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7 Top Business Plan Books for New-age Entrepreneurs

Free Ultimate Guide On Writing A Business Plan

• October 18, 2023

12 Min Read

Business Plan books are the first thing to go for once you have decided on the idea you want to pursue as an entrepreneur.

Starting up as an entrepreneur is not as simple as it seems. Transforming your idea into a business that creates value for the world is a long process.

The process is full of uncertainties, hurdles, and burnout. To make consistent efforts without giving up, you need a plan you can rely upon.

A plan that helps you in making wise decisions in your entrepreneurial journey is known as a business plan.

It also helps in refining processes and keeps you in line with your business goals.

Now, how would you create a business plan?

Well, you can anyhow get to know what it contains. However, to easily create a business plan that covers all aspects of your business, you must read these books.

In this article, we are going to discuss the 7 top business plan books written for ambitious entrepreneurs like you!

Best Business Plan Books

• Art of the Start 2.0
• The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies
• The Founder’s Dilemma
• The One-Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur
• The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan
• Anatomy of a Business Plan
• The Complete Book of Business Plans

1. Art of the Start 2.0

Goodreads rating: 3.87/5

The author of this book is American millionaire Guy Kawasaki. Though his name is enough for anyone to stand up from their seats let me tell you a few things about him.

• He worked with Apple in 1984 as a part of the marketing team for Macintosh computers.
• He is the author of 12 books including The Art of Social Media, and Enchantment.
• He is currently working as the chief evangelist of Canva which is a graphic designing software.

Now coming to what this book holds for you, it’s one of those books that focus on transforming your business idea into a full-fledged organization.

Guy Kawasaki explains why it is important to have a vision and how you, as an entrepreneur, can feed your team with the same vision.

If your team does not adhere to the same vision, there will always be chaos in the workspace.

You must also share stories about your product and your journey. Everyone loves stories. You don’t have to write a 300-page book but a few social media posts, and videos that resonate well with your target audience.

The book also guides entrepreneurs while hiring. It tells you to hire people who are new in the industry. They are most likely to innovate new products as they consistently ask questions.

Key Highlight:

This book will help you in writing a business plan along with guiding you in various steps of entrepreneurship. This book holds something for every aspect of entrepreneurship.

It also stresses how you can use the internet and cloud tools to make the processes more accessible and more efficient. In the modern era, businesses are equipped with tools that are affordable and accessible to everyone.

Moreover, the book also throws light on socializing and partnering with the right people for leadership roles or to get funding.

By reading this book, you will feel more powerful as an entrepreneur and will be ready to take on challenges that come along with entrepreneurship.

This book doesn’t sound like rhetoric and probably that’s why this book received appreciation from all across the world.

Book Link- Art of the Start 2.0

A reader’s review:

The focus is on tech entrepreneurs. While much of the advice is applicable to other industries, the book will hit the bullseye specifically with those starting technology businesses.

Anita Campbell (via Goodreads)

2. The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies

The author of the book is Rhonda Abrams who has written more than 12 books on entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur herself, the knowledge she shares is absolute gold and trustworthy.

She also writes one of the most popular columns in the US known as Small Business Strategies.

Let us now discuss what Rhonda Abrams has taught in her book.

The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies is a complete guide for anyone stuck in writing. It is one of those books that give you a push to start working on your idea.

This book contains various worksheets and charts which makes it consumable as well as practical.

You will get enough examples of various parts of a business plan , giving you an in-depth idea of what it looks like and how it is written.

This book not only teaches you to write a business plan that reminds you about your vision but also this plan can help you get investors on board.

It also equips you with strategies to get funds at the best possible rates and also to minimize the costs involved in running a business.

It gives you an in-depth understanding of positioning your brand in the market to gain the attention of your target audience and thus derive maximum profit.

Moreover, you can also use it for competitions related to showcasing plans for their businesses. The book is used by many entrepreneurs and is recommended to every small business.

Book Link- The Successful Business Plan

There’s enough information here to help you get almost any business started. This is a proven source, for it’s been through several re-prints since 1991.

Jeffrey Brown (via Goodreads)

3. The Founder’s Dilemma

Goodreads rating: 4.01/5

The book, The Founder’s dilemma, is one of the best business plan books by Noam Wasserman. Apart from this, he has written another bestseller known as Life is a startup.

Noam Wasserman served as a professor at Harvard Business school for 13 years and is currently working at the University of Southern California as a founding Director at the Founder Central Initiative.

The book he wrote is an absolute beauty. Not because he has told some hidden secrets but because he has addressed a problem that many entrepreneurs often ignore.

And that problem is the company’s leadership. You might have a billion-dollar business idea and even have cracked the tech for it, but you might still fail because of listening to the wrong advice.

If you want your business to not suffer due to wrong decisions made by top leadership, you must read this book.

This book will help you in deciding whom you want to work with, and how to share the equity among co-founders and employees without being emotional.

However, this book might not be useful for small businesses but is a gem for someone planning to launch a high-growth business.

Book Link – The Founder’s Dilemma

I’ve never seen a book before that was particularly helpful – to a founder – about the wide range of issues a founder will face.

Brad Feld (via Goodreads)

4. The One-Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur

Goodreads rating: 3.86/5

The author of this mind-blowing book is none other than Jim Horan.

Known for his expertise in solving complex business problems , Jim has helped many entrepreneurs in turning their businesses into profit-making machines.

Jim Horan has also been a Fortune 500 executive and has written six books in the One Page Business Plan for Creative Entrepreneur series.

This book is quite different from other books as it is written for entrepreneurs who do not understand a lot about business figures but want to get started soon.

There’s a saying that if you cannot write your business plan on a single page, you are probably doing it wrong.

The book enables you to write it in a couple of hours which includes your mission, objectives, and plans.

It will be crisp and easy to understand for your investors as well as the team. In this fast-moving world, it becomes really uncomfortable to give a week preparing a business plan.

You have the idea and with the help of this book, you can turn the idea into a business in no time.

Having said that, this book is not recommended to someone who is building a high-growth company or a business with many manufacturing units.

This book is specially designed for small businesses to increase their profits and improve their vision.

Book Link – The One-Page Business Plan

One of my favorites! I have used these templates many times. It really forces you to be concise and focus on your vision. Highly recommend!

Teri Temme (via Goodreads)

5. The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan

Goodreads rating: 3.70/5

The author of this book Hal Shelton is an extremely experienced executive who has worked with many corporations, non-profits, and investment companies.

Hal Shelton completed his BS from Carnegie Mellon University and then pursued an MBA from the University of Chicago.

The secrets to writing a successful Business Plan focus on each section of the plan to help you create one that stands out in front of the investors.

The book also informs you about the common errors entrepreneurs make while writing. These errors sometimes cost very high as they might create confusion for investors as well as for the team.

You will also learn to do the market analysis and write the same in your plan. You will be able to answer questions like how big is the market and whether it is sufficient to run a successful business or not.

Investors receive a lot of business plans and going through each one of them is not feasible. Therefore writing an executive summary becomes extremely important.

The executive summary is an easy way to grab investors’ attention and help them understand your business without going through lengthy documents.

If you are launching a non-profit organization, this book can help you in many ways as a section of the book is dedicated to non-profits.

Moreover, the book also consists of secret strategies for writing a business plan and getting bank loans or funding from investors.

Book Link – The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan

This book provides a very solid foundation to write your plan. The author also provides excellent examples and instructions as to what to and not to do in writing your business plan

Kirk G. Meyer (via Goodreads)

6. Anatomy of a Business Plan

The author of this book, Linda Pinson, has worked very closely with the U.S. small business administration to write the government business plan publication.

She has also been honored as Education Advocate of the year and SBA regional women in Business advocate of the year.

Apart from this book, she has written many books on entrepreneurship such as Keeping the books and steps to start a small business startup.

This is one of the best business books for people who do not know anything about business plans.

This book provides you with an in-depth understanding of different business plans and will enable you to choose your ideal kind.

After reading the book, you will learn to update your plan according to the needs of your business and the position of your brand in the market.

The author also highlights the importance of mentioning the table of contents and executive summary in navigating smoothly through the book.

Apart from this, it also throws light on how you can efficiently market your business. You will also learn how to mention the financials of your company which is an important thing to do.

The Anatomy of a Business Plan also contains five real-life business plans which give you an understanding of how successful businesses can be explained in a few pages.

You also get a few worksheets which makes the overall experience of reading the book delightful.

Book Link – Anatomy of a Business Plan

This book is like “a mentor for your business plan”. Really informative and helpful.

Marvin Musfiq (via Goodreads)

7. The Complete Book of Business Plans

Goodreads rating: 3.47/5

The authors of this book are Brian Hazelgran and Joseph A. Covello. Both of them have a great understanding of how businesses operate in this book. They have told us that one size doesn’t fit all.

That means business plans for different businesses cannot be written in the same way.

This book contains 12+ plans that give you an idea of how you write one for yourself.

This book also focuses on how you should bring people into your business and what vision you should have to run the business for decades.

Moreover, when you read the book you will have to ask a lot of questions to yourself. The book will compel you to ask questions yourself that are immensely important before writing it.

Once you give satisfactory answers to the questions asked, you will feel more motivated to start a business , and writing a business will look like a cakewalk.

The above quote shows how important it is to plan your business and create a visionary plan for your business.

Book Link – The Complete Book of Business Plans

Great book encompassing everything about writing business plans.

Denny Troncoso (via Goodreads)

Bottom Line

All the Business plan books that we discussed above are going to help you in some way or the other.

But don’t worry you don’t need to read all of them. Just figure out where you stand and where you would want to go and select a book accordingly.

Innovative tools present in the industry like Upmetrics have helped many entrepreneurs in business and financial planning. If you need more help writing a perfect business plan, check out Upmetrics NOW and grow 2X faster.

Build your Business Plan Faster

with step-by-step Guidance & AI Assistance.

Related Articles On Business Plan Writing

• A Comprehensive Guide to Write an Effective Business Plan
• Formulating a Detailed Business Plan Outline
• Get Your Business Plan Written by Expert Writers
• Guidelines for Writing an Exceptional Executive Summary for Business Plans
• Determining the Ideal Length of a Business Plan
• Understand the Operations Plan Section in a Business Plan
• Check Out Our Free Business Plan Examples
• How to Design a Compelling Business Plan Cover Page
• Guidelines for Formulating a Business Plan Table of Contents
• Understanding the Importance of a Confidentiality Statement in a Business Plan

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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The 10 Best Books for Writing a Business Plan

• Ivaylo Durmonski
• Reading Lists

There are a lot of insightful thoughts around the concept of planning. In a sense, planning helps you forecast the “weather” of your business. Prepares you for what might happen. And distance you, hopefully, further away from your business going to dust. Most importantly, it allows you to think about the type of tasks you should focus on doing today. Do we know how to plan our business if we’re not business owners , though?

There is nothing wrong with having a regular job.

A lot of people are doing it.

Theoretically, since we’re born. We enter a sophisticated system of government-operated institutions that aim to spit us out after approximately 20 years, ready to help someone else grow his dream business.

You’re thought -sort of – how to plan your career. But you’re never thought how to plan your business.

Regardless of your current situation. The idea of starting a business or learning basic business skills will surely reach your mind at some point.

If you’re still not sure whether or not this is something you can achieve on your own. The business books mentioned below are specifically selected to boost your planning skills.

These books, of course, primarily serve business owners or people that are dreaming of becoming such.

Yet, these reads will definitely expand your horizon even if you don’t plan on starting your own thing right now. They will give you a perspective that will force you to think long term – the best way of thinking.

The 10 Best Books for Writing a Business Plan:

1. the goal by eliyahu goldratt, 2. the one page business plan for the creative entrepreneur by jim horan, 3. mind your business by ilana griffo, 4. business plan template and example by alex genadinik, 5. the best-laid business plans by paul barrow, 6. smart business by ming zeng, 7. measure what matters by john e. doerr, 8. your next five moves by patrick bet-david, 9. business model generation by alexander osterwalder, 10. playing to win by a.g. lafley.

What’s the book about?

The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt is a novel. A fascinating story that describes the life of a business owner who is facing a series of obstacles that, if not handled well, will lead to a catastrophic ending of the company he is running. Mr. Goldratt presents this fictional business environment to teach us an important lesson: That the speed of a convoy is determined by the slowest ship.

Who is it for?

Especially interesting for people who already own businesses but are struggling to grow. For people who can’t adequately articulate what is wrong with what they are doing. Eliyahu Goldratt teaches us that we should observe a business as a series of systems . The faster the systems operate. The faster you’ll grow. To speed up this process, first, you need to identify the weakest link and improve upon the process.

Thought-Provoking Quote:

“Since the strength of the chain is determined by the weakest link, then the first step to improve an organization must be to identify the weakest link.” Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Get the book | Read my summary

In this book, Jim Horan compiles his years of experience as a Fortune 500 executive and business consultant. The pages will help you quickly form a simple business plan based on the most successful companies in the world. The book goes through the 5 stages every organization hoping to make a profit from their products and/or services needs: Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, Action.

This resource is great for people just starting their online or offline venture. Folks who are considering the idea of starting a business but are not quite sure what to do first. The One Page Business Plan For Creative Entrepreneur will show you the exact steps you need to begin your entrepreneurial journey.

Get the book

This long-winded title is here to show you how to start a business from scratch. Ilana Griffo, the author, shares her journey on how she started her side hustle which eventually become a six-figure design studio. A lot of readers describe this title as everything you need to learn about being your own boss. Of course, it all starts with planning.

Great book for anyone dreaming about starting a creative project both online and/or offline. The honest tips and the real-world insights will show you exactly what you need to do. How to start and how to plan your day. The book is the perfect companion that will be your guide in your money-making journey.

Simply put, this title will help you create a professional business plan. The author even boasts that you will do the planning in minutes. Not that you should rush. But the included exercises and the questions Alex Genadinik is asking in the book will help you think critically about your overall structure and the products you will be creating – or refining if you already have existing goods.

The program presented in this title is used by a number of universities to teach students how to plan better. As stated in the description, the book… “will help you identify the most effective business strategies for your situation.” You will start by writing a short 3-sentence business plan which will focus you on what’s truly important.

“Product: What is the product or service? What benefit does it provide and to whom? Can you make it inexpensively and of high quality? What form will it take? Website? App? Brick and mortar business? Marketing: Identify a few of the most effective marketing strategies to promote your business Finances: What are the major sources of revenue? How will this happen profitably? When will you achieve financial sustainability? Do you need to raise money for this? How much?” Alex Genadinik

The first book I read on business planning. Foreword by Richard Branson. This title is dated, but still adequate even though everything is happening online these days. The text will teach you the most important ideas around planning a business. It’s full of case studies about different projects and ideas. The author carefully explains how to present your business plan to others in a way that everyone will get.

This book will explain in a simple way why it’s essential and how you should approach the subject of planning in general. The ideas inside are great for people who are looking to raise money or get approval from seniors for their proposed course of action. Also, if you’re still not convinced that you need planning, this book will surely change your perspective.

Written by Ming Zeng, the former Chief of Staff and strategy adviser to Alibaba Group’s founder Jack Ma. This book presents a framework that will help business owners create a winning future strategy for their companies. The titles reveal some of the revolutionary practices Alibaba developed to rapidly increase efficiency.

We commonly read about what Google is doing or about what other Silicon Valley unicorns are working on. It’s a good idea to take a fresh eastern perspective on how to operate your business. Smart Business will show you how to use cutting-edge technologies to plan and scale your business.

Measure What Matter will teach you how to use Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) as an approach to make decisions in business. The legendary John Doerr has helped some of the best companies in the world to scale and exceed their yearly goals by using this simple method.

With time, every owner begins to collect all kinds of data to measure whether or not his project is succeeding. Sadly, many entrepreneurs end up being fixated on the wrong things. This book will explain what you need to measure and why. Helping you focus on the right things so you can reach explosive growth.

“We must realize—and act on the realization—that if we try to focus on everything, we focus on nothing.” John Doerr

In short, this book is about figuring out what you should do next. Taking a holistic view of your business is always a good way to think about where you plan to go. Occasionally, though, you also need to think and plan about what you should do right now – planning your next few moves. The steps inside this title will help you gain clarity on what you really want, who you want to be, and what to do to get these things.

For those who are not only working on businesses, but in business as well. Patrick Bet-David explains how to not let emotions cloud your judgment. How to switch from a broad view of your business to a narrower view. Essentially, the lessons inside will help you identify your true self. Understand who you want to be and where you want to go, both in your life and in your business.

“Your vision must align with who you want to be. Your choices must align with your vision. Your effort must align with the size of your vision. Your behavior must align with your values and principles.” Patrick Bet-David

Full of visual elements, Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers will help you soak up the knowledge and figure out your own business model. This is not your regular book where you’ll be presented with a wall of text. The title is full of infographics and design elements that will prompt you to actively work on defining your business plan and your strategy.

I’d say that this book is for people who are kind of tired of the traditional corporate-heavy jargon that is usually part of business literature. This title combines useful information and presents it in an easily digestible matter that will surely increase your comprehension and your participation when using the material.

“People are moved more by stories than by logic. Ease listeners into the new or unknown by building the logic of your model into a compelling narrative.” Alexander Osterwalder

Written by a long-standing Procter & Gamble Chairman and CEO, this book might seem a bit dry for your taste. Well, it surely is. Rarely anyone below CEO will relate to the mentioned examples. Yet, this read will change the way you think about your business. You’ll become more strategic with your daily decisions. You will become better at identifying what to do and what not to do.

Great companies do not become great by accident. They become great thanks to the strategic choices they make. Even if you don’t end up getting the book, simply consider the title for a moment: “Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works”. Now, ask yourself, are you playing to win, or are you simply playing? This question alone will disturb your current processes and assist you in finding the best course of action for your business.

“The heart of strategy is the answer to two fundamental questions: where will you play, and how will you win there?” A.G. Lafley

Some Closing Thoughts

Business planning is important for various reasons.

Not only you’ll get clarity on where you’ll want to go. But you will also set a to-do list that will portray how to get to where you want.

More specifically, conducting a business plan will force you to think about what type of business you want to create. Understand your core motivators. Help you find your unique proposition and how you are different from the rest of the businesses out there.

I’ve hand-picked the selection of business books above so you can plan better. Of course, you don’t need to read all of the titles. Usually one or two from the list is enough to get you moving in the right direction.

If you’re looking for more reads on the topic. Make sure to check my must-read business books list. Or, the selection of books on how to start a business (plus my business book summaries ).

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The 5 Best Business Plan Books (& Why You Shouldn’t Read Them)

You probably know that having a business plan will improve your chances of success in starting and growing your business. Reading the right business plan book can help you craft the perfect plan. But, there are more efficient ways than reading a book to learn about business planning and to complete your plan. In this article, I’ll show you such options, and if you’d still like to read a book, I’ll tell you the top 5 business planning books to consider.  

Why You Don’t Need To Read a Business Planning Book

There are many books about business planning that you could read, but why shouldn’t you? 

The simple answer, time. 

Reading even the best business plan books will take time to read and then process, and this is on top of the considerable time it takes to complete market research and write a solid business plan.

Instead, technology has provided today’s entrepreneurs with easy-to-follow simple business plan templates that teach you how to write the business plan as you complete the plan. Although every business is unique, a business plan template will offer you a great starting point and often includes customizable financial plans specific to your industry.   

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here

The right business plan template will include all essential components of a successful business plan including:

• Executive Summary
• Company Overview
• Market Analysis
• Customer Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing Plan
• Operations Plan
• Management Team
• Financial Plan

You can learn more about each of these business plan components and how to write a business plan from the business planning experts at Growthink.

    Finish Your Business Plan Today!

If you enjoy reading & want to learn more….

So, you don’t actually need to read a business book, but if you do, learn from the experts who have ventured on the same entrepreneurial journey. Their practical advice provides a step-by-step guide through the planning process to help you complete the necessary market research to stay competitive while completing the financial analysis needed to secure funding.  

How We Can Help You Succeed

At Growthink, we have helped over 5,000 entrepreneurs and business owners develop business plans to start and grow their companies. With this extensive experience, we’ve created a simple business plan template and business plan examples for 100+ sectors (and we’re still going!) to save you time and make it even easier to write a successful business plan. Check out the links below or learn more in our Business Plan Writing Help Center to help you launch or expand your successful business.

How to Finish Your Business Plan in 1 Day!

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan?

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

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20 Best Books on How to Write a Business Plan

Are you wondering which book is best to learn how to write a business plan ? If YES, here are 20 best books on how to write a business plan in 2023.  Starting and running a new business to success can be quite daunting. According to reports, a little more than 1 in 5 businesses tend to crash just within their first year, this is why having a detailed business plan is vital to the success of any business.

Putting together a good business plan from scratch is a challenging undertaking that needs extensive market research, statistical analysis, financial calculations, and much more. You need to understand how to make your business case, describe why there is a demand for your product or service, explain in detail how you intend to build your team, and also explain how you are going to finance your business and remain competitive.

Business plans are quite similar to a GPS; it is possible to travel without a GPS, but it may take you longer and the possibility of getting lost is always present. So instead of having to stop and ask for directions, you can use your business plan as a map to help guide your business.

Nonetheless, here are the best business plan books to take your business dreams from idea to reality.

The One Page Business Plan

According to reports, various corporations, small businesses, and entrepreneurs around the world leverage The One Page Business Plan process to quickly and easily establish highly focused and simple business plans. Instead of beginning with a blank piece of paper, the book and planning tool kit include business plan templates, as well as sample business plans to help get you started.

Have it in mind that the easy-to-fill-in-the-blanks business plan outline makes the process fast and easy. The book is divided into 5 unique sections… Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans providing a useful and complete business plan format that will show you step-by-step how to write a business plan.

Tim Berry is a globally known expert on business planning, and this book is his latest one that will help you get your business up and running. “Hurdle” extensively explains each and every step of a solid business plan in a way that anyone can understand. Also, note that you will see many examples of how to calculate profit and keep track of your cash flow.

Complete with a 53-page workbook, have it in mind you will be constructing your business plan as you read the book rather than trying to understand the fundamentals of business planning and applying them later. After you must have written a workable business plan, you will find yourself turning back to this book for advice on the everyday management and implementation of your business as well.

The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan

If you want a step-by-step guide, then opt for this book. Hal Shelton will expertly take you on a journey of putting together a well arranged plan. Understand what your personal style is, where to go for help and the simple errors people make when putting together a plan.

Note that putting together a marketing plan and establishing a strong management team are also topics covered in this short and simple guide. Hal’s secrets to success will ensure you spend less time putting together a business plan, freeing up time for you to focus on other aspects of your business. In addition, you will learn how to acquire a bank loan and get proven strategies for attracting investors.

The Successful Business Plan

Note that this is a well detailed step-by-step guide for anyone eager to start or grow a business, and has been used over the years by close to two million entrepreneurs. It comes with expert help, worksheets to jumpstart the process, a sample business plan, tips on attracting funders, winning tips for competitions, secrets to successful crowdfunding, building a global business, and much more.

Well recognized in over 1000 business schools globally and appreciated by entrepreneurs; this guide touches every aspect of a successful business plan, from business strategy, winning over investors or lenders, and much more.

Hit The Deck

Have it in mind that this book shows entrepreneurs the perfect way to create business plans, leveraging best practices used at top business schools, and with leading angel and venture capital investors. Also note that the book provides step-by-step instructions on how to think through new business ideas and prepare concise, compelling business plan presentations .

Owning to its comprehensive content, founders can plan faster, pitch more effectively, and modify their plans more easily as they get feedback from advisors and investors. Hit the Deck includes interviews with sophisticated investors, like Ted Schlein at Kleiner Perkins, and with successful entrepreneurs, like Tommy Hilfiger.

Writing a Convincing Business Plan

First and foremost, this book was written by the company that has aided generations of students to prepare for standardized tests. Note that it approaches the challenge of putting together a business plan in the same straightforward, system-minded way.

Have it in mind that this book is no-nonsense: you will have to analyze your business structure, your goals, and your forecasts, and no amount of mantras will help you do so like good old-fashioned hard work. According to reviews, this is a thought-provoking book that ensures you take a closer look at different aspects of your business with plenty of questions to ask yourself. It also guides you in finding supporting data that justifies and promotes your business.

How to Write a Business Plan

Regardless of what your intentions are, be it starting or selling your own business, business plans are a vital and pertinent part of the business cycle. How to Write a Business Plan offers you the expert guidance you require to make an impact with your plan, including advice on researching competitors, presenting your management skills, and successfully communicating your strategic vision.

Be it is to source funds, sell a business or develop a particular project, this is your one-stop guide to putting together the most professional and convincing business plan for a new venture. How to Write a Business Plan offers priceless help with sales, cash, and profit forecasts and is supported by the inclusion of full-length plans available to download online. This new edition has been enhanced to cover digital developments like crowdfunding, online retailing, and digital marketing.

The Founder’s Dilemmas

While putting together your business plan, you will also have to bother about who will run your organization coupled with all of the other information contained inside. While the “who” of your organization can be less exciting than the “what” and “how,” staffing and leadership decisions are definitely not to be ignored.

Notably, when you are considering whether to start a business on your own, with friends or relatives, or with trusted colleagues, it is pertinent to consider extensively the decision — and this book helps you do so by analyzing why these decisions matter so much. Noam Wasserman, leveraging a decade of research, educates you on how to shape the leadership section of your business plan in order to make your company as successful as earthly possible.

Burn the Business Plan

This book dissects the myth of the cool, tech-savvy twenty-something entrepreneur with nothing to lose and venture capital to burn. Notably, a good number of people who start businesses are juggling careers and mortgages. Note that the average entrepreneur is actually thirty-nine years old, and the success rate of entrepreneurs over forty is five times higher than that of those under age thirty.

Also, note that entrepreneurs who come out of the corporate world often have discovered a need for a product or service and have priceless contacts to help them get started. Well stocked with stories of successful entrepreneurs who drew on real-life experience rather than academic coursework, Burn the Business Plan is the guide to starting and running a business that will actually work for any willing soul.

The Art of the Start 2.0

With this wonderful book, you can learn about perfecting your pitch, get real-world advice on bootstrapping, and obtain advice on building your team. The author Guy Kawasaki is behind the wildly successful online design service Canva. He wrote this guide extolled as the “essential guide for anyone starting anything,” to help young entrepreneurs separate the fluff from the foundation and build your business plan into one that really works for you.

Coupled with the old standards, this book seems to extensively discuss crowdfunding, social media, and other digital revolutions as well. With the knowledge imbibed in this book, you will be ahead of the competition — and much calmer, too, because you will know how to position your product with stories that create a personal connection with potential customers.

Pulling Together

This book come well recommended for the leader of any team. Pulling Together is the unbelievable list of advice for achieving greatness on a team. From “Respecting Diversity” to “Building Trust,” the rules for teamwork contained in this book will inspire camaraderie and demand excellence.

Also note that what makes this book astonishing is its depth of content coupled with its gift-sized packaging. Every rule for “pulling together” is complemented with photographs, quotations, thought-provoking questions, and smart insight. Notably, it is the perfect size to be given as a gift to each person on the team and could be given as a gift to coaches, athletes, business leaders, or co-workers.

Business Model Generation

Note that this is a handbook for visionaries, game-changers, and challengers eager to defy outmoded business models and create tomorrow’s ventures. If your business needs to adapt to harsh new realities, but you lack the strategy that will get you out in front of your competitors, you need Business Model Generation.

Co-created by 470 “Business Model Canvas” practitioners from 45 countries, the book comes with a wonderful, highly visual, 4-color design that leverages unique strategic ideas and tools and makes them easy to use in your organization. You will learn how to systematically understand, design, and implement a game-changing business model–or analyze and renovate an old one. In addition, you’ll have a much deeper understanding of your customers, distribution channels, partners, revenue streams, costs, and your core value proposition.

Starting a Business Quick Start Guide

In his comprehensive Starting a Business Quick Start Guide, Ken Colwell explicitly noted the core fundamentals that all new entrepreneurs have to understand to get started, find success, and live the life of their dreams. Business and entrepreneurship students, small business owners, managers, and soon-to-be entrepreneurs will indeed find enormous value within the pages of the Starting a Business Quick Start Guide.

Colwell’s clear voice, extensive experience, and easy-to-understand presentation all come together to make this book a must-have resource in the library of every budding entrepreneur!

The Lean Startup

According to reviews, the Lean Startup approach helps to build companies that are both more capital efficient and that use human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it depends on “validated learning,” steady scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that reduce product development cycles, measure actual progress without using vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want.

Also note that it enables a company to shift directions with eagerness, changing plans inch by inch, minute by minute. So, instead of wasting time establishing elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup provides entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—an avenue to test their vision continuously, to adapt, and adjust before it is too late.

The Complete Book of Business Plans

Inside this staple of the business world, you’ll find plenty of business plan templates you can leverage to boost your business and attract investors quickly. Also note that you will find advice on ensuring and sustaining motivation, how to make sure you are bringing the best possible partners onto your project, and how to push your business forward for years to come.

Have it in mind that a good part of the book is set up like a workbook and asks highly detailed questions that are expected to be answered before writing can start. These questions will also force the would-be entrepreneur to analyze and address a series of questions that many first-timers would forget or not even know to ask or consider.

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

To establish and run a successful business, you have to stop doing random acts of marketing and start leveraging a well articulated plan for rapid business growth . Ideally, creating a marketing plan has been a daunting and time-consuming process, which is why it rarely gets done.

In The 1-Page Marketing Plan, serial entrepreneur and rebellious marketer Allan Dib explicitly states marketing implementation breakthrough that makes putting together a marketing plan simple and quick. It is more or less a single page, divided up into nine squares. Note that you’ll be able to map out your own sophisticated marketing plan and go from zero to marketing hero.

Mind Your Business

Mind Your Business remains one of the top books that teaches you everything you need to know about how to create a successful business from scratch. Right from building your brand to designing products to identifying your legal and tax needs, note that this well detailed guide will take you through every step of the process and help you create a unique and well noted roadmap for your business.

Mind Your Business is for aspiring entrepreneurs who are savvy, ambitious, creative, and eager to establish a business and life they love. Author Ilana Griffo shares the formula that turned her creative hobby into a six-figure design studio.

Creating a Business Plan for Dummies

Irrespective of what you intend to do, be it starting a new business or trading for a while, Creating a Business Plan For Dummies puts into consideration everything you need to know. In this book, you will find out whether your business idea is likely to work, how to identify your strategic advantage, and what you can do to gain an advantage over the competition.

Also, note that you will discover why a business plan doesn’t have to be a thirty-page document that takes centuries to put together but can be a simple process that you do in stages as you work through your business concept. Also know how to make an elevator pitch, create a start-up budget, and establish realistic sales projections. Also discover how to predict and manage expenses, and assemble a financial forecast that enables you to calculate your break-even.

Writing Winning Business Plans

Clearly written and featuring real-life illustrative stories, Writing Winning Business Plans extensively discusses all the major elements of a successful plan. Topics include focusing on your business vision, analyzing your financials, and knowing your competition. In addition, you will learn how to really use your business plan as a tool and how to attract funding for your new or existing businesses.

Note that as business plan competitions become more intense around the world, Writing Winning Business Plans also explains how to enter and how to win these ever lucrative contests. Furthermore, how to quickly interest a potential investor, also known as the elevator pitch, is well discussed. And, as opportunities arise around the world, how to present your plan in various countries is explained extensively.

Documentation: Anatomy of a Business Plan

According to experts, this book will help you create a well articulated business plan that is sure to lead you towards success. If you require some additional hand-holding to get started, this book is for you: You will understand how best to choose an organizational structure that is ideal for your business, learn how to market that business well using means and strategies that helps your business grow, and learn how to organize your business plan into the traditional sections.

Also, note that the marketing strategies in this book are priceless and you will be happy to see financial documentation reviewed deeply. Howbeit, it is not the most glamorous part of your business, but it is vital to your business success. This book will also walk you through five sample business plans and also provides helpful hints to accompany the worksheets provided for drafting your own project.

More on Business Plan Tips

• 7 Best Business Plan Books

Table of Contents

7  Best Business Plan Books should read before starting a business:

Best Business plan books help entrepreneurs to set up the proper framework for their ideas, to a well-thought-out business, and attract investors.

Preparing a business plan from scratch looks too complicated for newbie entrepreneurs as it requires learning, how to make your business case, a lot of statistical analysis, and market research for new products and services. A well-structured business plan is the basis of every successful business and helps to stay competitive in the market.

To get started, it is ideal to spend some time learning, how to make and what all factors need to consider to make a perfect business plan even for an affiliate marketing business. The best Business plan books are the prime source of learning about the business plans and it will be a worthy investment to buy a book for building a perfect business.

We also recommend you to check the following list for strengthening your skills to develop your idea into a proper business.

• 15 simple steps to make a perfect Business Plan.
• 7 best business motivation books.
• 7 best business strategy books.
• 7 best professional skill development books .

Here are the 7 best business plan books which help you to start your entrepreneurial journey. You can buy 1 or 2 books from the list using the respective link to Amazon and understand how to structure your idea into a perfect business plan.

Below listed are the best-selling authors who contributed to this list.

• Rhonda Abrams.
• Mike McKeever.
• Hal Shelton.
• Joe Covello and Brian Hazelgren.
• Guy Kawasaki

These best business plan books are the most recommended in online portals and are affordable to start learning and get your idea off the ground.

BOOK 1: Successful Business Plan: Secrets & strategies.

Rhonda Abrams is an entrepreneur, author, and widely recognized as a leading expert on entrepreneurship. Rhonda’s column “Small Business Strategies,” is one of the most widely distributed columns in the United States and she has written more than a dozen entrepreneurship books.

Buy from Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3xBGEFs

The Business plan book, Successful Business Plan by Rhonda Abrams helps entrepreneurs to quickly start the process of a simple business plan, and it contains tips for impressing fund houses, winning over the competitions, and more.

• This Book guide entrepreneurs with the step-by-step method of formatting, Researching, and Writing a perfect business plan to get funding from the investors.

This book is used in many top business schools and Hundreds of thousands of new entrepreneurs to launch their businesses. This book is considered as one of the top ten books need to refer to for small businesses.

The revised and updated version of the Successful Business Plan reveals the Secrets & Strategies needed for the new business to grow.

BOOK 2: How to Write a Business Plan .

Mike McKeever has a Master’s in Economics from London and a post-graduate in financial analysis from the USC Business School. Mike used to take classes at numerous community colleges in small business management and entrepreneurship. Mike’s book features prominently in his Business Plan Workshop.

Buy from Amazon:  https://amzn.to/2SJKMVa

The best business plan Book, How to Write a Business Plan by Mike McKeever provides spreadsheets that help entrepreneurs to determine and forecast financial statements, cash in and outflow, sales revenue, and P&L of the business idea.

How to Write a Business Plan will help you in the following

• Start a business with a proper revenue plan which helps to avoid financial mistakes .
• How to write a perfect business plan for your idea.
• Raising money to expand your existing business.
• Help you to figure out, your business idea, will make money or not.

In How to Write a Business Plan all-in-one guide you’ll learn how to:

• Estimate operating expenses.
• Prepare proper cash flow.
• Forecasting of profit and loss.
• Determine assets, liabilities, and net worth.
• Help to find potential sources of financing for the business.
• How to present your plan professionally to lenders and investors.

In this book, you also get three sample business plans which can modify to use as per your idea. And also provide many new online resources and examples of successful business plans.

BOOK 3: The Secrets to Writing A Successful Business Plan: A pro shares a step-by-step guide to creating a plan that gets results.

Hal Shelton has more than 45 years of experience with many corporations and investment organizations. Through his books, he shared his experience and knowledge to help small businesses and new entrepreneurs. Hal completed a bachelor of science from Carnegie Mellon University, a Master’s degree in MBA from the University of Chicago, and he honors diploma from the University of Vienna.

Buy from Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3gI1yNy

The best business plan book Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan by Hal Shelton opens entrepreneurs’ eyes to insider tips, Step-by-Step Guide, and techniques for writing a winning business plan and attaining funding.

This book providing a section on issues and challenges faced by early-stage companies and an easy-to-follow guide.

• Need of a business plan and the best style to follow.
• Step-by-step guidance for creating a proper business plan
• Proven strategies to attracting investors and obtaining bank loans
• Spend less time in writing your plan and more time setting up your business.
• How to create a business plan for nonprofit organizations.

This book help entrepreneurs to make sure that, they are heading in the right direction and help in finding suitable mentors and advisors to guide them on their ideas.

The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan is packed with a wide range of knowledge, actionable advice, and real-life examples which help small business entrepreneurs.

BOOK 4: The Complete Book of Business Plans: Simple steps to writing powerful business plans.

Joe Covello is the founder of a professional firm specializing in business planning “The Covello Group”. His firm services in different industries like manufacturing, services, distribution, and retail in all ranges of business. Joe holds a Master of Business Administration from Dickinson University in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from William Paterson University in Accounting. This book is co-authored with Brian Hazelgren.

Buy from Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3cTd06Y

The Complete Book of Business Plans by Authors Brian Hazelgren and Joseph Covello is one of the bestselling business planning books of our time with  Simple Steps to Writing Powerful Business Plans.

This book will provide

• More than a dozen of brand-new business plans.
• Ideas to attract investors to finance your business.
• What questions to ask yourself and how to finalize a perfect business plan.
• How to get started your business and run it.

For entrepreneurs to start the business or to bring their business to the next level, The Complete Book of Business Plans is the best reference they need.

BOOK 5: Art of the Start 2.0: The time-tested, battle-hardened guide for anyone starting anything .

Guy Kawasaki was the previous chief evangelist of Apple, who worked on the Macintosh team during the 1980s. He is a well know author of twelve books, a Venture capitalist, and a Startup founder. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and holds MBA from UCLA.

Buy from Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3gFFEuH

The Art of the Start 2.0 by Guy Kawasaki is a classic bestselling time-tested guide to launching a new product, service, idea, or anyone to starting anything.

This book points out the fact that,

• Today, the old modes of business plans are no longer necessary as social media can be the key method of promotion.
• Cloud computing around makes the basic infrastructure needed for new business affordable for almost any new venture.

The Art of the Start 2.0 will teach entrepreneurs to use effectively these new tools. This book help entrepreneurs in mastering the not changed following fundamental challenges:

• Building a strong team.
• Creating an awesome product or service.
• Facing down the competitors.

This book reflects the successes and failures of the author Kawasaki’s along with his generous wisdom, tips, and humor. Whether you’re are entrepreneur, or own a business, this book will help you make your ideas into a professional business.

BOOK 6: The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan.

Tim Berry is the founder of Palo Alto Software, the country’s bestselling business plan software. He is a popular blogger and speaker and has written many books on business planning.

Buy from Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3vH99R0

One of the best business plan books, The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan provides adequate guidance for every stage of business and every situation. This book guide entrepreneurs to plan literally as they go and ultimately steer their business ahead while saving time.

• Through this book, readers are trained to ignore the traditional, type of business plans and to focus on tailoring a business plan to their ideas.

Clear-cut instructions in this book help entrepreneurs to quickly build the business plan that works for their idea and it helps them to take total control of their business. These plans will help them to improve profits, raise capital, and stay ahead of their competition.

This business plan book is easy to understand and a comprehensive tool, which offers more than just the nuts and bolts of building a business plan. The author provides invaluable insight through real-life examples illustrating avoidable mistakes and key points that need to consider in the current time

BOOK 7: The One Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur: Start with a vision, build a company .

Jim Horan is a small business expert, consultant, experienced Fortune 500 executive, and speaker. Jim Horan has a unique ability to take complex business situations into a simple action plan. Jim’s books have been translated into many languages and sold around the world.

Buy from Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3uW8yv9

The best business planning book The One Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur by Jim Horan provides The fastest, easiest way to finish the Business Plan.

The 3rd Edition of One Page Business Book includes the Entrepreneur’s ToolKit which includes the following.

• Interactive Budget Worksheets.
• Business plan templates.
• Sales Calculators and Sales process and Budgeting Tool.
• Scorecards and additional Bonus Tools.

The One Page Business Plan is an easy-to-use process that helps entrepreneurs to capture the vision and translate it into concrete business. This book is designed to act as a catalyst for entrepreneurs to build ideas into a business and manage it in the 21st century.

It’s short, The One Page Business Plan delivers your plan quickly and effectively.

Conclusion:

If you want to get started on your business plan for your idea, check out one of your favored books from the list and start preparing. Below is a listing of recommended 7 best business plan books.

• Successful Business Plan by Rhonda Abrams.
• How to Write a Business Plan by Mike McKeever.
• The Secrets to Writing A Successful Business Plan by Hal Shelton.
• The Complete Book of Business Plans by Joe Covelloand Brian Hazelgren.
• Art of the Start 2.0 by Guy Kawasaki.
• The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan by Tim Berry.
• The One Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur by Jim Horan.

You can check the other large list of Business Plan books in Amazon and BEST BOOKS ON AMAZON

All these books will guide you through the step-by-step process to write out your plan and make sure that you’re ready to launch your idea into a successful business.

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MyMoneyBooks

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19 Best Business Plan Books of All Time

Our goal : Find the best Business Plan books according to the internet (not just one random person's opinion).

• Type "best business plan books" into our search engine and study the top 5+ pages.
• Add only the books mentioned 2+ times.
• Rank the results neatly for you here! 😊 (It was a lot of work. But hey! That's why we're here, right?)

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Last Updated: Monday 1 Jan, 2024

• Best Business Plan Books

The One Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur

The fastest, easiest way to write a business plan.

The Art of the Start 2.0

The time-tested, battle-hardened guide for anyone starting anything.

Guy Kawasaki

Successful Business Plan

Secrets & strategies.

Rhonda Abrams

The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan

A pro shares a step-by-step guide to creating a plan that gets results.

Hal Shelton

The Lean Startup

How today's entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses.

The Founder's Dilemmas

Anticipating and avoiding the pitfalls that can sink a startup.

Noam Wasserman

How to Write a Business Plan

Mike P. McKeever

The Complete Book of Business Plans

Simple steps to writing powerful business plans.

Joseph A Covello

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

Get new customers, make more money, and stand out from the crowd.

Business Model Generation

A handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers.

Alexander Osterwalder

Starting a Business QuickStart Guide

The simplified beginner’s guide to launching a successful small business, turning your vision into reality, and achieving your entrepreneurial dream.

Ken Colwell

Mind Your Business

A workbook to grow your creative passion into a full-time gig.

Ilana Griffo

Writing Winning Business Plans

How to prepare a business plan that investors will want to read and invest in.

Garrett Sutton

Burn the Business Plan

What great entrepreneurs really do.

Carl J. Schramm

Anatomy of a Business Plan

The step-by-step guide to building a business and securing your company's future.

Linda Pinson

The Book on Business Planning

Writing a Convincing Business Plan

Arthur R. DeThomas Ph.D.

Hit the Deck

Create a business plan in half the time, with twice the impact.

David Ronick

Creating a Business Plan For Dummies

Veechi Curtis

• 12 Books You Should Read Before Starting a Business www.businessinsider.com
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• 20 Best Books on The Business Plan - Bigger Investing www.biggerinvesting.com
• 20 Best Books on How to Write a Business Plan in 2023 www.profitableventure.com

How was this Business Plan books list created?

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How many Business Plan books are in this list?

There are 19 books in this list.

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20 Best Books on The Business Plan

usiness plans are similar to a GPS; it’s possible to take travel without a GPS, but it may take you longer and the possibility of getting lost without it. Rather than having to stop and asking for directions. Entrepreneurs use business plans to help them with their directions. When business leaders plan and see the greater picture, it helps them make key business decisions and improve the overall success of their business. 

Table of Contents

Best Books on The Business Plan:  THE LIST

1. hit the deck | by david ronick.

2. Burn the Business Plan | By Carl J. Schramm

Burn the Business Plan punctures the myth of the cool, tech-savvy twenty-something entrepreneur with nothing to lose and venture capital to burn. In fact, most people who start businesses are juggling careers and mortgages just like you. The average entrepreneur is actually thirty-nine years old, and the success rate of entrepreneurs over forty is five times higher than that of those under age thirty. Entrepreneurs who come out of the corporate world often have discovered a need for a product or service and have valuable contacts to help them get started.

Filled with stories of successful entrepreneurs who drew on real-life experience rather than academic coursework, Burn the Business Plan is the guide to starting and running a business that will actually work for the rest of us.

3. How to Write a Business Plan | By Brian Finch

The creating success series of books… With over one million copies sold, the hugely popular Creating Success series covers a wide variety of topics and is written by an expert team of internationally best-selling authors and business experts. This indispensable business skills collection is packed with new features, practical content, and inspiring guidance for readers across all stages of their careers.

4. The Successful Business Plan | By Rohnda Abrams

5. The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan | By Hal Shelton

6. The One Page Business Plan | By Jim Horan

7. Anatomy of a Business Plan | By Linda Pinson

8. Creating a Business Plan for Dummies | By Veechi Curtis

Whether you’re starting a new business or you’ve been trading for a while, Creating a Business Plan For Dummies covers everything you need to know. Figure out whether your business idea is likely to work, how to identify your strategic advantage, and what you can do to gain an edge on the competition. Discover why a business plan doesn’t have to be a thirty-page document that takes days to write but can be a simple process that you do in stages as you work through your business concept. Learn how to prepare an elevator pitch, create a start-up budget, and create realistic sales projections. Discover how to predict and manage expenses, and assemble a financial forecast that enables you to calculate your break-even. Look at the risk involved in this business and experiment with different scenarios to see if you’re on the right track.

• Explains how to create a one-page business plan in just a few hours.
• Takes a simple step-by-step approach, focusing on budgets, financials, and everyday practicalities.
• Offers focused guidance on managing cashflow, designing marketing plans, and establishing a long-term vision for your business.
• Includes access to downloadable templates and worksheets, as well as helpful online audio and video components.
• Written by Veechi Curtis, bestselling author, and business consultant.

A good business plan is the first step to success for any new business, and getting it right can mean the difference between big profits and big trouble. Creating a Business Plan For Dummies gives you the detailed advice you need to design a great business plan that will guide your business from concept to reality.

9. Business Model Generation | By Alexander Osterwalder

Co-created by 470 “Business Model Canvas” practitioners from 45 countries, the book features a beautiful, highly visual, 4-color design that takes powerful strategic ideas and tools and makes them easy to implement in your organization. It explains the most common Business Model patterns, based on concepts from leading business thinkers, and helps you reinterpret them for your own context. You will learn how to systematically understand, design, and implement a game-changing business model–or analyze and renovate an old one. Along the way, you’ll understand at a much deeper level your customers, distribution channels, partners, revenue streams, costs, and your core value proposition.

Business Model Generation features practical innovation techniques used today by leading consultants and companies worldwide, including 3M, Ericsson, Capgemini, Deloitte, and others. Designed for doers, it is for those ready to abandon outmoded thinking and embrace new models of value creation: for executives, consultants, entrepreneurs, and leaders of all organizations. If you’re ready to change the rules, you belong to “the business model generation!”

10.Starting a Business Quick Start Guide | By Ken Colwell

This book shows you EXACTLY what you need to know to stand out from the crowd!

Then you NEED this book. Buy now and start reading today!

Are you a current business owner who struggles to identify your customers and deliver true world-class value?

Everything you need to know is included in these pages!

Do you want to build your hobby business into a fully-fledged venture that will help you build the life you deserve?

The most comprehensive guide ever developed for starting and growing a business!

In the highly competitive world of business, what makes or breaks a new entrepreneur?

Sourced from over twenty years of firsthand experience working with entrepreneurs, new ventures, and high-growth startups, author Ken Colwell, Ph.D., MBA has the answers.

In his comprehensive Starting a Business QuickStart Guide , Ken Colwell concisely presents the core fundamentals that all new entrepreneurs need to know to get started, find success, and live the life of their dreams.

Business and entrepreneurship students, small business owners, managers, and soon-to-be entrepreneurs will all find a wealth of value within the pages of the Starting a Business QuickStart Guide.

From the very first steps conceptualizing your venture to winning your first customers, delivering value, and turning a profit, this book acts as an invaluable blueprint for your path to entrepreneurial success. Colwell’s clear voice, extensive experience, and easy-to-understand presentation come together to make this book a must-have resource in the library of every budding entrepreneur!

Perfect For:

Would-Be Entrepreneurs With a Ton of Passion!

Entrepreneurial Students of All Ages!

Beginners with Zero Prior Experience!

Managers, Business Owners, and Decisions Makers Growing into a New Role!

You’ll Discover:

The Difference Between an Idea and an Opportunity!

What Makes an Entrepreneurial Opportunity Great!

The Very First Steps You Need To Take To Get Your Venture Off The Ground!

Pricing, Competition, Customer Identification, Marketing, and Distribution Demystified!

The REAL Components of an Entrepreneurial Mindset!

Exactly How To Craft Your Value Proposition!

How to Write a Comprehensive Business Plan!

11. The Lean Startup | By Eric Ries

Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business.

The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute.

Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt, and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in an age when companies need to innovate more than ever.

12. How to Write a Business Plan | By Mike McKeever

You need a sound business plan to start a business or raise money to expand an existing one. For over 30 years, How to Write a Business Plan has helped fledgling entrepreneurs―from small service businesses and retailers to large manufacturing firms―write winning plans and get needed financing.

• figure out if your business idea will make money
• determine and forecast cash flow
• create profit and loss forecasts
• prepare marketing and personnel plans
• find potential sources of financing, and
• present your well-organized plan to lenders and other backers, and
• learn about best practices for raising money, from SBA loans to equity crowdfunding.

13. How to Write a Business Plan | By Alex Genadinik

That’s why the latest edition of this book gives you skills to become a stronger entrepreneur, launch your business, and succeed once your business is up and running.

BENEFITS OF THIS APPROACH

• Write a higher-quality business plan
• Identify the most effective strategies for your business
• Complete your business plan faster
• Avoid confusion and frustration

EXPERIENCED AND AUTHORITATIVE AUTHOR

Anyone can claim to be a business expert, but the knowledge in this book comes from the author, Alex Genadinik, who has:

• Coached over 1,000 entrepreneurs
• Created top business planning apps
• Taught tens of thousands of people in his business planning courses
• Guest-lectured at numerous universities
• Built multiple successful businesses while being an independent entrepreneur just like you

INVEST IN YOUR FUTURE AND FREEDOM

Imagine how great your life will be if you are the owner of a successful business, provide for your family, live comfortably, and avoid daily 9-5 stress.

Take this step to starting your business, achieve financial independence, and gain the freedom you desire.

STRUCTURED AS A BUSINESS PLAN TEMPLATE

One of the chapters in this book is structured like a business plan template with examples for what to write in every section of the business plan. It is meant for you to write your business plan as you read the book.

By the end of that chapter, you will have a professional business plan.

NOW WITH A CASE STUDY OF A $1,000,000 CLIENT

A recent addition in this book is a business plan for a client’s ecommerce business that I helped take to over $1,000,000 in annual revenue.

You’ll see the business plan for that client and more importantly, what we did to get his business to grow.

AFTER YOU READ THE BOOK

If you are a first-time entrepreneur, after the first few chapters, you will have a much better understanding of business strategies and the steps to get started and succeed.

14. Mind Your Business | By Ilana Griffo

Author Ilana Griffo shares the formula that turned her creative hobby into a six-figure design studio. From initial planning to long-term business strategy, Mind Your Business includes:

   • Insider tips from successful entrepreneurs    • Advice to identify your ideal market and customer    • Legal guidelines to protect your assets    • Budget and forecast tools    • How to avoid the pitfalls that doom most startups    • Guidance on how to scale and grow    • Suggestions on how to dominate online platforms    • Tips to beat your competitors with SEO and social media Mind Your Business puts you in the driver’s seat. It will help you navigate the journey of starting your first business and take your ambitions and ideas from wishful thinking to successful reality.

15. Preparing Effective Business Plans | By Bruce Barringer

Teaching and Learning Experience

This text will provide a better teaching and learning experience―for you and your students. Here’s how:

• Focus on the “Front End” of the Entrepreneurial Process: The entrepreneurial process is discussed and defined as part of the comprehensive business plan process.
• Give Students a Solid Point of Reference: A business plan, for a fictitious company name Prime Adult Fitness, is built throughout the course of the book.
• Present Special Insights on Presenting and Writing a Business Plan: The book provides tips and suggestions for presenting a business plan with confidence and pose and includes a 12 slide PowerPoint with suggestions on what to include on each slide.

16. TWriting Winning Business Plans | By Garrett Sutton, ESQ

Rich Dad/Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki says, “The first step in business is a great business plan. It must be a page-turner that hooks and holds a potential investor. Garrett Sutton’s Writing Winning Business Plans is THE book for key strategies on preparing winning plans for both business and real estate ventures.

Crisply written and featuring real-life illustrative stories, Writing Winning Business Plans discusses all the key elements for a successful plan. Topics include focusing on your business vision, understanding your financials, and analyzing your competition. Also covered are how to really use your business plan as a tool and how to attract funding for your new or existing businesses. As business plan competitions become more popular around the world Writing Winning Business Plans also discusses how to enter and how to win these ever more lucrative contests.

In addition, how to quickly interest a potential investor, also known as the elevator pitch, is explained. And, as opportunities arise around the world, how to present your plan in various countries is explored.

Writing Winning Business Plans is the complete compendium for this essential business rite of passage – preparing a winning plan.

17. The 1-Page Marketing Plan | By Allan Dib

To build a successful business, you need to stop doing random acts of marketing and start following a reliable plan for rapid business growth. Traditionally, creating a marketing plan has been a difficult and time-consuming process, which is why it often doesn’t get done.

Whether you’re just starting out or are an experienced entrepreneur, The 1-Page Marketing Plan is the easiest and fastest way to create a marketing plan that will propel your business growth.

In this groundbreaking new book you’ll discover: • How to get new customers, clients, or patients and how to make more profit from existing ones. • Why “big business” style marketing could kill your business and strategies that actually work for small and medium-sized businesses. • How to close sales without being pushy, needy, or obnoxious while turning the tables and having prospects begging you to take their money. • A simple step-by-step process for creating your own personalized marketing plan that is literally one page. Simply follow along and fill in each of the nine squares that make up your own 1-Page Marketing Plan. • How to annihilate competitors and make yourself the only logical choice. • How to get amazing results on a small budget using the secrets of direct response marketing. • How to charge high prices for your products and services and have customers actually thank you for it.

18. DIY Business Plan | By Robert R. Stimson

During my tenure with each of the companies, I have learned the biggest asset of any company is its growth plan which is also known as the business plan. Each time I had to get very creative when creating a business plan for the start-ups as that is the most critical document banks and lenders look at. You can imagine most start-up’s first order of business is securing favorable bank financing so they can actually get their business up and running.

Business plan to me is the backbone of your business; it is truly the GPS of your business that navigates you in the right direction. Regardless if you are applying for a loan for your business or not, every business should have a plan which should be updated periodically to help you stay on track to success.

In this book, I show you a simple and easy-to-follow process of creating your own business plan for any business. You don’t need to be a writer or a Business major to be able to draft a great business plan, it is not your proficiency in the English language, instead, it is all about laying out a simple to understand the plan for the future of your business and how you want to navigate your business forward to prosperity.

Here are the Three most Common Excuses I hear from entrepreneurs about not creating their own business plan.

• I am not good at writing
• I don’t know what to say in the plan
• I am not business savvy enough to write one

Five Biggest Myths about the Business Plan

• It is a complicated document
• Only a seasoned business writer can write a good business plan
• No one reads it, but you have to one to get a loan
• A good business plan needs to be 20-30 page long
• I don’t need a loan to start my business, so I don’t need a business plan

False, false, and false, as I am sure you have guessed, all of them are false.

In this book, I show you the baby steps to get started on the right foot. I take you through all the elements of creating a great business plan that is custom-crafted just for your business. Before you buy this book, I want you to take a look at the Table of Content so you can see what all I covered inside this book, you will see the topics like:

• What is a Business Plan?
• How Critical is a Business plan for your Business
• 5 Reasons you should have a Business Plan
• What and How do I write one
• 9 Essential Components of a Great Business Plan
• Two Best Practices of Business Plan Writing
• Lean vs. Traditional Business Plan
• Example of a Lean Business Plan
• Step by Step instructions to Write a Traditional Business Plan

This last part is the most significant part of the book; this is where I show you (with examples) every major and minor detail you need to include in your plan, items like

• Executive summary
• Company Description
• Aspects of Service or Product
• Problems you are trying to resolve
• Your Competitive Landscape
• Your Competitive Edge
• All 4 Stages of Product Life Cycle (PLC)
• Market Analysis
• Evaluation of the Competition
• Marketing & Advertising
• Management Team
• Operating Plan
• Financial Plan (Income statement, Cash Flow, Balance Sheet & Break-Even Point)
• Request for Funding

Lastly, I offer you a link to a fully Functional and Customizable Business Plan Template which you can download and use.

19. The Standout Business Plan | By Vaughan Evans and Brian Tracy

20. Pulling Together | By John J. Murphy

What makes this book unique is its depth of content paired with its gift-sized packaging. Each rule for “pulling together” is complemented with photographs, quotations, thought-provoking questions, and smart insight. However, it’s the perfect size to be given as a gift to each person on the team! This book could be given as a gift to coaches, athletes, business leaders, or coworkers.

Final Thoughts on the Best Books on The Business Plan

Entrepreneurship is a risky business. But that riskiness can significantly be improved with the right business plan. The business plan allows the business leader to look at the overall vision and determine the direction of where the business needs to go. 

Happy reading!

Do you see a book that you think should be on the list? Let us know your feedback here .

Meet Maurice, a staff editor at Bigger Investing. He’s an accomplished entrepreneur who owns multiple successful websites and a thriving merch shop. When he’s not busy with work, Maurice indulges in his passion for kayaking, climbing, and his family. As a savvy investor, Maurice loves putting his money to work and seeking out new opportunities. With his expertise and passion for finance, he’s dedicated to helping readers achieve their financial goals through Bigger Investing.

This page may contain affiliate links. This website may contain content that comes from Amazon.  This website and its pages are not intended to constitute legal, financial, or tax advice. The information on this website and its pages are not intended to constitute investment advice and all content are the views and opinions of the author(s), contributors, or administrators. Please read our disclaimer for more info.

BiggerInvesting.com may contain affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you click on these links and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. However, we cannot be held responsible for any fraudulent or misleading products or services promoted through these links. It is important to exercise due diligence and research before making any purchase.

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16 Best Business Writing Books to Read in 2024

You found our list of business writing books .

Business writing books are publications that help individuals achieve effective communication by enhancing their writing skills. Examples include Writing That Works by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson and Business Writing by Wilma Davidson. The purpose of these books is to help individuals develop critical thinking, learn different writing styles, and improve their grammar and punctuation skills.

These books are similar to communication books , customer experience books , and customer success books . These books can help readers learn more about  internal communication tips  and  collaboration skills .

This list includes:

• books on business writing
• books for improving business writing
• best selling business writing books
• business email writing books
• business writing skills books

Here we go!

List of business writing books

Business writing books are valuable for individuals looking to improve their writing skills and communicate more effectively and professionally. From  Business Writing for Dummies by Natalie Canavor and Everybody Writes by Ann Handley, here is a list of the best resources with insightful business writing tips.

1. HBR Guide to Better Business Writing by Bryan A. Garner

HBR Guide to Better Business Writing tops the list of books on business writing. Bryan A. Garner stresses the need to cultivate the art of writing and gain a competitive advantage in the market. The author takes readers through composing compelling documents such as emails and proposals. The book is also a handy guide for readers who want to navigate writer’s block, strike the right tone, and improve grammar and punctuation. Other notable lessons in the guide are keeping the reader’s attention and organizing ideas. HBR Guide to Better Business Writing gives readers the tools to express their ideas clearly and persuade partners, colleagues, clients, and stakeholders.

Notable quote: “All it takes is a few words to make a strong impression, good or bad.”

Read HBR Guide to Better Business Writing .

2. Writing That Works: How to Communicate Effectively in Business by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson

If you are looking for business writing books, then Writing That Works is a great choice. The book will help writers say what they want with more confidence and less difficulty. The book also contains handy tips for email writing, with many examples. Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson focus on helping business writers make better presentations, letters, memos, and reports. In addition, Writing That Works incorporates lessons on crafting grant applications, sales letters, proposals, speeches, and interviews that will move the audience. One key takeaway from the publication is to be clear and concise.

Notable quote: “Take the time to boil down what you want to say, and express it confidently in simple, declarative sentences. Remember the man who apologized for writing such a long letter, explaining that he didn’t have time to write a short one.”

Read Writing That Works .

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3. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley

Everybody Writes is a top choice of books for improving business writing. Ann Handley provides a guide business writers can use to attract and retain customers. The author maintains that clickbait only works in the short run and that writing skills are pivotal in driving corporate communication. Handley advises writers to be smart when choosing words and focus on the target market. Further, the author argues that online language is the current currency. Thus, the type of writing can either make you look smart or simple-minded. The book provides relevant tips for writing listicles, emails, presentations, and newsletters. With lessons that apply across landing pages, emails, blogs, web pages, and social media, Everybody Writes is the go-to guide for business owners, publishers, and marketers.

Notable quote: “So, before you begin the writing, be sure you know the purpose or mission or objective of every piece of content that you write. What are you trying to achieve? What information, exactly, are you trying to communicate? And why should your audience care?”

Read Everybody Writes .

4. Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences by Nancy Duarte

Resonate is a handy guide for business writers who want to grasp the art of presentation. Nancy Duarte argues that the role of presentations is to inform and persuade audiences. Thus, individuals must start by writing presentations that resonate with specific audiences. The publication will also help presenters make strong connections with audiences through visual communication cues. Duarte uses the approach of building presentations bit by bit, similar to writing documentaries.

Notable quote: “The audience does not need to tune themselves to you—you need to tune your message to them. Skilled presenting requires you to understand their hearts and minds and create a message to resonate with what’s already there.”

Read Resonate .

5. Business Writing: What Works, What Won’t by Wilma Davidson

First authored in 1994, Business Writing is a practical guide that covers pivotal lessons. This guide is one of the best business writing skills books. Wilma Davidson addresses the importance of concise, clear, and grammatically correct writing. The book’s chapters guide writers on how to make information easy to read, tone messages, and use humor to engage their audience. Other writing tricks include starting with the main points and using bulleted lists to emphasize information. The revised edition covers texts, emails, and social media to illustrate factors that create good writing. In addition, the author uses compelling examples, cartoons, and charts to engage readers. With thorough concepts, individuals searching for books for improving business writing will relish the resource.

Notable quote: “Victor Hugo, the author of Les Misérables, forced himself to write by disrobing and giving his clothing to his valet with strict instructions that it not be returned until he had written the allotted pages.”

Read Business Writing .

6. The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving by Barbara Minto

The Minto Pyramid Principle elaborates on how individuals can structure presentations and documents to captivate the clientele. The publication emphasizes the importance of persuasive and clear communication in business writing. In addition, the book describes tactics that major businesses can use as a competitive advantage. The Minto Pyramid Principle is a noteworthy resource for individuals who prepare written communications and readers who want to learn how to structure presentations.

Notable quote: “The best text slides convey their message as starkly and simply as possible. They do not waste words (or slides) on transitional or introductory points, which can and should be stated orally. This means of course that the slides by themselves will not be intelligible as a handout to someone who has not attended the presentation.”

Read The Minto Pyramid Principle .

7. Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols by Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez

Illuminate is a practical and illustrative guide for business writers. Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez discuss in detail how to make better presentation slides and structure content that will appeal to readers. The author uses real-world examples and case studies from notable entities like Starbucks, IBM, and Apple to explain the whys and hows of business writing.

Notable quote: “When you use the spoken word in speeches, stories, and ceremonies, reinforcing it with meaningful symbols, empathetic communication makes each moment feel significant and builds energy that makes your venture feel attainable.”

Read Illuminate .

8. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

Eats, Shoots & Leaves focuses on the current grammatical state, stressing the need to be conscious of punctuation. The author uses historical examples, her imagination, literature, and neighborhood signage to explain her points. The read also contains hilarious consequences of incorrectly using apostrophes, commas, colons, and exclamation marks. The author introduces each chapter with a brief history of the topic and the current practice in British and American settings. You will also view debates from different groups on the correctness of punctuation.

Notable quote: “The reason it’s worth standing up for punctuation is not that it’s an arbitrary system of notation known only to an over-sensitive elite who have attacks of the vapors when they see it misapplied. The reason to stand up for punctuation is that without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning.”

Read Eats, Shoots & Leaves .

9. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker

The Sense of Style uses insights from the sciences of language to help business writers craft clear and coherent pieces. The short and entertaining read shows how writing depends on an individual’s imagination, grammatical know-how, empathy, and coherence. As a linguist and cognitive scientist, Steven Pinker details how writers get into various pitfalls, such as the curse of knowledge. The author argues that writers often assume that readers know as much as they do, often leading to misinformation. The book also provides an alphabetical list of common grammatical problems and suggestions for rectifying mistakes.

Notable quote: “A writer, like a cinematographer, manipulates the viewer’s perspective on an ongoing story, with the verbal equivalent of camera angles and quick cuts.”

Read The Sense of Style .

10. Unleash the Power of Storytelling: Win Hearts, Change Minds, Get Results by Rob Biesenbach

Storytelling is an essential part of business writing. Unleash the Power of Storytelling helps readers break down walls and influence audiences. Rob Biesenbach includes practical examples that show how business writers can use stories to write presentations and run employee meetings and customer calls. In addition, the book will help individuals looking for business email writing books. Readers will learn how to use emotion to get an audience’s attention and deliver stories effectively. The book is a great pick that can help individuals close a sale, strengthen professional relationships, promote brands, and align individuals with strategies.

Notable quote: “Stories are all around us. We may not recognize them, but they’re there—just waiting to be found, shaped, and shared.”

Read Unleash the Power of Storytelling .

11. First You Write a Sentence.: The Elements of Reading, Writing … and Life by Joe Moran

With minimal technical terms, First You Write a Sentence will help business writers fine-tune their craft. Joe Moran focuses on the common ground that every writer walks through, a sentence. The author argues that writers can turn ordinary words into verbal constellations. First You Write a Sentence uses notable sources and scientific case studies to illustrate the art of writing compelling and clear tales. The writer also addresses business writers’ daily frustrations, such as gaping plot holes and creative blocks. Readers will also get insights into grammar rules and determining the writing voice and tone.

Notable quote: “In a fast world in pursuit of instant answers, slowness has become a dissident act. Perhaps a sentence slowly written, and slowly relished, could work in the same way, as a last redoubt against the glib articulacy of a distracted age.”

Read First You Write a Sentence .

12. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser

On Writing Well is a valuable resource for business writers, especially in the digital age. William Zinsser discusses writing fundamentals that appeal to a diverse demographic. The resource also offers sound advice on eliminating clutter and tailoring words to the target audience. In addition, the author uses a sense of humor that makes the resource enticing. With its warmth and clarity, the book is also a top choice of best selling business writing books.

Notable quote: “Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy?”

Read On Writing Well .

13. Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite by June Casagrande and Shelly Frasier

Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies is a notable resource for writers who want to learn basic grammar and punctuation. The publication is a collection of witty essays that June Casagrande and Shelly Frasier use to deliver handy lessons. The authors argue that while grammar is a simple area, writers either do not know or ignore many gray areas. Casagrande and Frasier organize the book into short chapters, making every topic easy to consume.

Notable quote: “Grammar snobs are a distinct breed from their gentle cousins: word nerds and grammar geeks. The difference is bloodlust.”

Read Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies .

14. The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

The Elements of Style provides practical advice for individuals who want to improve their writing skills. William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White emphasize using a plain English style instead of complex terminology. The book covers business writing segments such as misuse of words, sentence fragmentation, and language structure. Strunk and White make the book engaging with the addition of sarcastic and amusing comments.

Notable quote: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”

Read The Elements of Style .

15. Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter’s Guide by Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway, and Jon Warshawsky

Why Business People Speak Like Idiots outlines communication mistakes that individuals make in the corporate world. The authors argue that businesspeople overuse jargon-filled words. As a result, the wrong choice of words interferes with individual authenticity, and the effectiveness of presentations, emails, and memos is minimal. The authors also include real-life stories detailing the awful communication prevalent in the corporate world. Why Business People Speak Like Idiots is a hilarious and light read, opposite from most business books.

Notable quote: “When they see bull, they make negative assumptions about the person or company that spews it. When they see straight talk, they think good things about the source.”

Read Why Business People Speak Like Idiots .

16. Business Writing for Dummies by Natalie Canavor

As a major part of professional success, the ability to write well is a significant hindrance for most individuals. Business Writing for Dummies is a fantastic pick of business email writing books. Natalie Canavor includes gems to help businesspeople write better presentations, reports, and emails. The author also provides editing techniques for crafting the perfect messages and tips to adapt individual writing skills to digital media. Business Writing for Dummies is a great read for marketers, managers, customer service reps, or entrepreneurs.

Notable quote: ”To quickly upgrade anything you write, use the say-it-aloud diagnosis. When you read your own copy aloud (or whisper it to yourself if you’re not alone), you get immediate signals that something isn’t working or can work better.”

Read Business Writing for Dummies .

​Conclusion

Whether you are new to business writing or a seasoned writer, there is always room to improve your skills, and a good book can help you do just that. Business writing books provide knowledge that will help readers improve their writing skills. Investing in quality business writing books and applying the principles and techniques can also help individuals attain better business results. These resources can help individuals write reports, emails, and proposals and convey ideas clearly and professionally.

Next, check out our list of sales books , business strategy books , business ethics books , and negotiation books .

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FAQ: Business writing books

Here are answers to common questions about business writing books.

What are business writing books?

Business writing books are resources that provide guidance and instruction on how to write effectively in a professional or business setting. These books typically cover a range of topics related to business writing, including style, grammar, punctuation, tone, structure, and formatting.

What are the best books on business writing?

The effectiveness of communication remains critical in all business ventures. The choice of business writing books depends on what an individual wants to learn, experience level, author expertise, and relevance. Individuals can choose between business communication textbooks, writing guides, reference books, or style guides. Some of the best books business writing books include HBR Guide to Better Business Writing by Bryan A. Garner, On Writing Well by William Zinsser , and The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.

Author: Grace He

People & Culture Director at teambuilding.com. Grace is the Director of People & Culture at TeamBuilding. She studied Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, Information Science at East China Normal University and earned an MBA at Washington State University.

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How to Write a Business Book: In-Depth Guide 

Think your years of experience and business acumen can translate into a bestselling business book? At Forbes Books, we’ve helped thousands of authors turn their expert insights into published books, backed with the name of Forbes. This guide is designed to explain how to write a business book with a publisher. 

We’ve created this guide to support your journey toward authorship. While a simple guide cannot account for every step you’ll encounter, it provides a workable roadmap for you to use. And remember, with Forbes Books, you’ll work with seasoned publishers through each step of the process. 

Step 1: Determine Your Premise

Not every author has a burning idea for their book. Yet, they know that they have enough experiences and authority in their field to fill a book, or even two or three. Before you begin, start by brainstorming what you want to communicate and how you want to use it. This is what we call the purpose of your book.

Know Your Purpose in Writing a Book

Alternatively, some authors want to chronicle their experiences in a specific industry. Others still choose to write so they can offer fresh perspectives in their field and support the movement of ideas. 

Whatever your impetus is, it’s important to identify it early on. A book written for prospective customers must be constructed differently than a book written to business peers. 

Evaluate Your Experience 

One of the easiest ways to narrow down your book’s topic is by evaluating your own experiences. What stands out as a unique quality, skill, or experience you have that others don’t?

If you’re able to provide fresh insight on a relevant topic, you carve out a space for yourself among the thongs of other books available to your audience. By following this Blue Ocean Strategy, you create new demand and eliminate competition. 

Determine Your Audience’s Needs

A published book is an impressive achievement. But as a business owner, CEO, or thought leader, you know that isn’t enough. Aim for something beyond personal fulfillment in your writing. Aim for delighting your audience by providing value, entertainment, and a wealth of knowledge. 

To do this, you must understand who your audience is and what they are seeking. Do you understand their frustrations, questions, and needs? The better you can identify these factors, the better your book will resonate with your audience and become a valuable resource. 

Step 2: Determine Your Manuscript Preferences

If you’ve done your research, you know many authors don’t pen the manuscript themselves. While some authors prefer to write the manuscript, others prefer to leave the writing to a professional. In these cases, the authors offer their insights to a ghostwriter via dialogue or text. For those who need writing support, a third option exists — coaching. 

Before you spend too long laboring over your Word document, decide which method you prefer for manuscript creation.

Using a Ghostwriter

Many business leaders prefer to use the talents of a ghostwriter to turn their ideas into text. The book itself remains the intellectual property of the author — not the ghostwriter. The ghostwriter acts as an aid to communicate the author’s ideas into an appealing format and structure.

For more information on the ghostwriting process, read our blog, Why Ghostwriting May Be Right for You .

Using a Writing Coach or Book Doctor

A book coach or book doctor are alternatives for authors who prefer to write the manuscript. Writing coaches offer support for overall structure and make high-level recommendations. Book doctors provide greater support for those who want greater direction or require more writing help.

For more information on using a book coach or doctor, read our blog, Editing a Manuscript? Work with a Book Doctor .

Step 3: Find Your Book Publisher

Who you choose for your book publisher will determine many aspects of your publishing process. Your publisher may provide complimentary services, such as ghostwriting, or book promotion packages.

Your publisher will also determine the distribution of your book and your rights to your book. After you know what support you’d like in your manuscript creation, it’s time to evaluate your choices for the book publisher.

Publishing House vs. Self-Publishing

An author has three options: work with a traditional publisher, an independent publisher, or publish the book themselves. When you work with a publisher, the process is outlined for you, creating an inclusive one-stop shop for everything you need.

A designer is provided for your book cover. A team of editing experts edit your manuscript and correct errors. And a distributor makes deals with retailers to carry your book. Everything you need to publish your book is offered at a publishing house.

If you choose to self-publish, you will need to do these things yourself or hire accordingly. You will keep all rights to your book, but your distribution channels are minimized as no one is presenting your book on your behalf. However, self-publishing may be preferable for those who don’t want to suffer rejection from a traditional publishing house or arrange for an agent.

Independent vs. Traditional Publishers

If you choose to use a publisher , you have yet another decision to make — independent or traditional . Traditional publishers are likely what you think of when you consider a publishing house. The “ Big 5″ publishers dominate much of the traditional publishing market.

Still, only a fraction of book proposals are accepted by traditional publishers. Even if you make the cut, you resign creative control to your book and many of the rights to your book.

Independent publishers offer a different path for those who want support and prestige, without the hassle of traditional publishing. As an author with an independent publisher, like Forbes Books, you keep all the rights to your book. Furthermore, you maintain all creative control over your work and have access to additional services, such as media services or book promotions. Only the top projected books at traditional publishers receive promotional support.

The decision depends on your preferences and desire for creative control, rights, and promotional services.

Learn more about your publishing options in our blog, What is Independent Publishing? | Publishing Models .

Decide Your Book Distribution Preferences

Do you expect to see your book in retail stores and brick and mortar stores across the country? If so, you need a distribution team working on your behalf. Most retail stores will only accept books from publishers, putting self-published titles at a disadvantage.

Most retailers only accept Offset print books, as opposed to Print on Demand (POD) titles. If you’re serious about your distribution reach, ensure your publisher accommodates offset printing.

For information on POD and Offset printing, read our blog, Print on Demand Versus Offset Printing .

Step 4: Build Your Outline or Blueprint

Before you spend hours laboring over a manuscript, you need an outline. Before you even begin your outline, you need an overarching blueprint of your publishing plan.

At Forbes Books, we help our authors create a blueprint. These blueprints offer a customized plan for their book and include recommended promotional or media services. This blueprint is converted to a detailed Master Book Plan so you know exactly what is needed of you during each stage of the publishing process.

Part of the blueprint process is creating an outline. Even the best writers need an outline to ensure that each chapter intentionally contributes to the book’s structure. For those creating their own outline, create a chapter by chapter outline and then fill in the main points of each chapter.

Step 5: Build a Promotional Plan

Don’t wait until the manuscript is finished to build your promotional plan. If you’re working with an independent publishing company, they will help you cultivate your plan from the beginning.

If you’re self-publishing, you will need to create your own promotional plan and/or seek a promotional PR team to help you develop your plan.

Your promotional plan may include:

• A reader reviewer plan via NetGallery and Goodreads
• Book award submission plan
• PR placement campaigns
• Best seller campaigns

While most of your promotional plans aren’t activated until just prior to your launch, you need to solidify your plan.

Step 6: Create a Writing Schedule

Once your preliminary steps are complete, it’s time to turn your plan into action. If you’re writing the book yourself, this includes creating a set writing schedule. By creating a discipline, you will increase your productivity and find the process more rewarding.

Your writing schedule can be determined by three things:

• Location: Try writing in the same place every time you write. Carve out a space with minimal distractions that has everything you need. Have a stash of pens, notepads, chargers, and even food and drink to keep you focused as you write.
• Time: You may wish to set a specific time for you to write, such as 5pm Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Others put a bookend on their time, such as two hours of writing. This helps you maintain balance as you’re writing and ensures you’re refreshed as you write.
• Amount of time or word count: Some authors prefer to set an expected word count per writing session, rather than a time limit.

Step 7: Know Your Deadlines

To keep your book on schedule, you need to know and meet your deadlines. Your distribution team uses your projected launch date to pitch your book to retailers. Thus, it’s important to meet your deadlines. During the book publishing process, you will write your book (if elected), approve developmental edits, cover art, and front matter. And much more!

Pin up a calendar of your important deadlines to stay on top of your schedule. If you’re working with a publishing house, ask them to give you the key dates well in advance so you have plenty of time to accomplish your tasks.

Step 8: Celebrate the Milestones

There are many smaller accomplishments on the way to book-launch day. Take time to celebrate each milestone as a mark of your success. With each milestone, update your followers on social media and remember to promote the book to your customer base.

Finished Manuscript: Whether you worked with a ghostwriter or wrote each word yourself, the first draft of your manuscript is celebration-worthy!

Developmental Edits: Making it through the developmental edits stage is an outstanding achievement. Your book now has much of the structure as it will on publication.

Final Line Edit Sign Off: Your book is ready to be laid out and completed for the printer! Let your followers know and begin prepping your social media calendar, leading up to its official launch.

Step 9: Build Momentum For Your Book

With your book nearing publication, it’s time to ramp up your promotion plans and build momentum for your book launch.

Reader Reviews

Reader reviews are an important part of building awareness and positive buzz around your book. To do this, you will want to use NetGallery and/or Goodreads to connect with reviewers. By offering your book as a free digital download, you encourage readers to read and review.

Book Publicity Campaigns

Gain local and national exposure with a book publicity campaign leading up to your book launch. This method gets your book in newspapers, magazines, and trade publications to support a wider awareness with your target audience.

Best Sellers Campaign

For your book to become a bestseller, you need a strategy. Take advantage of best seller campaigns to help your book receive the needed purchases to achieve this lauded title. These campaigns can be conducted through Forbes for Amazon and Wall Street Journal.

Step 10: Release Your Book

With the release of your book, it’s time to celebrate your new status as an author. While you may wish to revel in your success, it’s an ideal time to continue promoting your book and your personal image.

With a book title to your name, you may achieve greater speaking engagements and business opportunities. It’s time to position yourself as an expert and discover how to use your book for increased ROI for years to come.

Ready to become an Forbes Books author? Discover our different publishing programs and find out if you qualify

Lissie Kidd

Sr. marketing copywriter.

Lissie Kidd is a Sr. Copywriter with several hundred articles in her portfolio and even more edited and published under her supervision. Lissie holds a MA in Communications from Grand…

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How to Write a Business Plan Eleventh Edition

There is a newer edition of this item:.

Write a business plan that potential investors will embrace!

If you're thinking of starting a business or raising money to expand an existing one, you need a plan. Running a successful business requires a great deal of forethought, so write a business plan and secure your venture's future. How to Write a Business Plan will show you how to write the right plan for your business and design a loan package necessary to finance your business and make it work.

With this bestselling all-in-one guide you'll learn how to: . figure out if your business idea will make money . estimate operating expenses . prepare cash flow . create profit and loss forecasts . determine assets, liabilities, and net worth . find potential sources of financing . think first before borrowing from friends and relatives, and . professionally present your plan to lenders and investors How to Write a Business Plan provides spreadsheets that help you determine and forecast cash flow, financial statements, sales revenue, and profit and loss. It also provides three sample business plans you can modify for your own use.This edition is completely updated, providing all-new online resources and updated examples of successful business plans.

- Download forms for book on nolo.com

• ISBN-10 1413317499
• ISBN-13 978-1413317497
• Edition Eleventh
• Publisher NOLO
• Publication date September 17, 2012
• Language English
• Dimensions 7.07 x 0.93 x 9.03 inches
• Print length 274 pages
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"Here’s an easy-to-follow book that takes the reader step-by-step to get to a successful business start-up." -- San Francisco Examiner

About the Author

Mike McKeever has a B.A. in Economics from Whittier College, a Master’s in Economics from the London (England) School of Economics and has done post-graduate work in financial analysis at the USC Business School. Mike has taught classes at numerous community colleges in entrepreneurship and small business management. He has published articles on entrepreneurship for Dow Jones publications, the Sloan Publications Business Journal and numerous newspapers and periodicals. Mike runs a company, Business Plan Workshop, in which his business plan book features prominently.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ NOLO; Eleventh edition (September 17, 2012)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 274 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1413317499
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1413317497
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.07 x 0.93 x 9.03 inches
• #779 in Franchising Law (Books)
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About the author

Mike p. mckeever.

Mike P. McKeever has a B.A. in Economics from Whittier College, a Master of Science in Economics from the London (England) School of Economics and has done post-graduate work in financial analysis at the USC Business School. Currently, Mike is an Economics Professor at City College of San Francisco. Previously, he had taught classes at numerous community colleges in entrepreneurship and small business management. Author of How to Write a Business Plan, he has published articles on entrepreneurship for Dow Jones publications, the Sloan Publications Business Journal and numerous newspapers and periodicals.

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Top 11 Little Business Books With Big Impact

Use These Short Books to Master Topics that Will Improve Your Career

• Management Careers
• Job Search Resources
• Hiring Best Practices
• Employment Law
• Employee Motivation
• Employee Management
• Management & Leadership
• Employee Benefits

Susan Heathfield is an HR and management consultant with an MS degree. She has decades of experience writing about human resources.

One trend in business books is the short management book, often written as a story or fable. These business books are approachable, useful, and may help encourage more people to read. And, as an employer, that's what you'd like to see—right? You're in favor of ongoing career development.

These business books pack a solid punch in a small package. Read some of the favorites that managers and HR staff recommend. You'll quickly agree with their assessment and understand why they have such universal appeal.

High Five! The Magic of Working Together

by Kenneth V. Blanchard, Sheldon Bowles, others (Morrow/Avon) ISBN: 0688170366 -

Fired from his job for failure to be a team player, Alan Foster helps a boy's hockey team learn both team secrets and hockey. Help from a retired girl's basketball coach, chants, cheers, focus, skill development, and knowing that, "None of us is as good as all of us," help Alan learn so he can teach. I love this book.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

by Patrick Lencioni (Jossey-Bass) ISBN-13: 978-0787960759 -

Assigned to lead a dysfunctional Silicon Valley executive committee, Kathryn Petersen, a traditional manager, appointed CEO, watches and observes the effect of the group's interactions on its members and on the company's progress and results.

Following her instinctive knowledge about people and using her skill in building teams, she identifies the factors that are undermining the group's effectiveness. In story-style,

Lencioni tells how to overcome the human behaviors that corrupt this executive team's success: the lack of trust , fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of personal accountability, and inattention to results. A must-read for teams that strive for optimum success.

The 1% Solution for Work and Life

by: Tom Connellan (Peak Performance Press) ISBN-13: 978-0-9769506-2-2

Feeling a bit discouraged about your life and work? Not getting as excited as you once were? You can change this by doing one small thing just 1% differently than you are right now. Sound easy? It's not, but if you do one small thing differently for thirty days, it becomes part of your available toolkit.

And, 1% plus 1% plus 1% adds up. Follow Ken on his journey as he meets and learns from six One-Percenters, people who have transformed their lives using the ideas shared in this book. Even if you're after just a small improvement, each chapter gives you ideas that you can adapt now. For me, my new 1% shift? No email in the morning until I have published something. I am on the path.

Just Do Your Best

by Chuck Harwood (Group Fare Productions) ISBN - 13:978-0881971019

In just 108 pages, the essence of performing successfully on your job is distilled and shared. In an out-of-the-ordinary management setting: a visit to a cattle ranch, Mr. Harwood identifies the five critical factors in job success.

Knowing your job well, and continuously improving what you know, is the first. The second factor is making good decisions. Enjoy attending the management meeting with the ranch employees - the daily lunch table at the ranch. Visit 15 additional workplaces he uses as examples for the five factors. Insightful, fun book.

Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

by Harry Paul, Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen (Hyperion) ISBN: 0786866020

Based on the fun-loving fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market, a supervisor learns how to create an environment in which employees are excited to serve customers and each other. Find out how she transformed a toxic work environment!

The One Minute Manager

by Spencer Johnson, Kenneth H. Blanchard (Morrow/Avon) ISBN: 0688014291

Can several million people be wrong? Read the book that spawned the dynasty! Timeless tips for supervisors and others who want to increase their effectiveness with people. Learn how to catch people doing something right and the power of clear, understandable goals. Though deceptively simple, this is a great read!

Zapp! The Lightning of Empowerment

by William C. Byham (Development Dimensions International) ISBN: 0962348317

This continuing favorite may be hard to find but it's worth the search. Join a supervisor who is transported to a state in which he can suddenly "see" the real impact his actions have on whether staff is enabled to think, contribute, and find meaning in work. Experiment and learn with him as he changes.

Please Don't Just Do What I Tell You: Do What Needs to Be Done

by Bob Nelson (Hyperion) ISBN: 0786867299

Written directly for employees, the book has great tips about how to express individual initiative and self-empowerment at work. "Doing what you're told," no longer brings success for the individual or the organization - if it ever did! Everyone has the capacity to fulfill this "ultimate expectation." Share this book to help people find out how!

Gung Ho! Turn on the People in Any Organization

by Kenneth Blanchard, Sheldon Bowles (Morrow/Avon) ISBN: 068815428X

The story, told as a fable, provides a three-part strategy for motivating employees. Make sure people know why their work is important, give them control over how they do their jobs, and provide encouragement are the success factors. The story is told by a plant manager who learned these truths from a Native American manager.

The Peon Book

by Dave Haynes, Chief Executive Peon (Berrett-Koehler) ISBN: 1576752852

Not just a regular management book, written by an executive or a consultant, The Peon Book recommends you get the information you need to lead and manage people from the people you are trying to lead and manage. If all else fails, ask! What a concept!

Who Moved My Cheese?

by Spencer Johnson (Penguin Putnam, Inc.) ISBN: 0399144463

Explores positively approaching change through a parable populated by mice and "littlepeople," mouse-sized people. If you're an expert in change management , give it a chance; the book will make you smile and remind you of key change issues.

Others will find change management tips, real encouragement, and the sense that change is "doable." It's a book for everyone. Enjoy!