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Best gifts for writers, according to the Medium community
We surveyed over 1,000 Medium writers; here are the best gifts for writers in 2024, according to writers
Buying the right gift for the writer in your life can be a daunting proposition.
Writers are great, sure, but can I be honest? We’re a little much sometimes. Exacting. Set in our ways. We are opinionated, often about the tiniest details. We want, say, a notebook — but it needs to have dots, not lines, and open flat, but not be too bulky, and ideally the pages are perforated, and also it needs to have the paper that absorbs the ink of the very rare pen that is our absolute favorite. Frankly, writers can be kind of exhausting. No wonder many people get their writer friend a gift card and call it a day.
To help guide you, we surveyed over 1,000 Medium writers about what gifts they most want to receive this year, from notebooks to pens to writing subscriptions. They went into detail — surprise! — and shared what unique gifts they love and what they hope they’ll get as gifts this year. Here are the results of the survey, in a handy best-of gift guide format. Happy gifting.
Tl;dr: The best of the best gifts for writers
I’m going to assume some of you are reading this at the very last minute as you realize that you’ve neglected to get a gift for the writer in your life in time for the family gathering/Secret Santa event that’s coming up.
We’ve got you—here are the best gift ideas from our survey:
- Best notebook: the Moleskine Classic Notebook
- Best pen: the Pilot Precise V5
- Best book about writing: “On Writing” by Stephen King
- Best writing subscription: Medium
For those of you with more time left in the holiday season to plan or more specific needs for the writer you have in mind, here’s a breakdown of the top five gifts by vote in each category:
· Notebooks
· Books about writing
· Pens
· Writing software
· Writing-related subscriptions
· Keyboards
· Writing accessories
· Bonus gift: time and recognition
We’ve also added a wildcard option for each section — not the most popular selection, but a random unique vote outside the top picks we thought was fun.
Notebooks
Writers have a thing about notebooks. Even for those who mostly publish online, nothing replaces a physical notebook for scribbling ideas, doodling while your mind wanders, or capturing that passing-but-perfectly-formed thought. Here are the top five notebooks from the survey.
Top writers’ choice: Moleskine Classic Notebook (359 votes)
Probably the most widely available classic notebook on the market. Moleskine almost defines the category for a lot of people; if you’ve received a notebook in the past as a gift, chances are good that it was a Moleskine. Fountain pen aficionados avoid Moleskines, as the paper isn’t great with fountain ink, but for your regular scribbler, a Moleskine notebook is a useful and thoughtful gift.
Other favorites:
- Leuchtturm1917 Hardcover Notebook Classic (A5) (215 votes)
- Midori MD Notebook (A5) (79 votes)
- Field Notes Original Kraft Memo (77 votes)
- Apica Premium C.D. Notebook (A5) (69 votes)
Wild card response:
“Good ole Dollarama (Dollar Store) notebooks.”
Books about writing
Top writers’ choice: “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” by Stephen King (216 votes)
I bought a copy of this book during a recent trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, and it doesn’t disappoint. Even if Stephen King’s fiction isn’t your cup of tea (which I think is sad for you), his thoughts on the approach to writing and creativity generally are worth your time. This was the overwhelming favorite book gift idea in the survey. And what writer isn’t also a book lover?
Other favorites:
- “Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad” by Austin Kleon (187 votes)
- “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life” by Anne Lamott (116 votes)
- “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield (105 votes)
- “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron (88 votes)
Wild card response:
“Several Short Sentences About Writing” by Verlyn Klinkenborg
Pens
Top writers’ choice: Pilot Precise V5 (146 votes)
This was far and away the favorite gift choice for Medium writers — a little surprising as it’s also available for a little over $1 USD per pen from most online retailers. While not the fanciest of writing tools, it’s a reliable workhorse with a nice flow and feels like a clear step up from a ballpoint, though that was the #2 favorite from our survey.
Other favorites:
- Zebra Ballpoint (99 votes)
- Faber-Castell Grip (78 votes)
- Platinum 3776 (77 votes)
- Pilot Metropolitan Collection Fountain Pen (73 votes)
Wild card response:
“The one I stole from someone else because it writes so nice.”
Writing software
Top writers’ choice: Medium (441 votes)
If you’re not writing in a notebook, what’s the best software to write, online or offline? Our survey says…Medium!
We’re getting into murky territory here; I can’t pretend to be impartial about this choice. Luckily, you don’t have to take my word for it: the writers in our survey chose it above a lot of other dedicated writing software.
Other favorites:
- Microsoft Word (222 votes)
- Google Docs (212 votes)
- Grammarly (115 votes)
- Scrivener (41 votes)
Wild card response:
“Subscribing to the quiet company of midnight skies and the echoes of my own thoughts.”
Writing-related subscriptions
Top writers’ choice: Medium (889 votes)
There you have it: If you’re a writer — or know a writer, or have even heard of writing — then a Medium gift membership is the best subscription gift idea out there. I don’t make the rules.
But seriously, this was pretty close to 100% of the votes we got on the survey question for the best writing-based subscription. We love Medium, and we were happy to see that our writers do, too.
Other favorites:
- Coursera (58 votes)
- Skillshare (34 votes)
- Masterclass (17 votes)
- None (i.e., the best subscription is no subscription!) (11 votes)
Wild card response:
“Notion Subscription. I gather all my thoughts in Notion, then write a post from the gathered thoughts.”
Keyboards
Top writers’ choice: Apple Magic Keyboard (310 votes)
Apple’s Magic Keyboard is a quieter, lower-profile keyboard, but works great with Apple products, is available everywhere, and has a lower price point than some of the other favorites. The other choices in this category are mechanical keyboards with bigger, noisier, more tactical keys.
Basically, if you’re not going down the mechanical keyboard rabbit hole, this keyboard is probably a great gift for the writer in your life.
Other favorites:
- Logitech Pop Icon Keys (230 votes)
- Keychron K6 (61 votes)
- Keychron K3 Max (54 votes)
- Epomaker TH80 Pro (47 votes)
Wild card response:
“Razer Huntsman V2”
Writing accessories
Top writers’ choice: Coffee-warming mug (342 votes)
This is really just a drink-warming mug. Coffee is an option, sure, but writers who are partial to tea will also love one of these USB-charged warming mugs to keep their morning beverage of choice warm while they type away (or scrawl in their new notebook).
Other favorites:
- Mug with a clever saying on it (196 votes)
- Footrest (136 votes)
- Freedom (productivity app) (106 votes)
- Vintage typewriter (103 votes)
Wild card response:
“Coffee, cream and sugar. Or pie.”
Bonus gift: time and recognition
There was one thread I wanted to mention last — a gift, to be sure, but not one you can buy and package up.
When we asked writers to tell us what the perfect gift would be, rather than asking them to choose their favorite option from a category, they consistently mentioned time and recognition as the things they most wanted more of.
Both of those gift ideas are tricky to give. Believe me, if I knew how to package them up in a way you could gift, they would have been at the top of the list. But you can think of all these options as a stand-in for time and recognition: Better tools make writing easier, faster, and more rewarding. (This may not be true for “mug with a clever saying on it,” but just go with me here.) And the fact that you’re supporting your favorite writer with a gift tailored to their passion is very validating to them.
The overwhelming thing this survey made clear was that established and aspiring writers alike just want things that will help make the very weird thing they do — sitting alone and writing words — that much easier and more pleasant. Anything you can do to help them there will be the greatest gift of all.
