5 Must-Read Books To Become A Viral Online Writer

Want to write better at work and your side hustle? 5 Must-Read books to understand the nitty-gritty of writing, creativity, building an audience, marketing to the right people, and content strategy.

Read on if you want to write a story, a blog, an effective email, a creative social post copy, or an impactful speech/ talk.

1. Nobody Wants To Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is and What You Can Do About It - Steven Pressfield

Start with his book - 'The War Of Art' and build up to this book. He shares his experiences writing as a copywriter, a screenwriter, and a novelist.

Key takeaway: How to write engaging, compelling content that everyone will stop and pay attention to.

Quotable Quote: “When you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, you develop empathy.

You acquire the skill that is indispensable to all artists and entrepreneurs—the ability to switch back and forth in your imagination from your own point of view as writer/painter/seller to the point of view of your reader/gallery-goer/customer.

You learn to ask yourself with every sentence and every phrase: Is this interesting? Is it fun or challenging or inventive? Am I giving the reader enough? Is she bored? Is she following where I want to lead her?"

2. The Ultimate Guide To Writing Online - David Perell

This one's a quick read on David Perell's amazing blog. He has a great online course - 'Write of Passage'.

Key takeaway: How can good online writing weekly help fastrack your career?

Why giving away your best content for FREE, consistently, on social channels like Medium or Quora or Linkedin can build your professional writing business.

Quotable Quote: "Writing online is the fastest way to accelerate your career.

It’s the best way to learn faster, build your resume, and find peers and collaborators who can create job and business opportunities for you.

Content builds on itself. It multiplies and compounds."

3. The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention - Nicolas Cole

Hear from 4- time Top Writer on Quora about the secrets of writing for virality and how to build a professional writing career.

Key takeaway: This is a GEM of a book - content strategy to writing headlines; ghostwriting to building a writing course; blogging to copywriting; social media strategy - this book is IT.

Quotable Quote:

“Speed is how you win on the internet.

Your writing, no matter what genre you’re in, should not be longer for longer’s sake — ever.

You want to always be thinking the opposite for online writing. You should ask yourself, ‘How can I make this shorter?

How can I make this faster? How can I require less of the reader’s time?"

4. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content - Ann Handley

This one's for non-writers - those who have to write emails, reports, speeches or other things for work. How to write these, especially technical jargon so your audience can understand in a jiffy.

Key takeaway: Simplicity in language can make business writing and communication so much easier.

Quotable Quote:

“Your customers don't buy your product to do your company a favor.

They're doing it because your product makes their lives better. So if you want to sell something, you need to explain how you're helping them.”

5. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen - Donald Miller

Solopreneurs, freelancers, entrepreneurs in the writing and creativity space - how can stories work for you?

Key takeaway: Business storytelling via great content to solve your customer's problems.

Quotable Quote:

“Imagine your customer is a hitchhiker. You pull over to give him a ride, and the one burning question on his mind is simply Where are you going?

But as he approaches, you roll down the window and start talking about your mission statement, or how your grandfather built this car with his bare hands, or how your road-trip playlist is all 1980s alternative.

This person doesn’t care.”

The only key to writing is by starting to write every day - a lot. Start with a goal of 500 - 1000 words every day.

As Nicolas Cole says,

"The more you write, the more your writing reaches a larger audience.

The more you write, the more people read your writing.

The more you write, the more people care about what you have to say."