I downloaded Every Writer Needs a Tribe when it was free last week. I’m so glad I did because I was very inspired by it. In fact, after reading it, I wanted to get on a plane, track down Jeff Goins, and see if I could get five minutes of his time to pick his brain more on some of the things I read!
While I’ve read many books on writing and marketing, Jeff’s way of presenting things in Every Writer Needs a Tribe made so much of the material seem new and fresh. He challenged me to step back and examine long and hard why I’m writing, what kind of writer I am, and who I should be writing to.
As blogger, it’s easy to become so focused on content production. Don’t get me wrong: Content production is a good thing. Without it, a blog would be kind of dead! But we need to take time to examine the kind of content we’re producing and what it’s accomplishing.
Being a good writer is about so much more than just producing content. You want to produce the kind of content that is going to get people’s attention and keep people’s attention. Ultimately, you want your words to make a difference in people’s lives — whether that be by challenging their viewpoints, inspiring them to take action, or just providing a story that people can enjoy reading.
The words we wield with a pen or keyboard can have a life-changing effect. For this to happen, though, we must invest the time to hone our craft and build our tribe. Without taking the effort to develop yourself as a writer, your words won’t have as much meaning. Without a tribe, you’ll spend years of your life speaking into a black abyss — with no one getting to benefit from your words of wisdom.
This short ebook will inspire you to invest in both improving your writing skills and building a loyal readership. It’s a quick read, and worth your time if you are a blogger or writer of any kind.
See more book recommendations I’ve posted this year here. You can also see all books I’ve read so far in 2012 here.
Have you read any good books recently?
I agree, Crystal! I read Jeff Goins book last Saturday during my “mommy quiet time” (yes – it actually ended up being long enough to read the entire book!) I was greatly inspired not only as a blogger, but as a writer. After finishing the book I found his website, signed up for his email (which gave me his Writer’s Manifesto book – free) and I bought his other book You are a Writer. Needless to say, I’m now in the Jeff Goins fan club. I’m so glad that he threw his dreams up in the air to the Lord and chased down his destiny.
Thanks for sharing this book. I will be reading it! 🙂
Whoa, small world! He was in my graduating class in college!
Just checked my kindle app. on my i-touch and I am so happy to see that I too downloaded it for free! Can’t wait to read it now that I have read your review. I love all the great information one can obtain for free from free kindle downloads. I keep my i-touch kindle app. packed so I can read a bit while waiting in lines, or for kids to finish up lessons, or for friends that I am meeting. It is so handy to steal minutes of reading here and there with.
Sounds like that was a good book! One of my recent favorites is Letters From A Martyred Christian. It sounds really heavy, but it’s not quite what the title might suggest. It’s actually one of the best “Christian living” books I’ve ever read. It’s fiction, and the concept is that a (fictional) man who was killed for his Christian faith in AD 67 has written letters from Heaven to help provide perspective in various areas for those alive on Earth now. I laughed, cried, and thought my way through it the first time I read it, and it was just as powerful and thought-provoking the second time I read it. I highly recommend it to everyone. It even has discussion questions for each chapter for use with small groups, etc. It’s on Amazon (print and Kindle) and, I think, in some of the major bookstores.