5 Books for better writing
If you’re anything like us (and 17% of resolution-makers), one of your New Year Resolutions is to read more books. Whatever your preference—paperback, audiobook, ebook—reading is good for you. These recs will help you write better, too.
There are a few tried-and-true resources—some old, some new—that we always recommend to our clients. If communicating better is on your list this year, pick one (or more) and dive in!
The Elements of Style by Will Strunk and E.B. White. This is an oldie but a goodie. Since its initial publication in 1918, it has never gone out of print. Writing has changed a lot in the 102 years since—emails, tweets, emoji—but good writing hasn’t.
BRIEF: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less by Joe McCormack. Joe, Founder of The BRIEF Lab and friend/mentor to Bold Type, is on a mission to create an elite standard in communication. This book will reorient your approach to communication and leave you convinced that less is more. Bonus reading assignment: check out Joe’s newest book, Noise.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. You probably know Stephen King for his famous horror novels, like The Shining and It. He’s a master storyteller, which makes this book both instructive and fun to read. You’ll learn about King’s process while gaining practical tools to improve your own.
Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works by Ginny Redish. Redish literally wrote the book on usability—and Letting Go of the Words is it. She founded the Document Design Center at the American Institutes for Research in 1979, and today she’s our fellow member at the Center for Plain Language.
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. This book is a must for telling stories about the work you do or the ideas you care about. It breaks down the anatomy of ideas that stick and gives you tools to make your ideas “stickier.” We recommend this book often—and so does every other communications expert we’ve met!