— Yo dawg!

Hey, how’s going buddy?

— What is this?

The Elements of Content Strategy is the third book from A Book Apart, written by Erin Kissane and to briefly summarize it’s a handbook about everything that needs to be done to put some copy out there — from managing resources and stakeholders to set legacy content audits or define long term strategies.

Want the buzzword version? This cookbook will empower your systems to cross-polinate insightful content synergies and engage users via high-volume digital seamless channels.

— Who is this Erin?

Maybe her name doesn’t ring a bell to you, but she’s been a editor in A list apart for nearly ten years, and the editorial director of The Happy Cog Studios. Pretty damn good, right?

— And what do you think of the book?

I’m glad you ask dude! It’s a lovely little jewel (around 70 pages of real content) that does what it promises: the book explains from top to bottom everything you need to think about when developing a full content strategy, both as a consultant or as a internal worker.

It’s important to notice that this book doesn’t cover any specifics about copy writing, story telling, information architecture or even defining business goals. But that’s exactly what I like about it: it jumps directly to what’s important for the topic.

It would be very easy to start getting into different fields, but it is on track the whole time, showing useful checklist, tools or techniques always focusing on defining the everall strategy for content — whether it is a website or not.

— So… Shoud I read it?

It depends :-) this book explains a general approach for content strategies, so would only recommend it to experienced or senior consultants, because:

• It’s oriented to an influencer role — a content strategist is more a facilitator and leader, as it needs to manage different teams, roles and stakeholders.
• It requires some previous knowledge in different fields, like user experience or stakeholder management.

Did I like it? Aye!

Is this a book for everyone? Nay!