyone,
I would to ask about blogging – How do I get started on just writing my own blog? Really would put some writing to good use.
Cheers,
Jon
This list is really a treasure for those aspiring to go deeper in marketing, copywriting or blogging. Will save time and efforts. Moreover, recommendation is from a big dog. Really a good effort.
This list is really a treasure for those aspiring to go deeper in marketing, copywriting or blogging. Will save time and efforts. Moreover, recommendation is from a big dog. Really a good effort.
The guy is a great self publicist as well with some awesome techniques for getting more out of your time. Essential for bloggers out there.
The guy is a great self publicist as well with some awesome techniques for getting more out of your time. Essential for bloggers out there.
This is a great one that should be on the list. The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss:
Hot Text by Jonathan and Lisa Price :) That is one of the books I love reading.