So you want to write a better blog. You want to grow your blog. You want to make more of a difference in your readers’ lives. You’re not alone—and luckily, many other writers have thought a lot about these same challenges. The good news for us, whether you’re a beginner blogger or a pro, is that you can learn from others, via the best books for bloggers! That’s why I’ve asked a bunch of smart writers + readers to share their recommendations of required reading for bloggers.

These are the best books about blogging but not only that. After all, I work to keep my reading lists diverse, since creativity comes from everywhere. So I’ve also included titles in this required reading for bloggers list that are about productivity, remote work, creativity and much more.

Because here’s the deal: You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You don’t have to figure out how to grow your blog or get more done or write a stunning headline all by yourself. Stand on the shoulders of giants. You’ll save time while figuring out how to write a better blog. That means blogging will be more fulfilling for you—and your readers will benefit, too.

So don’t wait any longer. Scroll down to check out my and other writers’ recommendations of required reading for bloggers. Then request these best books for bloggers from the library, download them on Audible or put them in your Amazon cart. Finally, get reading. A better blog is closer than you ever thought possible.

This post contains affiliate links. By clicking and buying, I earn a small income at no extra cost to you.

12 best books for bloggers to read now

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Biggest takeaway: To win the war and beat Resistance, sit down every day and just create.

The first thing Steven Pressfield does in this incredible 165-page book is rename procrastination. He calls it Resistance. He asserts it’s every writer’s job to show up daily, do the work, and overcome Resistance. It’s what separates the pros from amateurs. He readily admits that it’s the hardest thing to sit down and do it, thanks to Resistance.

What grabbed me and woke me up is his description of your unlived life. All that keeps you from using your divine-given talent and living that life is Resistance. The first part of the book is spent going over all the ways Resistance can and does show up in our lives. How we use it, and how it uses us. You will recognize yourself there.

In the second half of The War of Art, he gets down to combating Resistance. It’s becoming and acting like a professional. The show must go on. So you show up, no excuses, and do the work. Don’t look at the outcome or weigh the results as you’re working. No over thinking, over planning, or questioning. So that’s how I blog, now. I act like a professional and do the work.

You can easily download this book (for free using this link to an Audible trial) and listen to it while you’re on the move!

-Cindi Conley is a suitcase-checking traveler and storyteller who creates the blog Traveling Later, every day.

The 4-Hour Workweek

Biggest takeaway: The 4-Hour Workweek taught me that the most important step toward location independence is taking action today.

Among self-help readers, The 4-Hour Workweek is practically considered a cult classic. The author, Tim Ferriss, details how he reduced his work hours and attained location independence through a wide range of techniques. 

Some of the biggest lessons I learned that was relevant to my blog pertaining to location. Ferriss describes how he lived in places with cheaper costs of living, including South America, Germany, and Asia, to stretch his income and reduce his working hours. 

When I read this book that’s great for bloggers, I was months deep in research about moving abroad. I was reading way too much and not taking enough action. This book helped me truly internalize the fact that I could live abroad and make not just a good living but an excellent one. It helped me actually book a plane ticket and get moving. 

Ferriss mentioned so many interesting ideas I hadn’t thought of like automation, product testing, and hiring virtual assistants. Even if you aren’t ready to use these techniques yet, they open your mind about what’s possible in your business.

Though it was written in 2006, digital nomads and bloggers will benefit significantly from reading the 4-Hour Workweek—especially by learning how to reduce their hours and work from anywhere. 

-Carly Matthew is a travel blogger, digital worker, and English teacher working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. You can read about her adventures on her travel blog, CarlyMatthew.com.

Blog, Inc.: Blogging for Passion, Profit, and to Create Community

Biggest takeaway: While there is a basic blueprint for blogging, it takes a lot of hard work and ingenuity to make blogging work as a business. But, it can be done!

One of the first blogging books I read, one in which the tips have stayed with me over the years, was Blog, Inc.: Blogging for Passion, Profit, and to Create Community by Joy Deangdeelert Cho and Meg Mateo Ilasco. I picked up the book because I was already obsessed with the work of the blogger behind Oh, Joy!. Joy Cho had created an empire in her passion and it so closely related to my own passion that I was eager to get any and all tips on how she did it.

The book for bloggers covers some of the very basics of starting a blog, which is helpful for beginners. Topics such as picking out a blog name, the anatomy of a blog, and blogging platforms are all covered covered. It then transitions into taking those basics up a notch and monetizing the system and using your blogging skills in other avenues of profitability.

My favorite part of the book was reading the stories of other successful bloggers. It made it easier to picture myself as someday being among the elite storytellers who could turn their passion into a decent paycheck.

You can download this in an audiobook format for free with my link to an Audible trial!

-Jenni Bost is a lifestyle and entertaining blogger over at A Well Crafted Party where she shares tips for celebrating this crazy thing called life. In addition, she offers a free blog planner printable and blogging tips over on her site, A Well Crafted Blog.

SEO the Easy Way: The Complete SEO Strategy for Bloggers

Biggest takeaway: If my post isn’t on page 1 of search engines, then it might as well not exist.  But it can be on page 1, and this book shows you how.

In my 10 years of blogging (and 2 years of taking it more seriously), one book stands out as pivotal to my blogging education.  SEO the Easy Way – The Complete SEO Strategy for Bloggers, by Laura Lynch, has finally managed to teach me the SEO skills I’ve pretended I didn’t need to learn.  Every time I would consider learning more about SEO, I was immediately overwhelmed and would retreat from the idea, thinking if I just used alt-tags, then all would be well.  

SEO the Easy Way is so highly recommended by other bloggers, and so often, that I broke down and bought it.  Lynch’s writing style is very personable and down-to-earth, and most of all, it’s easy to understand.  The book is 129 pages, and you can download it to read online, or print it out as I did.

I finished the book a month ago.  I’m tracking stats in Google Analytics and Search Console, and in that month, my search engine traffic has doubled.  Eight of my blog posts are now on the first page of Google, for a combined 21 keywords. I do write a narrow niche blog, so ranking is easier for me than for others, but even I’m astonished by the statistics.  SEO the Easy Way has forever changed the way I approach blogging.

-Heather Hicks writes about outdoor adventure travel with kids in Oregon at Oregon Outdoor Family.     

The 12 Week Year

The 12 Week Year by Brian Morgan is an excellent book for anyone who gets overwhelmed when it comes to planning for the year…like me! While it’s not specific to blogging, the system taught in this book is applicable to blogging and as well as other aspects of life.

The 12 Week Year teaches us to create goals that we work toward for 12 weeks. Of course, these goals relate to our overall vision for our blog. Then we act as if each 12 weeks is a year. This eliminates procrastination and creates momentum as the actions we take today have a much more immediate effect on the 12 week goal.

We can see much more quickly which actions are getting us closer to our goal and which ones are not moving the needle as we anticipated. This allows us to course correct right away as opposed to waiting to see what happens at the end of the year.

I also enjoy this book for bloggers because it’s not a complicated method. It simplifies blogging and creates a focus for 12 weeks that can then shift the next 12 weeks.

I highly recommend reading it to help with creating a vision and plan for your blog. Or, if you’d prefer to listen while you’re taking your morning walk, you can download it for free using my link for an Audible trial!

-Katie Minahan blogs at Just Chasing Sunsets about solo female travel.

Building a Story Brand

Biggest takeaway: It’s crucial to use stories to connect with our customers and readers.

If you’re struggling to write compelling emails, clickable website copy or double tap worthy Instagram captions Donald Miller’s Building a Story Brand will set you on the right track using his seven step framework. Inside he teaches you to think of your customer as the protagonist in your brand’s story. When the customer encounters a problem, a guide (you) will show up to give them a plan and call them to action.

By positioning your customers as the hero in the story and your brand as the guide (think Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi) you will allow them to gain confidence and succeed. Miller uses classic Hollywood storytelling methods to create story gaps or mini cliffhangers. Your customers will stay in touch and keep coming back for more because of the basic human desire to find resolution in the story.

As an added bonus he also has an online program to walk you through the seven steps and start creating compelling stories of your own. If you’re eager to start injecting more story in your copy I highly encourage you to check out Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller.

-Kristi Westberg is the creator of Indoorsy Camper, a blog devoted to finding balance and happiness by cultivating creativity and connecting with the outdoors.

Take Your Life Back: Finding Freedom through Location Independence

Biggest takeaway: I need to utilize the skills I do have and not wallow on the ones I don’t have… yet.

I found the book, Take Your Life Back: Finding Freedom Through Location Independence, by Leah Davis, at a time when I needed it most. I had recently left the career I’d been building for a decade to sprint off to New Zealand for three months, and I knew I wouldn’t return to it when I came home. I needed something that was flexible, in my control and capitalized on my natural skills. I had been blogging in my spare time for four years at this point but didn’t know where, or even IF, I belonged in the blogging world. I felt like a failure since I had managed very little traffic and zero profit in that time span.

After reading Take Your Life Back, I realized that many of my skills could benefit other bloggers and entrepreneurs. I’m organized, creative, have great attention to detail, love creating systems, and enjoy project management. So, I decided to become a freelance virtual assistant. This role has positioned me to learn from successful bloggers and entrepreneurs and apply that knowledge to my own pursuits with great success.

-Brittany Quaglieri, a freelance virtual assistant and founder of She Goes With Purpose, where she shares destination information and health + wellness tips for travelers.

The Million Dollar Blog

Biggest takeaway: Pick two social media channels to focus on instead of worrying about mastering all of them.

I read The Million Dollar Blog by Natasha Courtenay-Smith when I first launched my blog Destination>Differentville. It was a point when I was excited, enthusiastic, utterly clueless and massively overwhelmed. 

The book uses advice and interviews from top bloggers like Seth Godin and Vicky Psarlas (HonestMum.com) to explain how to find your niche, boost page views and make money—giving heaps of practical tips for beginners along the way.

However, as inspiring as it all was I didn’t know how I was going to do all these things while holding down a demanding full-time job.

Then, in the chapter on social media one paragraph jumped out at me and I’ve used it to keep me focused ever since. It’s the idea of ‘Main and Maintain’ and Courtney-Smith suggests choosing two social networks that are your main focus and you throw your heart and soul into growing and feeding—and two where you have a presence, posting say once a week to just keep things ticking over.

It also gives you a four-step process to help you find out which yours should be. I haven’t panicked about fitting it all in ever since.

-Helen Foster blogs at Destination > Differentville, where she shares unusual and off-the-beaten-track suggestions for things to eat, see and do.

Get Rich, Lucky Bitch

Biggest takeaway: Everything that I want is possible, there is enough in the world, and I am enough.

Money blocks come in all shapes and sizes and the book Get Rich, Lucky Bitch, by Denise Duffield-Thomas, has been really helpful in acknowledging and getting rid of them and for general mindset work. In relation to blogging it might be the belief that only others will get success or that it’s too hard to make the big amounts of money or maybe not even possible.  It could even be as simple as feeling worthy of success.  

The book gives ideas on how to combat all these kinds of blocks, which I’ve found really helpful for my blogging journey and also in lots of other areas of life. It also taught me not to get bogged down with others beliefs around money, success and business and gave me new insights on it all. All in all it’s a really interesting book that has changed my business and really my life!

-Kirsty Bartholomew is a travel blogger obsessed with history at Lost In Landmarks.

Better than Before

Biggest takeaway: I learned how to trigger habits like sitting down to write by pairing that task with my morning cup of tea.

Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin has been a transformative read. This book extensively covers habit formation and creating long-lasting routines around your personality type. I loved Rubin’s matter-of-fact style yet soft touch when discussing hard to change areas of our lives. She’s incredibly personal.

I’ve literally told every one of my friends to read this book – especially if they have any sort of habit they would like to shift.

Better than Before helped me develop meaningful engagement with my own blog, Closed-Loop Cooking, by illustrating how I could reinforce sustainable habits around daily writing and content development. I was feeling overwhelmed with the number of items in my to-do list but having the structure of a habitual routine really made it easier to approach. It definitely helps to know your personality type out of the four she references, Upholder, Obliger, Questioner, and Rebel (you can find out which one you are in the back of the book.)

This book encouraged focus and definitely helped me to grow my blog. Can’t recommend Gretchen Rubin enough!

-Hawnuh Lee writes about creating a sustainable kitchen at her blog, Closed-Loop Cooking.

Meditations

Biggest takeaway: Whenever blogging seems challenging, or the blog’s readership seems low, I recall Marcus Aurelius’s words, “Neither worse than not better is a thing made by being praised.”

I have been reading Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, for a few months now, and this book—which is known as the greatest work of Greek and philosophical literature—has helped me immensely in my blogging journey.

If my articles don’t get the appreciation I think they deserve, I move onto the next writing piece I am working on. For I have started believing that neither would praise nor would critique increase or reduce the inherent beauty in a piece of art that I have honestly created. 

Writing is my art. I started blogging for my passion for writing, not for being the number one blogger. Though I feel happy when readers comment that they loved my poem or could relate to my essay, I do not depend on their admiration. 

My indifference to whether the blog went viral or is just sitting in a corner existing helps me write without worrying about the results. I wake up every day with a smile on my face and with a pen in my fingers, and I write and blog. 

-Priyanka Gupta is an itinerant blogger from India who has left her investment banking career to travel the world and write about it at On My Canvas.

Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People

Biggest takeaway: Don’t go to every single networking event because you “should.” Figure out where you thrive and take advantage of those opportunities. You’ll show up better and make more genuine connections.

This brilliant, science-based book by Vanessa Van Edwards has been a game-changer for me. As an awkward introvert who only appears to be confident and outgoing, Van Edwards’s tips on how to authentically connect with others—and make a lasting impression—has been so helpful!

In Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People, she walks through the science of first impressions, the myths we tell ourselves about networking, and how to actually feel comfortable with networking (which, let’s admit it, nearly all of us hate).

Later in this book for bloggers, she dives deeper. Van Edwards outlines how to move acquaintances to friends and then trusted go-tos. Her practical guide for being your genuine self and still expanding your professional network is a must-read for bloggers.

I enjoyed listening to this book when I was on the go, and you can too (for free) using this link.

-Catherine Ryan Gregory—that’s me, of course!

Your reading list for bloggers

Now that you’ve read about other bloggers’ book recommendations, I know you’ll be clicking over to Amazon or requesting books at the library. Or better yet, get a free audiobook by using this link to Audible!

Reading is one must-do step to build a better blog. You don’t have to come up with all the brilliant ideas to network more authentically, write better blog posts, build community and master SEO on your own. Why not read the best tips, guidance and advice from the experts?

I know you’ll find plenty of inspiration in this reading list for bloggers. Do you have suggestions, too? Share them in the comments—I’m always looking for books to help my blog!

PS – If you’re looking for podcasts and other resources to improve your blog, check out my post on the best free blogging resources you should be using right now.