Want to be a successful content creator, blogger or influencer? Here are books for influencers and bloggers you should read.
Being an influencer or blogger might seem like fun, but it also comes with a lot of responsibilities beyond content creation like marketing, accounting and more. As a result, you’ll probably want these books for influencers and bloggers to help you run your business.
You might be surprised that these books aren’t just about how to use a camera or edit your videos. Frankly, a lot of those types of know-hows can be found on YouTube.
This list of books for influencers and bloggers really enhance your knowledge and run your business in ways that a blog post or YouTube video can’t.
Keep reading to find out which book should be next on your reading list!
Please note that this is a reader-supported site.
Purchases made through genuinely recommended links may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
9 Must-Read Books for Influencers and Bloggers
Atomic Habits
Written by James Clear, Atomic Habits is easily one of the best self-help books ever written, which makes it one of the first books for influencers and bloggers I recommend.
Through this book, James aims to show us how habits are the driving force of our lives. He explains to us how we often exaggerate the power of one big moment but underestimate the impact of making small improvements in our daily life.
To further demonstrate his observations, he mentions the concept of the 1% rule which basically states that if you improve yourself by 1% everyday, these improvements will stack overtime and in the long run, shape your life for the better.
Why It’s Helpful for Influencers and Bloggers
When it comes to being an influencer, blogger or anything related to the digital space, the hardest part is to keep up with the dynamic environment.
Customers and their tastes are evolving, Competition is at an all time high and everyday there’s something new to learn and master.
Since there is no defined road map on what to do, it’s natural to feel confused and stagnated. This book is designed to help you not only find which habits to develop but also does a great job in breaking down how you can stick to these habits.
In essence, Atomic Habits will help you to find and inculcate small changes that will have a massive impact on your entrepreneurship capabilities and other areas of life as well.
Steal Like An Artist
Steve Jobs once said “Good artists copy, great artists steal”
I know it sounds villainous but bear with me!
In the book “Steal Like An Artist”, the author, Austin Kleon proceeds to debunk a common myth about “Originality”.
He argues that nothing in this world is truly original. Austin explains that every masterpiece in the past was a product of ideas of those around and those who came before the artist.
He further goes on to say that the ability to pull inspiration from other’s works/ideas and adding your personal touch into it is what makes someone a great artist.
In fact, Austin claims that the pressure of creating something original every time is indeed what truly affects an artist’s creativity.
Why It’s Helpful for Influencers and Bloggers
Steal Like An Artist suggests that when starting out on something new, it is OKAY to borrow some inspiration from other works. This will help spark your inner creativity and make you think.
It mentions techniques that teach you,
- How to analyze an artist’s work to know what they were trying to express.
- How to hone your craft by learning from the best.
- How to adapt and evolve a style to make it your own.
Moreover, Austin also touches on various other situations you might face like criticism, negativity and the trap of creativity. Being an influencer or a blogger, you can apply these principles in your personal and professional life.
My friend gave me this book and I’m so grateful she did!
Superfans
Superfans is written by Pat Flynn who is a go-to source for blogging and affiliate marketing.
He wrote this book to show that you don’t need to have thousands and thousands of followers to make money from blogging or social media but rather, you need a core audience who love and trust you. This core audience is made up of Superfans.
In the book, you’ll learn how to create Superfans, an audience of people who trust you and will buy from you.
Why It’s Helpful for Influencers and Bloggers
Most bloggers and influencers generally start out with sponsorships as a source of income, but quickly move onto affiliate marketing or even selling their own products in order to make more passive income.
Pat Flynn tells you how to create an audience or attract Superfans who want to hear what you have to say and trust you enough to buy from you.
He stresses the idea that your core 1000* Superfans who engage with you and are willing to buy from you are more valuable than 100,000 other followers who simply scroll by your posts quickly. *Just making up a random number here.
Above anything, this book helps you with creating a community!
Building a Story Brand
Donald Miller is a marketing guru who has helped thousands of businesses to clarify their message so their customers will listen (and ultimately buy from them).
Miller separates the book into three sections.
- Part one discusses marketing noises and failed marketing messages that bombard your buyers with underwhelming messages that make no sense.
- In the next segment, he describes seven elements of winning the buyers and weaving them together.
- The last segment tells how to implement the marketing assets from the website to lead the nurturing email campaigns to keynote and brochures and the presentations to make your messages clear and consistent. These clear and consistent messages will attract and retain the buyers like a super magnet.
Why It’s Helpful for Influencers and Bloggers
You might think that since this book talks about businesses and brands that as an influencer or bloggers, it doesn’t apply to you. But as an influencer or blogger, you are your own business. You are your own brand.
As a result, you need to have a clear story brand that communicates to your audience about who you are and what you can offer them. This will attract a specific type of audience, which can be better marketed to by brands you work with.
The clearer you can be about who you are and what you offer your audience, the better you’ll be able to find ways to market to them.
Six Months to Six Figures
Peter Voogd uses real life experience to share how he went from broke to making over six figures in six months.
Since it’s based on strategies he’s personally used, there is no BS or fluff in this book. This book provides you with a plan and framework for developing goals, habits, and thoughts for becoming a person who can easily earn six figures per month.
He touches upon topics such as having clarity, confidence, circle of influence, consistent motivation, consistent energy, result rituals, focus on learning, and focus on growth, which all tie into attaining any target in your life.
Why It’s Helpful for Influencers and Bloggers
Of course, bloggers and influencers would love to make six figures… I mean, I guess anyone would.
But it’s difficult to make six figures without a plan of some sort.
Six Months to Six Figures is one of the must-read books for influencers and bloggers because it helps you create a working plan and gives you a timeline of what to focus on to be successful.
Just like most of these books listed here, you will have to apply it to your specific niche and job, but it will help you reorganize your strategy, or even create one, so you can be on the road to six figures.
Never Split the Difference
In this book, Chriss Voss, an ex-FBI negotiator draws the attention of its readers to the legendary and fabled negotiations skills of FBI hostages.
He breaks down negotiation tricks for us to use in our day-to-day life both personally and professionally. The author has included a guide on how to carefully use words and phrases to generate the emotional response that you want.
But the tricks don’t end here, Chris also gives an in-depth explanation on how you can use psychology to turn into a persuasion master.
Why It’s Helpful for Influencers and Bloggers
The No.1 skill for being successful in any industry is the ability to market yourself.
Being an influencer or a blogger in this day and age is not an easy task. Whatever services you offer, there will always be people who are either charging the same as you or doing it for way cheaper. The quality of their work may be not upto the mark, but most clients won’t realize that before hiring them.
As an independent influencer/blogger, it is crucial you know how to convince clients that you are the best in the game and why availing your products/services will provide them the most value.
All that while making sure it doesn’t affect your profit margins.
The 80/20 Principle
The 80/20 rule motivates you to adapt an intelligent way to deal with other people and forms of society. It educates them on how to attain more with less effort.
This principle says that 80% of all consequences happen because of 20% of causes and if we successfully identify and take action for that 20%, we could change the complete outcome.
This book is a form of burning conviction that validates the professional and personal experience by applying these principles to transcend and deal with the pressure of the modern lifestyle.
Why It’s Helpful for Influencers and Bloggers
On your journey as an influencer or a blogger, you may come across a variety of distractions. You might doubt if you are on the right path seeing how your competitors are doing.
Thousands of people, teaching you thousands of ways to do a job, while some of them actually help, others are nothing but a waste of time.
The 80/20 puts special emphasis more on smart work rather than hard work.
As you go through the book, you’ll find insight on how to find out the areas that need improvement so that you put your focus on things that actually make a difference.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
“How to Win Friends and Influence People” teaches you how to make the most out of an interaction.
The Author, Dale Carnegie claims that as human beings, we crave for acceptance from other fellow beings. And this craving is what drives us to connect with people, and motivates to make friends.
But some of us aren’t great at expressing ourselves which makes it even harder for us to fit in, let alone influence someone.
The good news is that communication is a learnable skill and this book does a great job at doing that. Herein, Dale Carnegie has mentioned over 30 proven principles that’ll help you understand better, communicate freely and develop a likable personality.
Why It’s Helpful for Influencers and Bloggers
You know what they say “Your network is your net worth”
I know,cliche, however it still stands true.
If you didn’t already know, Networking is the most profitable skill to learn today and the biggest component of networking is effective communication.
Whether it’s your audience, your personal community or other PR agencies and content creators, networking can aid you in establishing your identity in an otherwise competitive market.
Not only you’ll get to learn from your peers, but you’ll also get opportunities (in the form of sponsorships, collaborations and referrals) to grow your earnings.
InstaStyle
Written by Tezza, one of the biggest influencers online, InstaStyle is a must-read for budding as well as experienced influencers and bloggers.
This book solely focuses on Instagram and how you can use the platform to start your influencer journey.
In this book, Tezza (the author) shares
- Guides to increase your followers and engagement.
- The essentials of good photography and creating an aesthetically pleasing instagram profile.
- How to make your brand stand out from the rest.
InstaStyle also features tips from other famous influencers across different niches, to provide assurance that the tips and tactics really work!
Why It’s Helpful for Influencers and Bloggers
If you are an influencer or a blogger, chances are you already understand how helpful a strong social media presence is. But if you are struggling to build one yourself, this book will be of major help.
The first thing anyone sees after visiting your profile is obviously your feed. An interesting feed will attract 10X more attention *(well not literally but you get the idea)* than just a boring and mismatched feed. But how do you create something like that?
Well, Tezza gives practical tips on how to take good photos of yourself, how to use visuals to tell a story and above all how to design content strategies that speak directly to your audience.
Summary of These Books for Influencers and Bloggers
As you can see, these books for influencers and bloggers are helpful for various reasons. Here’s a quick summary of which part of your content creating business they could help with:
- Atomic Habits – Creating Habits for Work
- Steal Like An Artist – Getting Inspiration as an Influencer/Blogger
- Superfans – Creating a Core Audience/Community
- Building a Story Brand – Developing Your Marketing Message
- Six Months to Six Figures – Developing a Everyday Strategy
- Never Split the Difference – Negotiating for Sponsorships
- The 80/20 Principle – Knowing What to Focus On
- How to Win Friends and Influence People – Developing Social Skills for Networking
- InstaStyle – Learning About Instagram, Editing, etc.
Want to learn more? You can find more helpful blog posts here, get consistent page views to your blog with my SEO course, or follow me on social media to get daily tips:
- TikTok for blogging + social tips @sarah.chetrit
- Facebook Group to ask me anything Blog and Make Money
- Instagram for travel, blogging and Korean food @sarchetrit
Until next time,
Sarah Chetrit