The original post was on Books for Writing Well for Entrepreneurs & Developers - Reading Time: 3 Mins and cover image by Art Lasovsky on Unsplash
Introduction
Written communication is part of life. Without it, modern civilisations would have ceased to exist leading to another dark age. If we are unable to pass on our knowledge, insights, perspectives, mental models and history, we can not learn from our experience and change our thinking and mindset.
As a developer, I am sure you have encountered problems because of differences in opinions on technical specifications that are vague. It results in a lot of unnecessary guesswork for yourself or your team.
As an entrepreneur, you communicate your ideas through writing to convince, persuade, arouse and motivate your employees and customers to action. If done correctly, your employees and customers will stand by you. If you do it poorly, expect backlash because you open the door to fear, uncertainty, and doubt. It can even lead to public outcry against injustices that you do to your employees or customers.
Therefore, learning to write well and effectively is so important to you as a developer or as an entrepreneur. So here is my list of books that might help you on your journey to becoming an effective communicator.
“On Writing Well” by William Zinsser
This book is my goto for study. I return to it on an annual basis. It helps me to write in a way that inspires action and helps to make a difference in the lives of my clients, friends and hopefully you. I truly appreciate the readers of my blog whose comments add precious value to my insights.
I love the non-fiction and scientific writing sections. I believe those sections can provide a lot of value both for developers and entrepreneurs by giving glimpses of what to look out for when you are writing for someone.
“Crushing It” by Gary Vaynerchuk
This book does not really talk about writing, but it is all about strategies and mental models on how to take action to build an audience and your personal brand on various social media platforms. As a champion of the work you do, spreading your message to help people with the cause you stand for.
I have a deep interest in web development with Python and startups. By writing articles for developers and entrepreneurs, I hope to provide them with valuable knowledge for building better products and services that will benefit their customers.
“Draft No 4” by John McPhee
This is a book that will be on my ever-growing backlog of books that I have to read. I found out about this book while listening to Jim Collins interview on Tim Ferriss’ podcast. It blew me away how Jim Collins focused on his craft as a writer by studying John McPhee writing style. It took him a long time to hone his craft as a wordsmith before becoming a best-selling author. Good to Great or his latest book called Turning the Flywheel could be a required reading to help weather the storms of covid19.
The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joesph Sugarman
This is on the list of open books that I am reading now to help improve my message and keep interest and attention of my readers. It is written by the legendary copywriter & direct response marketer Joseph Sugarman. He offers insights on how I should continue to keep your attention and inspire action in the way I write.
Conclusion
I have shared about the books that have helped me on my writer’s journey. If you want to learn and become a more effective writer in general, I recommend On Writing Well and Draft No 4. If you have a cause you strongly believe in or want to build a media company, you need to learn how to make people believe in your mission, to grab their attention and inspire them for action. Crushing It & The Adweek Copywriting Handbook can help with that goal.
Lastly, are you looking to specialise yourself as a developer? If it's a Yes. I'm giving away my free ebook called "Picking Your Specialisation as a Developer" for anyone interested to command a higher salary or do the work that you like.
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