5 must-read books about the PR industry

Here’s a list to help you get started. It’s four of the best books on PR published in 2011 and early 2012, and one that’s scheduled to hit shelves later this year.

1. “Measure What Matters,” by Katie Delahaye Paine (Wiley)

Two books were published by Wiley earlier this year on the important topic of measurement and evaluation. Philip Sheldrake’s is in many ways the more ambitious (it also makes it onto my list), but Katie Paine’s is a book for the intelligent practitioner and deserves to be widely known and used.

The author tells us:

“The notion that a PR person is someone who has to deal only with the press is just … antiquated. A good PR person is focused on his or her relationships—be they local media, national bloggers, employees, or community organizers.”

So how do you measure the quality of these key relationships? This book offers practical insights into measuring events and key relationships with influencers, employees, local communities, and so on.

2. “Public Relations: A Managerial Perspective,” by Danny Moss and Barbara DeSanto (Sage)