Here’s an eclectic smattering of readables on the bottomless topic of writing. These authors have a lot to say about how to write, what makes words work, and why command of the language matters—for companies and for all of us.
I’ve lumped these titles together into uncategorized lists because their overlapping content kept overleaping any category walls I attempted to put between them.
You’ll discover here a few titles related to disciplines tangential to writing—content strategy, information architecture, usability, and design—because without strategy, structure, usability, and design, even the superlativest sentences and paragraphs go nowhere. To reach their potential, words need help. Wordies of all disciplines, unite!
You may wonder about the gazillion titles I’ve left out. Flip to the back of Garner’s Modern American Usage for terrific monster lists: “A Timeline of Books on Usage” (starting on page 925) and “Select Bibliography” (starting on page 927).
Books
The Associated Press Stylebook
edited by Darrell Christian, Paula Froke, Sally Jacobsen, and David Minthorn
Analyzing English Grammar
by Thomas P. Klammer, Muriel R. Schulz, and Angela Della Volpe
APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur—How to Publish a Book
by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch
Better Than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives
by Arthur Plotnik
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
by Anne Lamott
The Book of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks: A Celebration of Creative Punctuation
by Bethany Keeley
The Chicago Manual of Style
by University of Chicago Press
The Classic Guide to Better Writing: Step-by-Step Techniques and Exercises to Write Simply, Clearly and Correctly
by Rudolf Flesch
Clout: The Art and Science of Influential Web Content
by Colleen Jones
Common Errors in English Usage
by Paul Brians
Content Strategy 101: Transform Technical Content into a Business Asset
by Sarah S. O’Keefe and Alan S. Pringle
Content Strategy: Connecting the Dots between Business, Brand, and Benefits
by Rahel Anne Bailie and Noz Urbina
Content Strategy for the Web
by Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach
Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors
by Gretchen Hargis et al.
Don’t Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
by Steve Krug
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
by Lynne Truss
Editing by Design: For Designers, Art Directors, and Editors—the Classic Guide to Winning Readers
by Jan V. White
The Elements of Content Strategy
by Erin Kissane
The Elements of Style
by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White
Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content
by Ann Handley
Garner’s Modern American Usage
by Bryan A. Garner
Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction
by Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd
Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
by Mignon Fogarty
The Handbook of Good English
by Edward D. Johnson
How to Write Short
by Roy Peter Clark
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
by Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville
The Language of Content Strategy
by Scott Abel and Rahel Anne Bailie
Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works
by Janice (Ginny)Â Redish
The Little English Handbook
by Edward P. J. Corbett and Sheryl L. Finkle
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy
by Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper
Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications
by Microsoft Corp.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by Stephen King
On Writing Well: A Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
by William Zinsser
Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry
by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
A Room of One’s Own
by Virginia Woolf
Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation
by Kurt Ament
Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences
by Kitty Burns Florey
Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style
by Arthur Plotnik
Standards for Online Communication
by JoAnn T. Hackos and Dawn M. Stevens
Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction
by Jack Hart
Technical Communication
by Mike Markel
The Thank You Economy
by Gary Vaynerchuk
Things That Make Us [sic]: The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar Takes on Madison Avenue, Hollywood, the White House, and the World
by Martha Brockenbrough
Universal Principles of Design: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design
by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler
Words into Type
by Marjorie E. Skillin and Robert M. Gay
Write Now: Business Writing That Gets Results: Learn Business Writing Essentials in 15 Simple Steps
by Frank Bonkowski
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
by Roy Peter Clark
Websites and Blogs
A Way with Words: Public Radio’s Lively Language Show
by Barnette, Martha, and Grant Barrett
Center for Information-Development Management
by JoAnn T. Hackos and others
The Content Philosopher
by Joe Gollner
Content Rules
by Val Swisher and others
The Content Wrangler
by Scott Abel and others
English Language (ESL) Learning on UsingEnglish.com
Every Page Is Page One
by Mark Baker
Grammar & Composition on About.com
by Richard Nordquist and others
Grammar Girl
by Mignon Fogarty and others
I’d Rather Be Writing: The Latest Trends in Technical Communication
by Tom Johnson and others
Intentional Design: Content Strategies for Business Impact
by Rahel Anne Bailie
Language Log
by Mark Liberman and others
Money-Saving Guide for Authors and Writers
by Marc Mezzacca
(Special thanks to Anna for suggesting this page.)
Scriptorium: Accelerating Knowledge
by Sarah O’Keefe and others
Technical Documentation Tool and Web Guide
by Marc Achtelig
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