4 Books Every Author Should Read

Seth Godin, Ryan Holiday, and Guy Kawasaki on the Best Ways to Market a Book

The following four books teach you how to market your books, connect with readers, and create a legacy that lasts through your good work. These timeless insights from Seth Godin, Ryan Holiday, Guy Kawasaki, and Jeff Goins will help you take your book where you want it to go.

APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur by Guy Kawasaki

This book guides you through the entire process of writing, publishing, and most importantly selling your books. Kawasaki encourages authors to treat every book they write as a business and act as the CEO in the process. Beyond this, he really dives into the nuts and bolts of how to be successful, complete with step-by-step guides and additional resources.

Permission Marketing by Seth Godin

This is quintessential reading for anyone marketing anything. It’s especially relevant for authors. Written by Seth Godin, who got his start selling other people’s books and who has gone on to write multiple bestsellers, this little book will teach you everything you need to know about cutting through the noise, creating content readers care about, and ultimately selling more books to people who want to buy them.

Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday

This builds off Godin’s concept of permission marketing by exploring case studies of where it has worked for writers, authors, and other creatives. Ryan Holiday, expert marketer and best-selling author, shares how people have successfully marketed their work by knowing exactly how to speak to their audience in a relevant and timely (and often timeless) way.

Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins

Jeff Goins is the ultimate writers’ writer, and in this book he dispels the myth that writers shouldn’t sell out just to make a buck. In fact, he says making money is essential to the creative process and that without business, creativity cannot thrive (and vice versa).