Here is a list of must-read books for every PR professional. These best-sellers are top of the charts for a reason, which is that they are valuable insights into the PR industry from bloggers, PR pros, industry veterans, social media experts and marketing gurus. If you want to be inspired enough to take your PR practice to the next level, these books will do it for you.
The top 10 books you should read if you are a PR professional are:
1. The New Rules of Marketing & PR: how to use news releases, blogs, podcasting, viral marketing & online media to reach buyers directly by David Meerman Scott – This book could be just what you are looking for, if you want a fresh perspective on the PR industry, some new ideas on your marketing strategies, and if you have a few questions on internet marketing. This book is now among the top choices in Amazon.com.
2. PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences by Deirdre Breakenridge. This book tells you all you need to know about combining 
good old-fashioned PR with the speed and effectiveness of social media. Deirdre Breakenridge tells you why you should be on social media, and how to go about it.
3. Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge. This book comes at a time when the PR industry has all but forgotten the very purpose for which it exists – the public. The authors remind us that good relations and sincerity never went out of fashion, after all.
4. Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Written 
by two of the most reputed experts in the social media and PR industry, this book tells you how you can build trust for your product and company using the social media. It contains real-life examples and input from hands-on experiences of the authors.
5. Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. If you are still grappling with the nuances of social media and modern technologies, then it doesn’t hurt to read one more book on it. This book deals with the concept of ‘groundswell’ in particular, and why your business should take advantage of it.
6. Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking by Andy Sernovitz and Guy Kawasaki. Word-of-mouth is the best PR that money can’t buy, and this book talks about how you can make 
people sit up and take notice of your name, company, cause or product long enough to tell other people about it. A great guide to goodwill creation, this book is also one of the most popular on Amazon.com.
7. The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media by Paul Chaney. The title is self-explanatory, and so is the book. Though this book is also on internet marketing, it comes from the viewpoint of a leading expert on blogging who is also known as The Blog Coach.
8. Public Relations Writing Worktext: A Practical Guide for the Profession by Joseph Zappala and Ann R. Carden. This is a down-to-basics book, which stays true to its claim of being a ‘practical guide’ to public relations. The book gives special emphasis to coordinating public relations with HR, marketing, legal councel, finance, operations etc.
9. Press Releases are Not a PR Strategy: An Executive’s Guide to Public Relations by Linda B. Vandevrede. Vandevrede uses 25 years of experience in the marketing and PR field to break numerous Pr misconceptions and reveals that PR is something that something more than simply sending out tons of emails and waiting for responses.
10. Strategic Public Relations: 10 Principles to Harness the Power of PR by Jennifer Gehrt and Colleen Moffitt. In this book, the authors describe how to use PR to its fullest potential with 10 Tips that every PR professional needs to know. All the lessons have been derived from strategies that the authors themselves have successfully tried in their professions.
Since no post on PR and Social Media can go without a mention of Seth Godin, here is one of his books for good measure!:
11. Small is the New Big: and 183 other Riffs, Rants, and 
Remarkable Business Ideas by Seth Godin. This book combines all the words of wisdom that Godin has given readers through his blog. Written in his trademark style, the book will show you how to let a great idea take shape in a natural way. He says, “If your idea is great, people will find you”.
It’s always hard to pick only 10. But I think you’ve got to include “Made to Stick” by Dan and Chip Heath. Great book on how to write messages to get people’s attention.
It IS hard to limit the list to 10, but I think you also have to add Rohit Bhargava’s Personality Not Included. Always one of the first resources I find myself going to get mentally unstuck. And I would put Andy Beal’s Radically Transparent into the same category as Solis and Breakenridge.
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