5 Best Books Every Influencer Should Read (from an influencer)
Looking for the best influencer books to add to your list? Here’s 5 books every influencer and content creator should read along their journey—from a full-time influencer!
This blog post is brought to you by my 💡How to Build a Niche Community Online Course
Before I started my influencer journey, I knew one thing.
I had to read books.
Perhaps ironic to say, but the best advice on being an influencer, building true community and being consistent online will never come from social media content—it’s too bite size!
Instead, what I found pivotal to learning the skills and tools that would help me become a full-time creator is reading work from people who live and breathe this industry and the associated skills that come with doing a job like this.
With that said, here’s 5 books I think every influencer should read before or during their own influencer career, from a full-time influencer.
Let’s get into it!
About the Author
Hi! I’m Candace. I’m a full-time blogger & content creator @candaceabroad and social media strategist with 5+ years experience in startup & influencer marketing.
On this blog, I share no-fluff tips to help content creators and influencers grow a strong niche online community, pitch brands for paid partnerships and negotiate their worth as a creator. I’m glad you’re here!
5 Best Influencer Books
1. Influencer by Brittany Hennessy
Read to help you navigate the influencer industry as a whole
Influencer is a book I read as soon as I decided I wanted to become an influencer, and it’s the perfect book to read to understand the ‘big picture’ of the influencer industry and how you play a part in it as a creator.
Written by blogger and Senior Director of Influencer Strategy and Talent Partnerships, Brittany Hennessy, it delves into exactly what it takes to become a personal brand online, as well as the backend of what a brand is looking for when it comes to working with creators.
Even as someone who worked on the brand side before taking @candaceabroad full-time—I got a lot of value out of it, so I know you will too.
P.S. – Some parts are dated given it was written in 2018, but I still recommend it for the advice and concepts!
2. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Read to overcome mental blocks around making money from your creativity and creating content online as an influencer
My next ‘influencer book’ recommendation is one that tackles the life of being a creative in general, and boy is it a good one!
I can truly say reading Big Magic changed how I looked at being a content creator forever.
Written by the author of Eat, Pray, Love; Elizabeth Gilbert dives into all the beauty, struggle and strategies for handling life as a creative and most importantly—learning how to have an abundance mindset when it comes to being compensated for your art (in an influencers case, creating content for brands).
It’s a beautiful read to cement your love for creating content, showing up online and overall living a creative life. Highly highly recommend!
3. Deep Work by Cal Newport
Read to gain clarity and focus in your influencer journey
Although being an influencer may not seem like a real job if you’ve created content online for any amount of time you’ll most certainly know that it is.
And with a real job, comes the need for Deep Work.
Written by Cal Newport, a professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University—he delves into how to structure your day, life and work around completing your most important tasks (i.e. ‘Deep Work’) and letting go of the rest.
For influencers, 9/10 our deep work is creating our ‘big picture’ content strategy and goals, creating amazing content and building and diversifying our income streams as an influencer business.
Point being, if you’re ready to take your influencer career seriously, this is the book to read.
I should also mention that it’s important to not only follow ‘influencer tips’ when it comes to being an influencer, as skills from business and psychology like the ones in Deep Work are equally, if not more, important to your influencer journey too.
4. Tribes by Seth Godin
Read to deeply understand how engaged influencer communities are built
Being an influencer with a real online community essentially comes from having a tribe. Time to read Tribes!
Written by expert marketer Seth Godin, this book is your blueprint to becoming a thought-leader in your niche online.
Through breaking down the history, psychology and strategy behind how communities are built, you’ll gain a super deep understanding of who you are as an influencer, how you want to show up online and most importantly, how to build a deeply engaged community of your own.
5. The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran
Read to accomplish all your influencer goals!
In my How to Build a Niche Community Online Course we talk a lot about how to set and accomplish goals as an influencer, and one of the best ways to do so is through the 12 Week Year, written by Founder Brian Moran.
This is by breaking your goals down into 3 month containers, rather than 1 year—which honestly will change the entire way you look at your influencer business.
Whether your aim is to get more followers, build a more engaged community, make more money from brands, or all three! This book will help you create systems to accomplish any and all of your influencer dreams.
Final Thoughts on the Best Books for Influencers
Reading as an influencer is so important, and I hope Influencer by Brittany Hennessy, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Deep Work by Cal Newport, Tribes by Seth Godin and The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran help you on your journey as much as they helped me!
You’ve got this.
Happy creating,
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