Beginner’s Book List for Content Strategy

While we get this content strategy magazine rolling, let’s start with some of the most well-known and useful published books in the industry of content strategy. What makes content strategy unique is that we create content to talk about content. While there are so many resources out there on the internet, I prefer that we delve into the books that provide a more solid foundation on the theme of content strategy first. This is not a complete list, but can get you started.

The criteria for appearing on this curated list include:

• How recent was the book published?
• What is relevant these days?
• Are there updates to their publication
• Does their content stand the test of time?

Diving into Content Strategy

The following books can start you out in the ever-dynamic world of content strategy. I suggest looking at these first to help you or anyone you know understand the workings of content strategy.

Content Strategy 101 / Alan Pringle & Sarah O’Keefe / 2012

This book is a great primer. You can use this book to help shape your content needs for your business or organization.

Find out more about Content Strategy 101.

The Language of Content Strategy / Rahel Anne Bailey & Scott Abel / 2014

This book delves into 52 topics related to content strategy. You can use this book to understand some of the deeper levels and pivot to specialized areas in this field.

Find out more about The Language of Content Strategy.

Working in Content Strategy

Web content definitely rules the business world. As does content within an organization. How do you handle it and manage such large operations? Here’s some books that help you understand where to implement best practices for content strategy.

Content Strategy for the Web / Kristina Halvorson & Melissa Rach / 2012

This book guides you to understand content strategy for websites. Since this book has been out, many organizations have been influenced on how to develop websites that offer a great user experience (UX) for visitors as well as help explain to upper management how web content strategy works in favor for businesses.

Find out more about Content Strategy for the Web.

The Content Strategy Toolkit: Methods, Guidelines, and Templates for Getting Content Right / Meghan Casey / 2015

Sometimes you need an example from someone else to get content strategy working right at your organization. This book contains a great array and variety of tools which you can adapt for your own content situations.

Find out more about The Content Strategy Toolkit.

Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy / Ann Rockley & Charles Cooper / 2012

Going beyond websites, this book establishes how to work within the framework of medium-to-large organizations. This guide is helpful for understanding the inner-workings that are at play when managing content at the enterprise level.

Find out more about Managing Enterprise Content.

Enterprise Content Strategy Project Guide /  Kevin Nichols / 2015

To build an enterprise content strategy, this guide helps you with best practices and approaches. What this book can do is help get the groundwork started for managing enterprise content strategy by asking questions and showing you how to execute that plan.

Find out more about Enterprise Content Strategy Project Guide.