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
Business
- The Art of War: The oldest military treatise in the world
- Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service
- Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
- The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More
- The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
- The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
- Power of An Hour: Business and Life Mastery in One Hour A Week
- An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths
Marketing
- All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
- The Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness
- Life After the 30-Second Spot: Energize Your Brand With a Bold Mix of Alternatives to Traditional Advertising
- Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands
- Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
- Gonzo Marketing: Winning Through Worst Practices
- Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers
- Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing
- Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich
Creative Thinking
- Serious Creativity: Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas
- Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step (Perennial Library)
- Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
- Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques (2nd Edition)
- A Technique for Producing Ideas (Advertising Age Classics Library)
- Six Thinking Hats
Miscellaneous
- The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
- The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information
- That’s Not What I Meant!
- The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization
- The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress
- Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter
- Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
- The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
- A Rulebook for Arguments
- Discovering Arguments: An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Writing with Readings (2nd Edition)
- The Art of Looking Sideways
- Communities Dominate Brands
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
- Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (2nd Edition)
- The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
- Syndicating Web Sites with RSS Feeds For Dummies
- Join Me!
- How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built
- Rivers of Revenue: What to Do When the Money Stops Flowing
- The 80/20 Principle
- The Wisdom of Crowds
- The AdSense Code: What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense
- Make Easy Money with Google: Using the AdSense Advertising Program
Thanks to Anil, Arieanna, Wayne, Mike, Richard, Brem, vijayendra, Eric, Money Matador, Mike, Martin, Cat Clair, The Story Factor“>Brian, John Ellen and Stuart who I made suggestions for this list.
About Darren Rowse
My name is Darren Rowse and I’m a full time Blogger making a living from blogs like 
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. :)
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.
“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.
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.
Is there any book on keyword research also, that is not having filler content, but with statistical content?
Thanks for this, these books will really help!
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.
RE: PROBLOGGER BOOK
Darren, Chris and “V”:
For years I have followed the ProBlogger.net story, since the LivingRoom.org days, from here in California. My initial motivation was spiritual, but I was sidetracked a little by the blogging topic and subsequent journey of yours. I was encouraged to find out more about blogging by your own adventure. For this, I must thank you.
I have been able to help friends and family members start successful blogs through my own trial, error and experimentation, but ProBlogger.net has been a steady source of information and support. Such a blessing! Now, I am wanting to begin my own blog after much study, research and analysis.
Recently, I was plagued with self-doubt and confusion about my REAL JOB versus a blogging career. I stopped by an L.A. Barnes and Noble store and stumbled upon your book, “ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income”. Your logo and your names were instantly familiar… and trusted. I was so excited!
Only God, Himself, knows what your great book has done for my confidence as a blogger. Other blogging books are not written in your spirit of humility and genuine concern. Your servant attitude communicates on a wavelength that surpasses a mere informative format. I felt as if a close friend was taking time to really help me in private.
I have raved about your book to those in my life. Your name has been familiar to them for years through my ability to help them become bloggers. They have commented on my renewed confidence as a blogger as well. We all think you folks truly ROCK!
Thanks for being so genuine and caring… and for sharing so openly. All should have your book, really. It is that good.
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.
Could you specify the ebooks are exclusively meant for blog advertising and marketing?
I differ on the (great) list – Darren’s book is really the only one on the list that you need to read!
hmm I’d like to read Darren’s book :)