I've read all the other books in the series with relish, but I found this one to be a bit dry and lacking in substance.

It's probably because I don't work in this area but I think that touches on what's wrong with the book; this book doesn't know whether it's a guide to content strategy or it's an overview to those who may want to employ or work with a content strategist.

On the plus side the author outlines some great ideas for managing web content and it can be read in a couple of hours. More...

This short book is a good overview of content strategy. It presents the concepts and includes many references for deeper reading. I’m a web designer who creates websites for small businesses, and those sites are too small to warrant a sophisticated content strategy, but this book was still worth reading for the fundamentals such as making content useful, concise, and supported.

I liked the quote from Kristina Halvorson in Content Strategy for the Web:

"...online, you don't have a captive audience.

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This book is painfully dry. Yet it's moderately well written for the abstract subject matter it covers. Its main benefit was thus showing me that I definitely do not want to work in content strategy full time.

There's something highly ironic about trying to write a book about clear, useful communication when your own communication is not particularly clear nor particularly useful.

Much of the writing's just not well thought out: "humans, being mammals, need [a list of things including] wheelchair More...

Websites come in many shapes and sizes and serve many different purposes. For many websites, supplying content for the visitor is the primary purpose. A restaurant providing contact information, hours, and a menu. A product-focused company providing information on their product, their pricing, and contact information. A service-focused company providing information on their services, pricing, examples, and contact information. These are just a few examples. Content is everywhere. However, having

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This book is not for people working in this field for more than a year or so. For them, there's really nothing new to learn. This book is mostly for those thinking that they need to publish content. If you want to learn what it is required to publish meaningful content on the web, in terms of people involved, resources, etc, then this is an OK read.

Also, there's almost nothing included on HOW to create a good content strategy, no real life examples, etc. It's mostly about the kinds of people tha More...

"This book is dense. It took me two hours to read. It’s packed with “HOW.” Enough “HOW” that it really will get a special spot next to my computer, much like how Strunk and White used to sit just within my reach.

You don’t START with this book. You start with Halvorson. Then you read Kissane. And then, if you can handle the excitement, you turn to the most important part of the book: the appendix, where Erin talks about all of the other great resources, and then you get your boss to order all of More...

Now More than Ever, College Is the Best Time in Life

Have you seen the job statistics lately? More to the point, have you seen the employment rates for recent college graduates? What about liberal arts majors in particular? A study of 2009 college graduates finds 25.2% of liberal arts majors unemployed after graduation. Those humanities majors employed often found their jobs low paying and college degrees unnecessary.

For years, the general assumption was: get a degree; get a job. Well the curren More...

The 'A Book Apart' series is shaping up to be filled with must-reads; just assume you should get them when they publish.

The third installment, by Erin Kissane, delivers. Erin is one of the leaders of this emerging field, so it's great to get her perspective on the subject. The book served as a motivation for me to revisit the overall strategy for communications for my own product. It's just not good enough to, at times, let content be an after-thought.

I read an advanced copy, so I've been plann More...

This is a must-read for anyone who works in, on, or around the web. Period.

It does it exactly what it says: Kissane shows you what content strategy is all about and why you should care about it. No, you're not going to read this book and walk away a content strategist. But if you're going to be a content strategist, you are going to walk away knowing what you need to go learn. And if you're not going to be a content strategist, you're going to walk away knowing why you need to go find one.

I've g More...

I always have trouble with these sorts of books. They bore me, and it's not their fault.

It's a solid primer for anyone getting into the content strategy, or for those who are already in the field. It's a straight forward read that doesn't try to sell anything, and doesn't claim to do anything that it doesn't. If anything, they way it's written directly reflects many of the core principles that it is trying to exude.

If you're in the arena or want to get a better understanding of those who operat More...

While I did find this book to be interesting and helpful as regards my own content-based client work, large parts of it feel a lot more like a career guide to content strategy. I understand that it's not like a tech book which can give you specific strategies and code examples, but I personally would have preferred more space allotted to things like content audits - the more hands-on sections - than the focus on what content strategy is and how it fits into the general scheme of things. Other th More...

A great little introduction to content strategy. It has 3 sections: what good content is, what a content strategist does, and the tools you can use to create a content strategy for your website and/or cross-channel publications.

I liked Kissane's breezy style and enthusiastic recommendations for further reading on the subject and on tangential topics too.

This little book couldn't possibly cover the whole of this emerging discipline, but it's a great starting point and I'd recommend it to anyone More...

This overview of content strategy is a must for anyone about to tackle the job of writing for the web. I can see that, if web writing weren't your immediate objective, the writing might be a little dry. But it is an effective starting point for those who find themselves overwhelmed with organizing a large amount of content, especially for the first time or with a fast turnaround. This book, and Erin Kissane, introduced me to content strategy and allowed me to dig deeper into effective ways of le More...

I love Erin's humor and straightforward style. But the title (The Elements of Content Strategy) led me to expect more "elements" and less "history of." The perspective was helpful, grounding, but I would have liked a deeper dive into tools & techniques, which I think Kissane might have done without tipping over into a how-to.

Still, I plan to use the book to help new content strategists on-board and to do some level-setting (and exploration) in terms of my team's identity within the company a More...

This was a great quick primer of the field of content strategy.

It's interesting to me how similar content strategy and information architecture really are. They use almost the same research techniques, with just a slightly different focus, and different (though not always) deliverables. I've been wanting to bring some content strategy to some of the work I've done, so this will be a great reference for ways I can do that in future projects.

I bought this book on a whim -- the title sounded interesting. But the title overpromised and I was left fairly disappointed. Instead of pointing the reader towards good content strategy, The Elements of Content Strategy wanders through the ill-defined job of "content strategist".

I finished the book wondering who the audience was supposed to be and I really didn't find anything that resonated with me.

Ironically, I found this primer on content strategy, The Elements of Content Strategy by Erin Kissane, lacking in both content and strategy. Moreover, what made it hard to get through even such a short book was the dry prose. Even for someone who is very interested in content – online and otherwise – this was just too boring, I am sorry to say. It is a short book, but it took me months to get through - I kept having other, more interesting fare on my Kindle!

Basically, most, if not all, of the de More...

This is a decent introduction to the concepts of content strategy, but I don't think you absolutely need it if you've read any of the other texts on the subject.

Also, the "Tools and techniques" section seems more geared toward consultants who want to do content strategy work, so those who are doing the work in-house will have to do adapt the information to their particular context.

In 74 pages, Erin Kissane squeezed in enough information about content strategy to make this book worth a read if you're in the web development industry. This book was written as a brief introduction to content strategy related work, and the author was upfront with what the book was and wasn't in the introduction.

I happen to work in a small shop where I wear many hats and was a bit disappointed that Erin focused mainly on content strategists who work with a wide range of other team members. The More...

Another good book from A Book Apart, but this one felt a little too short to me. I think maybe this is too broad a topic for this 'brief' series. Not to say I didn't get plenty of good information out of it; I ended up with a lot of good notes. It was just more of an intro to content strategy that gave me some ideas on what to read next.

A great primer on the basics of Content Strategy. Really helpful and puts a good portion of the process into perspective. Recommended for those who are interested in "the web" and building websites and is applicable for anyone involved in that industry from Project Managers to Developers.

I thought this book was okay, but not quite what I was looking for. It felt like an overview of the industry of content strategy. It would speak well to someone considering a career in this field. For those of us interested in defining a content strategy or improving our content strategy, this book was too short on details. It spoke with hand waves while I was hoping for something more tactical.

Peut-être que le sujet est un peu trop "abstrait" mais je m'attendais à quelque chose de mieux pour un livre de la série A Book Apart. Un livre à lire avec des points & remarques à se rappeler pour toute personne bossant sur le web.

Unlike some "content marketing" books out there, this one was more strategy-focused and didn't seem gimmicky. The writing style was engaging but not goofy. So far, the best book on content that I've read.

A must-read for anyone interested in or currently working in content strategy/management, information architecture or blogging. It's a well-written quick read that I'm sure will continue to be a great resource.

Erin Kissane's "The Elements of Content Strategy" delivers a brilliant, clear and concise overview of the discipline of content strategy. A must-read for anyone interested in strategically managing content.

And they say English majors have no future. Hooey! There's an entire internet to fill (or develop strategies for how to fill properly)! ;p

Книга оказалась довольно полезной в текущем проекте, но в тексте очень много воды, и его можно было бы сократить до 40-50 страниц.

Snatched this from my boss' desk. So far so good.
Once coffee kicks in, I'll write more.

Gorgeous, gem-like, perfect. I want Erin Kissane to write ALL the books.