Books All TPT Sellers Should Read to Improve their Teachers Pay Teachers Stores

Whether you're a new TPT seller or a long-term Teachers Pay Teachers store owner, there are always opportunities to grow professionally and improve your business. In today's blog, we're excited to share books we recommend for every TPT seller. 

Books for learning about graphic design 

Many TPT sellers have no formal graphic design training, so it can be overwhelming for them to create aesthetically-pleasing resources. Making choices about fonts, clipart, and layout can feel so daunting! Fortunately, there are so many print and digital resources that can catch TPT sellers up to speed on best practices for graphic design. 

Graphic Design for Everyone: Understanding the Building Blocks so You Can Do It Yourself (Cath Caldwell)

The title alone captures what this book is all about — giving key information about color, type, layout, and other design basics. This book is perfect for anyone who feels overwhelmed by trying to make their TPT products aesthetically pleasing and needs some simple tools to improve resources. 

Know Your Onions Graphic Design (Drew de Soto) 

This action-oriented book gives advice and challenges to folks who are new to the graphic design field. One of the things we love most about this book is the recommendations for organizing saved design files (a common struggle for TPT sellers.) It also has fantastic advice for conceptual sketching — a great way to generate TPT resource ideas. 

Books for learning about marketing 

Building a StoryBrand 2.0: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen (Donald Miller)

If you're new to marketing your TPT store, this book offers a straight-forward methodology for improving your branding and messaging. You can use this book as a guide to identify what problems teachers need to solve to be successful in their classroom, create resources that address their needs, come up with a plan to support teachers, and create empathy-centered messaging that helps teachers see how your resources can make a difference in their lives. 

Level Up Your Teacher Business (Rebecca Elizabeth Davis)

The first thing we tell any teacher who's curious about starting a TPT store is, "Go watch Becca Davis's YouTube channel." (If you haven't already watched it, stop reading and head over to her vlog immediately!) Becca generously offers so much FREE wisdom for teacher sellers on her YouTube channel, and we've incorporated tons of her advice into our TPT store. 

What a lot of Becca's YouTube followers may not know is that she also published a book. This book is a fantastic resource for TPT sellers who want to take their business to the next level. Becca offers very accessible advice for building an email list, using social media to promote TPT resources, developing a business mindset, and creating systems to maximize your time and energy. 

Books for building consistent, healthy habits 

Atomic Habits (James Clear)

If you're hoping to improve and maintain habits, Atomic Habits offers tips for designing systems to make your habits sustainable. This book is perfect for overwhelmed TPT sellers who need to maximize their limited time. 

Note: None of the books in this blog post have been sponsored. All opinions are the author's. 

What books have helped you throughout your TPT seller journey? Leave a comment below to share your reading list!