This blog post is part of a series on online content strategies developed in cooperation between the Europa.eu web team and web consultant Sue Davis.
Here are some of the essential and advanced books available and about to be published on content strategy.
From the EP audiovisual library
The essentials
‘Content Strategy for the Web’ by Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach (New Riders Press, 2012)
A must-read. A great introduction to the discipline. The fundamentals covered in an entertaining and approachable style.
‘The Elements of Content Strategy’ by Erin Kissane (A Book Apart, 2011)
A short guide exploring content strategy’s roots, how it’s done, but how you can do it well. A compelling read for both experienced content strategists and beginners.
‘Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works’ by Janice (Ginny) Redish (Interactive Technologies, 2007)
A great introduction to writing useful, usable content. Clear, practical advice for writing content for informational (rather than ecommerce) sites. Hundreds of useful examples and critiques.
‘The Stranger’s Long Neck: How to Deliver What Your Customers Really Want Online’ by Gerry McGovern (A&C Black, 2010)
Analysing your audience’s website needs. Based on Gerry’s data-driven ‘top-tasks’ methodology. Great examples looking at the processes used to establish what it is your readers actually need from your website.
More advanced
‘Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy’ by Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper (Voices That Matter, 2012)
Taking content strategy to the next level. A very detailed look at implementing all the content strategy processes in huge organisations. The book looks particularly at ‘adaptive content’ – content that is ‘intelligent’, modular, that can be served to multiple devices and platforms such as mobile and tablets. They look at quite technical topics such as XML and DITA and show in non-technical terms how these can enable our content to be more device-independent and therefore less labour-intensive and more future-proof. The most technical of the books listed here.
‘Content Strategy at Work: Real-world Stories to Strengthen Every Interactive Project’ by Margot Bloomstein (Morgan Kaufmann, 2012)
The more practical of the two advanced books. Many real-world case studies showing how content strategy processes have helped all kinds of organisations with tricky content problems, from governmental bodies to multi-national on-demand printers. You’ll never feel alone again.
Coming soon
‘Managing Chaos: Web Governance for the Enterprise’ by Lisa Welchman (Rosenfeld Media, forthcoming)
A look at the organisational and human aspects of content strategy. Staffing, web ownership, departmental autonomy, organising and directing internal teams. Most books are focused on the processes but few look at this most challenging aspect of your content strategy.
You can pick these books up at a store of your choice, e.g. the brick & mortar store around the corner or just look for them online.
This blog series
This post is part of a series dedicated to content strategy and how it can help us. We will look at key resources, the relationship between content strategy and other tasks like IA and some essential tools and processes. Use the comment section below to suggest a specific subject to cover in this blog series.
Coming soon
Content strategy: the essential documentation, processes and deliverables.
