These books are perfect for entrepreneurs. They cover a broad spectrum of topics and will provide you with an encyclopaedic amount of knowledge that will help you build your business and sell more.
This is my personal reading list for 2013 and I plan on reading each one by the end of the year. These books cover subjects like marketing, SEO, social media, branding, analytics, content strategy, design, web usability, behavioral economics, and even psychology.
You'll notice that I've included a link to buy each book. All of the money earned from Amazon's affiliate program will go to Acumen Fund, a non-profit venture that supports entrepreneurs in developing countries.
What are you reading this year? Let me know in the comments!
30 Books for Entrepreneurs
Predictably Irrational
Dan ArielyDan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, we consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable—making us predictably irrational.
Behavioral Economics For Dummies
Morris AltmanThe field of behavioral economics sheds light on the many subtle and not-so-subtle factors that contribute to our financial and purchasing choices. In this book readers will learn how social and psychological factors, such as instinctual behavior patterns, social pressure, and mental framing, can dramatically affect our day-to-day decision-making and financial choices.
All Marketers Are Liars
Seth GodinTelling an authentic story about your company, your products, and your purpose is the secret to great marketing whether you’re selling wine glasses or sports carts. Seth Godin teaches by example, showing why every business needs to start telling stories.
Content Rules
Ann Handley and C.C. ChapmanContent or entertainment marketing is the idea of offering potential customers real and valuable articles, video, or similar in order to build brand loyalty. Although service businesses typically favor this approach, content marketing is still very important for ecommerce entrepreneurs.
Optimize: How to Attract & Engage More Customers
Lee OddenOnline retailers need to boost visibility and relevance if they are to engage customers and increase sales. Odden describes how to achieve just this sort of goal with integrated marketing including SEO, social media, and content marketing.
The New Rules of Marketing & PR
David Meerman ScottThe Internet has changed marketing and opened new opportunities to connect with potential customers. This forward-thinking book can launch a business’ integrated digital marketing and PR strategy.
Managing Content Marketing
Robert Rose & Joe PulizziRose and Pulizzi describe specifically how marketers can use all forms of content (blog, Facebook, guest posting, and more) to build a stronger brand and reach out to customers.
Return on Influence
Mark SchaeferSchaefer guides readers to setting goals and measuring success, demonstrating that influence has the power to drive your business.
Marketing White Belt
Christopher PennPenn is one of the premiere email and digital media marketers anywhere. In this book he lays a foundation for online promotion.
The Power of Habit
Charles DuhiggDuhigg shows how simple habits and patterns can have a significant impact on performance and marketing success. He uses case studies like how marketers turned Febreze from a flop to a billion dollar company.
Likeonomics
Rohit BhargavaThe Internet age impacts how we connect with others and how we build trust over the web. Bhargava sees personal relationships behind every major Internet undertaking.
Brainfluence
Roger DooleyDooley explains how marketers can use neuroscience and behavioral science to augment marketing campaigns and, ultimately, improve sales. Fortunately, you won’t need to be a neuroscientist to read this book. Dooley presents 100 short and easily understood ideas.
Word of Mouth Marketing
Andy SernovitzIf Sernovitz is to be believed, your company can get its very best customers with word-of-mouth marketing. Give folks something to talk about.
Unlimited Power
Anthony RobbinsThis book is a classic. It will teach you how to master your personal and professional life. Tony Robbins reveals the science of personal achievement and teaches you the 7 lies of success, how to find out what you really want, and the 5 keys to wealth and happiness.
Marketing in the Age of Google
Vanessa FoxGoogle, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and Blekko are among the top search engines and are some of the the keys to accessing new customers. Fox describes how search and search behavior impacts your business.
Online Marketing Inside Out
Brandon Eley & Shayne TilleyAimed at helping you bring your marketing to the online community. This book walks through each modern marketing channel, describing how to use and succeed.
Ogilvy on Advertising
David OgilvyAlthough this book is decades old, it still offers significant insights into the world of promotional advertising. It will give the reader a foundation from which modern advertising may be easier to understand and employ.
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
Al Ries & Jack TroutBrand building, product marketing, and even retail marketing may all boil down to how your business is positioned. This classic book deals with the challenges of marketing “to a skeptical, over-communicated public.”
Likeable Social Media
Dave KerpenThis book seeks to deliver on the promise that a recommendation from someone a shopper knows and trusts (like a social friend) can do more to promote a product or a retailer than thousands spent on advertising.
Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Buttons in your Customer's Brain
Patrick Renvoise & Christophe MorinRenvoisé and Morin deal with the science of making a sale. They go into deep analysis of how the human brain responds to advertising and marketing, and gives merchants a better understanding of how to influence customers.
Your Customer Creation Equation
Brian MasseyThis book is a guide to improving your site’s conversion rates. It is one thing to get site visitors, it is quite different to get those visitors to make a purchase.
Conversion: The Last Great Retail Metric
Mark RyskiSite analytics can tell an ecommerce marketer a lot about how visitors are interacting with a site, with products, or with offers, but it is the sales metric — the conversion metric — that matters most.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Robert B. CialdiniThis book describes the psychology of selling. Why is it that people say yes? Cialdini uses data from several years of study to give you the answer.
Power Stories
Valerie KhooThis book explains why storytelling is the ultimate tool for business success, and reveals the 8 stories that every online business owner should tell.
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Malcolm GladwellAlthough Blink is not specifically a business or success book, it describes why some things just seem right. It encourages the reader to begin to trust his own instincts. The book can have a profound impact on how an entrepreneur thinks and acts.
Purple Cow
Seth GodinIt's important to stand out. In Purple Cow, Godin describes how being a remarkable business — which admittedly doesn’t sound easy — is the key to standing out in today’s marketplace.
Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours
Robert PozenThis guy is the king of productivity. Entrepreneurs often face the challenge of building a small business while still working a job. Pozen once held two jobs — lecturer at Harvard Business School and president of Fidelity Management — while writing professional. Here he asks the reader to set career goals, objectives, and targets, prioritizing each.
Wait: The Art & Science of Delay
Frank PartnovIs your business moving at a pace similar to the messages streaming through a Twitter account or does it move more like a glacier? Partnoy describes the decision making process in the context of the pace of your business.
The Design of Everyday Things
Donald A. NormanFirst, businesses discovered quality as a key competitive edge, next came service. Now, Donald A. Norman reveals how smart design is the new competitive frontier. This book is a powerful primer on how--and why--some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.
Don't Make Me Think
Steve KrugThis is a common sense approach to web usability and is an essential read for anyone who designs, writes, programs, owns or manages online stores.
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26 comments
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January 29 2013, 09:23AMMany thanks for the kind shout-out Mark! I’m glad you enjoyed Return On Influence.
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January 29 2013, 09:23AMChris: YES – such a good book. I read that a couple years ago and have been meaning to give it a re-read.
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January 29 2013, 09:52AMSolid list, especially the Ariely, Trout, Ries, and Cialdini inclusions. All are great authors for marketers. I would add another great marketing book, “Different” by Harvard marketing professor, Youngme Moon. In it she presents a new paradox for differentiation by using case studies of some of the most successful companies in the world.
Kev
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January 29 2013, 10:22AMThanks for the mention! Great to know Online Marketing Inside Out is still providing value after more than three years.
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January 29 2013, 10:41AM
Brandon, I’ve heard so much about your book and can’t wait to read it. Thanks for dropping by!
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January 29 2013, 11:26AM
Mark Shaefer: My pleasure Mark – thanks so much for checking out my reading list!
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January 29 2013, 11:55AMThanks for including Likeonomics – I’m thrilled to make it onto your reading list and to be among this great collection of recommendations!
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January 29 2013, 06:10PMThanks so much for this list! I love that almost all of them are on Kindle! I’ve created a Wish List in Amazon just for these titles, and plan on working my way through them throughout the year too. Brilliant!
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January 30 2013, 04:22AMGreat list. I can highly recommend ‘influence’. It’s one of those books that reveals strategies you’ve seen in play many times and gives you a toolkit to implement them yourself.
Don’t make me think is also top notch. A classic must read for usability.
apps.shopify.com/plug-in-seo – the Shopify SEO app
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January 31 2013, 10:51AMHi Mark -
Thanks for including me on this list! It’s a great selection.
The books that most inspired in my early days are Ogilvy on Advertising, Positioning, and Purple Cow. They set the big picture that all the rest is built on.
Cheers,
Andy
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January 31 2013, 08:47PMMissing a bunch of books from this list. Surprised others were on here and not these.
4HR Workweek by Tim Ferriss
Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
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February 08 2013, 08:04AMSuperb collection
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February 17 2013, 08:53AMThanks so much for including “Power Stories” in this list. Wonderful to be in such cool company :)
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March 07 2013, 04:49AMI like the post very much really it so much good.
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March 16 2013, 02:33AMI am quite impressed from this awesome collection. I would like to thank you for sharing this an important and useful info with us which could be very helpful for people. Although, http://www.pmapm.com.au/ also provides the best marketing strategy for people.
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April 09 2013, 07:14AMHI
Today i came across this amazing new website named nupinch.com…i really think you guys should check it out..
Link: http://bit.ly/XczfI3 -
May 14 2013, 09:22AMSome very interesting, motivational and influential reads included there. Great list!
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May 17 2013, 10:00AMWe’ve all read this book at iCollection Shop called Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose by Tony Hsieh. Its fantastic and has some amazing ideas about how to increase sales and really go that extra mile with your customers.
www.icollectionshop.com
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July 26 2013, 11:29PMSeems like you have quite a few neuromarketing books on this list. May I recommend a new on that just came out this year – Sales Seduction.
It’s brilliantly written and best of all it makes it very easy for a layperson to take the insights and apply them to any message, product/service or customer.
I think the author may be based in Australia… but the book seems to be available at Amazon, iTunes, B&N etc so it’s pretty easy to get a copy.
http://www.amazon.com/Sales-Seduction-Why-You-ebook/dp/B00A64WT68/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1374895671&sr=8-1 -
October 12 2013, 01:52AMWe’ve all read this book at iCollection Shop called Delivering Happiness:
Read more: http://www.shopify.com/blog/7250594-reading-list-30-books-that-will-help-increase-sales#ixzz2hU5IkDAD
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November 08 2013, 08:17AMSo if this blog post is about sales – WHY ARE THERE NO SALES BOOK LISTED?
If you are selling a product to businesses (not B2C Sales) then at an absolute minimum you should read:
- SPIN by Neil Rackham – the best selling sales book ever written. The best parts of the book are pages 67-98.
– Customer Centric Selling by Mike Bosworth + his work on how to respond to an RFP: http://flylib.com/books/en/2.327.1.51/1/
– Smart Calling by Art Sobczak – full of great tips on how to sell over the phone
- Selling to Big Companies by Jill KonrathRead these books and you’ll be 10X the sales person you were before you read these book.
Happy Selling!
Craig
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January 14 2014, 02:51AMNice lists of books. I read the “Likeable Social Media” and it helps me in job. Thanks for Sharing.
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May 30 2014, 03:32AMNo, I liked “purple cow” it is a nice book, but it was not as practical as I though it would be. In my opinion if you have anything to do with sales “a legacy in advertising” by Hopkins would be your best option.
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July 30 2014, 07:06AMYou guys have gone ahead of me, I’ve got to do some work. Thanks Mark
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August 26 2014, 10:23AMAll these books have interesting and perhaps educating brilliant material for devoted reader.
I will add to this list “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand. It is the single book that has inspired me to do what I love without wavering. A guide post in life.