Gift Guide for Writers and Authors
If you’ve got someone on your list who is a writer, or who simply loves books and words, this gift guide might help. One request first: shop local whenever you can. If these ideas point you toward something you can buy from a small business, an independent bookstore, or an entrepreneurial friend or neighbor, please do that.
Scarves
I once gave my friends (and myself) customized infinity scarves printed with quotes about friendship from literature. They loved them. You can find literary scarves with all sorts of designs — quotes about mothers from literature, or a bookshelf print for the nerdy book lover.
Short stories
Give the gift of story with a subscription to One Story, an award-winning literary publisher devoted to the short story and the authors who write them. Each printed and mailed issue is exactly one story. I’ve loved my own subscription and given it to others.
Grocery delivery
A grocery-delivery gift card or membership is a surprisingly great gift for a writer, because it buys back the writing time you’d otherwise spend driving to the store, shopping, talking to everyone you run into, and checking out. It’s also a thoughtful gift for a new parent or someone recovering from an illness or injury.
Books
Some of my favorite books to give to people who love to write:
- On Writing by Stephen King
- Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Still Writing by Dani Shapiro
- Blueprint for a Book by Jennie Nash (written by Author Accelerator founder Jennie Nash; the Blueprint for a Book method is one of the main approaches I use with my fiction clients)
And if you’d like to give the gift of actually finishing the book, book coaching makes a meaningful present for the writer in your life.