Blog posts, product descriptions, grants, magazine or trade publication articles or queries to publishers. As a creative business owner you probably find yourself doing a fair bit of writing. Let that sink in for a minute.
You started making jewelry or scarves or whatever and then turned it into a small business. Never in your wildest dreams did you imagine you would spend so much time writing. Me? A writer?
Yup. You are. And if you have a blog you probably write a quite often.
Why not be the best writer you can be? Here are some of my favorite books on the topic. 
- On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser – Originally published in 1976, Zinsser’s advice on mechanics, structure and thinking have stood the test of time for generations of writers of all kinds.
- Save the Cat by Blake Snyder – You’ll learn the main story archetypes, how to structure a good screenplay, and more subtle techniques like how to create a character the audience loves almost immediately. Great for teaching structure and formula. What better way to sell a product than with a great story?
- Story Engineering: Mastering the 6 Core Competencies of Successful Writing by Larry Brooks – Story Engineering is like a master class in storytelling and novel writing. An intense, comprehensive book, Story Engineering can help bring your writing to a professional level if you read and consistently apply the concepts in this book.
- CA$HVERTISING: How to Use More than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make Big Money Selling Anything to Anyone, by Drew Eric Whitman – Successful blogging is persuasive writing. It doesn’t even matter if you want to make money from your blog or not. You need to connect with people and persuade them you have a message worth reading or products worth buying.
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King – This book explores the craft of storytelling to engage readers and keep them coming back for more, and how to constantly think about what your readers are thinking.
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott – One of my personal favorites in this list. Anne Lamott could be a role model and idol for bloggers who want to use their personal stories to illustrate fundamental truths about life.
- Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg – If you need something gentle to jar you out of your same-old same-old writing rut and inspire you to see the world with fresh eyes, read this book.
As you can see, even if you don’t think you want to become a professional writer you might want to learn to write compelling product descriptions with stories and visuals that MAKE the reader want to press the BUY button. Who knows, you might just enjoy it enough to add it to your income stream.
By: Vicki O’Dell, The Creative Goddess
What books have helped you learn to write well?
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