7 Non-Fiction Writers I've Shamelessly Stolen From

27 Jun 2026 #writing

Art is stealing.

Stealing means blending your sources into something new: an artistic smoothie. Not that I consider my writing “art,” but here are 7 writers I’ve stolen from:

#1. James Altucher.

He’s the writer who has inspired me the most.

I read almost all his books and hand-copied his posts to practice. Some of the ideas that have changed my life came from his bankrupt stories.

I’ve stolen his storytelling-heavy style and the obsession with opening lines of books.

#2. Seth Godin.

Before getting seriously into writing, Seth was the first blogger I followed and studied.

I’ve borrowed his concept of a “post”: A headline and a couple of sentences are enough to publish. After finding his blog, I didn’t feel the need to write SEO-optimized guides anymore.

When I’m tempted to quit blogging, I remember Seth sharing about his 10,000th post.

#3. Derek Sivers.

From Derek, I’ve stolen his succinct writing and his practice of giving each sentence its own line.

After reading some of his books, I adopted concise, self-contained chapters. That was the inspiration for Street-Smart Coding Manifesto.

#4. Austen Kleon.

Austen was the writer who taught me to steal.

He wrote Steal Like An Artist: So I’m stealing from another thief. No shame in admitting it.

After reading two of his books, I stole his book structure. Each book is 10 ideas, one idea per chapter, with doodles and drawings. Its back cover lists those 10 ideas.

That was where I stole the concept for 10 Surprisingly Simple Ideas That Changed My Life—without the doodles.

#5. Tim Denning.

My first writing class was with Tim.

Tim taught me to write daily and to start every piece with a strong 1-line opener. Hope you noticed it at the start.

#6. Mark Thompson.

Mark is a veteran marketer I found on Medium.

Instead of email sequences for “nurturing,” he teaches a simple system to make money with words. I stole it along with some of his CTAs, almost to the tee.

#7. Craig Mod.

I don’t know how I found Craig’s blog. Maybe through someone’s blogroll?

I spent an entire afternoon reading his community roundups. When I was done, I said, “I want to do that too.”

Craig inspired my horizon goal: documenting my life into books. And when I start my “behind the scenes” community, I’ll proudly steal from him.