Shopping for a gift for your writer friend isn’t as easy as it seems. You might think buying a stereotypic gift like a book, pen, or coffee mug will do the trick, but the best gift ideas for writers should be more elaborate than that.
The best gift for a writer needs to be inspiring and useful for the writer.
I can’t say what your writer friend wants but if you’re looking for a present to give to a writer, the list below has some of the best gifts for writers available online now.
5 Things Every Writer Needs On Their Desk
Before we get to their actual gifts, I compiled a list of basic necessities for writers. Just a general list and no links (I’ve got the linked products in the actual gift ideas list).
1. A Mint Laptop/Desktop
This is quite obvious, but I still had to mention it. As a full-time writer, you need to invest in a laptop/desktop which is fit to take a prolonged beating and one which is fast.
2. The Best Writing Software Tools.
They won’t necessarily sit on your desk, but still, you need to have access to these on the writing hardware on your desk.
If you write books, you need tools like Scrivener, Vellum, and the like. If you’re a Word geek, then get Office 365 so that you get to use its best features.
You need to have tools for writing (Scrivener, Word, Google Docs, etc.), formatting (Vellum, Scrivener), and proofreading & editing (Grammarly, ProWritingAid, etc.).
3. A Printer
If you don’t own a printer at home, don’t fret. But as a writer, it’s good to get your writing printed.
Printed work feels a bit different from soft copies—it feels somehow more legit and can be useful when editing in remote locations without power.
4. A Journal and Lots of Pens
I have this friend that just hoards journals. Once she sees a beautiful journal, she’s getting it and she writes a lot. Like a lot a lot!
You don’t have to be like “my friend,” but you need a journal.
Journaling is a great way of recording your random ideas or adding flesh to existing plot lines. Or you can simply use it to archive important events in your life.
And, you need pens to do all that, so they’re complementary items, I guess.
5. Their Favourite Mug
We all know how ritualistic it is for writers to have their favorite beverage beside their writing apparatus.
It might not be for everybody but writers and coffee? That’s a match made somewhere nobody knows where, but damn, it’s a perfect match!
Maybe you’re not into coffee or tea; it’s okay. You still need a Mug or a Glass.
24 Charming Gift Ideas for Your Favourite Writer
Here are the 24 best gifts you can buy for a writer. And just letting you know that the numbering of the items was done randomly and not based on the order of importance.
1. Vekkia/LuminoLite Rechargeable Book Light
Writers—except for a few renegades —are avid readers.
Book Lights are essential, especially for night-time bed reading sessions. Reading in your bedroom (the ones shared with spouses and roommates) or a similar environment calls for a book reading light that gives you comfort without being a nuisance to others in the room.
The Vekkia/LuminoLite Rechargeable Book Light has all the characteristics that the best book light needs to have. It is portable, eye-friendly, has a clip-on feature, has an excellent battery life, and adjustable brightness and color temperature.
2. Leather Journal Writing Notebook
This is a no-brainer. Writers need books.
I admit, fewer and fewer writers record their notes in a journal nowadays.
But this is a must-have, even for those that don’t write using pen and paper. The book looks like an antique piece and inspires fictional stories just by looking at it.
The Leather Journal Writing Notebook has a unique leather-bound cover, and it has creamy-textured blank paper measuring 7 by 5 inches.
The pages—which are lineless with no bleed through—are made from recycled, acid-free cotton paper, meaning the notebook is environmentally friendly.
3. Qwerkywriter S Typewriter Wired & Wireless Keyboard
Typewriter keyboards are great gifts for writers of all ages—for the older generations, they are sort of a nostalgic writing tool (because they look like typewriters), while for the millennials and generation Zs, it’s aesthetically pleasing (again, because they look like typewriters).
Apart from those two reasons, a typewriter keyboard also happens to be a very functional device, one that writers can use every day.
And every writer deserves the best, enter the Qwerkywriter S Typewriter! This German-made beauty comes with Cherry MX switches which produce a clicking sound and amazing tactile feedback.
This keyboard’s chassis is made of scratch-resistant aluminum alloy, making it a durable and top-quality typewriter keyboard.
The Qwerkywriter S Typewriter keyboard also has a lever that was created in similitude to the ‘carriage return lever’ of a real typewriter. The difference is that it is actually a macro programmable return bar that serves—by default— as an ‘enter’ key but can be customized or programmed to input signatures and commands, i.e., copy, cut, paste.
4. Ergonomic Keyboard Wrist Rest Bean Bag
Professionals are exposed to a lot of hazards—both physical and neurological problems.
The wrists are one of the parts of the body that are susceptible to these problems. Wrists need to be pillowed to avoid wrist injuries that may lead to serious complications like carpal tunnel syndrome.
Writers need wrist rests to cushion their wrists and prevent such serious problems. That’s a brilliant idea to buy the Ergonomic Keyboard Wrist Rest Bean Bag, a cozy wrist rest made from hundreds of microbeads.
This is a soft and comfortable wrist pillow, and it cools your arms, so you literally don’t have to break a sweat thinking about sweaty wrists, even during long typing sessions.
And, it’s the best part, as far as hygiene is concerned, is that it is washable—you can hand wash it or throw it into the washing machine and tumble dry.
It doesn’t matter what gender or age group the writer belongs to; I’m telling you, they’ll love it!
5. Zen in the Art of Writing
No products found.The author of this book, Ray Bradbury, had a remarkable career, authoring novellas, novels, stories, poems, films, and plays.
And in the Zen in the Art of Writing, he furnishes us with the wisdom, experience, and excitement of the years he spent writing. The book is a complete how-to manual for newbie writers and offers very useful tips on many important aspects of writing, including finding original ideas, developing a unique personal voice and style.
Zen in The Art of Writing is the book you have to get a writer to motivate, inspire, and arouse the Ray Bradbury in them.
6. Bean Box
This consists of 16 gourmet whole bean coffee bags. The coffees, each in a bag weighing 1.8 ounces, come from different parts of the world.
Coffee and writers? Do I have to say more? NO!
7. Writers Tears Whisky Copper Pot Blend Gift Box
Writers have different preferences regarding what they like to have when writing.
But one thing is for certain, most like to have their favorite beverage.
There are the coffee types—which are the majority—and then there are those that like to be in “high spirits,” literally.
For the latter, a bottle of liquor does the trick. And is there a better way to fight the stress that comes with writing an elephantine fictional piece than a whisky called Writers Tears?
The name itself is clever; it reminds you that writing a bestseller requires blood, sweat, and a lot of pints of tears.
8. A Pilot Varsity Fountain Pen 6-Pack
A lot of writers don’t use pens to write nowadays. But a pen still represents the writing profession.
A classy way of reminding writers that they are writers is buying them a pack of pens. If you’re looking for some useful fountain pens to give to your writer buddy, you could purchase Pilot’s fountain pens.
9. TCTEC 16GB Digital Pen Voice Recorder
If giving a writer a fountain pen six-pack is cool, then how cool is buying them a super convenient, super lightweight, sleek pen which can also be used to record voice for their writing projects?
To borrow a good archaic adjective from the English, “that’d be beezer, mate!”
Exactly!
The TCTEC 16GB Digital Pen Voice Recorder has a 16GB memory capacity which accommodates 260hrs of 192kbps quality recorded material. The battery life is excellent, with a continuous recording time of up to 15 hours with a full charge.
And… you can transfer the audio clips to your Mac or PC without any file format issues.
The pen is both the beauty and the beast! It’s a beautiful black and gold pen voice recorder, made with zinc alloy anti-rust metal, so it’s a tough and durable beauty.
10. Bellaa Typewriter Retro Bookend (Vintage Style)
This is a gift that fulfills both inspirational and functional purposes. The retro look adds more aesthetic value to the bookshelf, and they are sturdy and heavy, meaning they perfectly serve the function of holding books.
Plus, it has two typewriters, one on each end, giving it a legit literary theme and making it a very ornamental piece to give to a writer even if they don’t intend to use it for holding their books.
11. MONSTINA Laptop Tote Bag
This is the second bag on the list. That’s because we (writers) love bags.
NO, we can’t live without bags. How would we carry our laptops and notebooks?
So, here’s another one: MONSTINA Laptop Tote Bag. It has several compartments and pockets, sufficient for almost all the tools a writer needs.
We’re talking of compartments for a 15.6-inch laptop, iPad, files folders, and all the other essential writing stuff.
And then it has pockets for other stuff like a water bottle and an umbrella, and other pockets and slots for phones, pens, cards, wallets, etc.
12. Hemingway Pencil Cup
Writers like to keep their desks tidy and neat. You can help them keep their pens and pencils by buying them this typewriter-shaped pen holder, the Hemingway Pencil Cup.
13. Writer Mug – Please Do Not Annoy The Writer
An author from one Facebook writer group wrote: “my husband always has a character named after my ex in all of his novels, and this character dies in all of them.”
This is funny as hell.
That’s exactly what this mug is talking about. Sometimes, writers need some inspirational item like this mug.
14. Royal 79101t Classic Manual Typewriter
Typewriters have now become dinosaurs—they have been reduced to ornamental additions on the writer’s desk.
Still, they are beautiful dinosaurs and no writer would be disappointed if you bought them of these.
I recommend the Royal 79101t Classic Manual Typewriter, just like I did on my typewriter roundup article.
It isn’t going to replace your laptop, but it’s still an inspiring machine and a nice decorative piece of hardware.
15. Writer Emergency Pack
Sometimes, you find yourself stuck midway through your storyline. Writer Emergency Pack was designed to help you beat the block, mend plot holes, modify characters, and redesign your themes.
Consisting of different 26 illustrated cards, each designed to serve a unique purpose, the Emergency Pack is tailored for all genres—from fiction writing to poems and scripts.
The cards provide questions that invoke revelations on your story, character, and conflict.
16. Aqua Notes Water Proof Note Pad
We all know that the shower can be a fun place. Heck, even Becky G loves “singing in the shower.”
For writers, the shower is a bit more than a lip-syncing event; ideas are born or advanced in the shower room, and it’s hard to take notes because normal notebooks can’t withstand the water. The Aqua Notes Water Proof Note Pad helps deal with that conundrum and lets you capture notes and ideas while cleansing your body of germs.
17. The Emotion Thesaurus
Describing emotions is one of the hardest tasks for writers, especially when it’s fiction. Using common words and phrases to describe emotions becomes boring and often appears as “telling rather than showing.”
The Emotion Thesaurus has 75 emotion entries (on body language, thoughts, plus visceral responses for those); 75 description tips on emotion, dialogue, characters, and setting; and tackles major emotion-related writing toughies and offers solutions to those problems.
18. Wishacc Bamboo Book Stand
I always say that a book stand is like a third arm. And, writers need that third arm, especially when they’re reading a hardcopy and typing on a computer.
They need something to hold their books while they organize other stuff. The Wishacc Bamboo book stand is perfect for this task; it’s a sleek, collapsible book holder made from natural bamboo (mostly) with an adjustable viewing angle (5 different slopes), and spring steel page holders which firmly grip your books (both large and small).
It can be used to hold books in the kitchen, office, classroom, or bedroom.
19. TaoTronics LED Desk Lamp
No products found.This is exactly the modern lighting solution for 21st-century writing workspace.
It has a touchpad on the base which can be used for customizing the light to suit the occasion.
You can choose the color mode (5 modes) or brightness level (6 levels). You can switch colors from warm yellow to cool white or choose to dim or brighten the light.
The TaoTronics LED desk lamp also has a memory function that helps the light to revert to the previously set light setting, a 60-minute timer, and a USB port for charging phones and other small devices.
20. Apple AirPods Pro
In a utopian writing space, the mood is hyped and the environment serene. This isn’t usually the case though, sometimes our environment is just too noisy for us to write expeditiously.
Writers usually need a pair of noise-canceling headphones to drown the noise and set the kind of music that gets them going.
Like, who wants to write to the sound of a lawnmower anyway?
Getting a writer a pair of the Apple AirPods Pro is an excellent move; it might cost you a hand, but it’s a gift every modern writer would treasure.
21. The Storymatic Classic
The Storymatic idea cards are a helpful set of cards designed to help tap into your imagination and get your ideas flowing.
Apart from the cards, the Storymatic classic also comes with an instruction booklet that has a lot of prompts, suggestions, and activities designed to help writers create and develop their stories.
This is just a lot of things in one, a bunch of different therapies in one product—a great tool for making up stories, excellent prompts to spice up a writer’s daily creative process, an exciting storytelling game, an icebreaker at get-togethers, an enjoyable teaching resource, and most importantly, a cure for writers’ block.
22. LapGear Home Office Lap Desk
If they are a freelance writer, they probably write anytime or anywhere they get the chance to.
That also includes places like the sofa or on their bed. The LapGear Home Office Lap Desk offers support for the writer’s mobile writing set and enables them to write comfortably, away from their office chair and desk.
Buying this item for your writer buddy means helping them write comfortably whilst maintaining their productivity.
23. Berliner Bags Utrecht XL Leather Backpack
So, imagine you have a writer friend who writes about fashion and the latest trends. You’d want to buy them something trendy and stylish.
You know, something that tells them, this is you.
Well, what about a backpack that has sufficient compartments and pockets for all your writing tools and with a modern touch?
This Berliner bag oozes quality and class—made of unique naturally tanned leather and equipped with heavy-duty zippers.
Of course, this isn’t the replacement for the briefcase, but it’s a fashionable competitor.
24. AOMASTE Blue Light Blocking Glasses
Writers spend a lot of time in front of electronic devices such as mobile phones, computer monitors, and LED fluorescent lamps.
As such, they’re exposed to blue light and long-time exposure leads to dry, itchy eyes and other discomforting feelings. In some cases, this exposure leads to eye lesions.
There’s a huge need for writers to wear anti-blue-light glasses to protect their eyes, and a pair of AOMASTE Blue Light Blocking Glasses can block most of the harmful blue light and protect eyes from potential harm.
Best Books for Writers
Mugs, pens, journals, and books are some of the most common gift ideas.
But if you are buying a book for a writer friend (especially a budding writer), you need to get them something that can directly impact their writer life. I’m a writer, so you can be sure that your writer buddy will find one of the books—on this shortlist—very useful.
1. On Writing by Stephen King
This book is part memoir, part a ripping inspirational text for aspiring writers (and established ones). Written by the awesome Stephen King, the classic book dishes King’s advice to writers using his vivid memories from childhood up to his breakthrough, and how writing helped him recover from his accident in 1999.
This book offers writers a practical view of the craft and the tools need to succeed in this grueling profession.
2. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
This is the perfect book you ought to get for writing students.
It will help them a lot with grammar, structural writing rules, and important elements and precepts of composition.
3. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
More life-changing advice for writers, this time Anne Lamott is preaching. This is an excellent book for all generations of writers.
The hilarious, and big-hearted Anne Lamott’s made a timeless piece that will inspire the current generations and those to come and help them find their voice and passion.
4. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
The book wants to “free the writer within.”
The author, Natalie Goldberg, uses short, easy-to-read chapters, crafty titles, insight, humor, and practicality, to inspire both established and newbie writers to get to take their artistry to the next level. A#
Goldberg stuffed the book with suggestions, encouragement, and solid advice on a lot of essential elements of writing.
Tips On Buying Gifts for Writers
When shopping for items to gift a writer, the focus should be placed on the practicality of that gift. Therefore you should take some things into consideration.
Check out some of them:
1. Types of Writer
Your writer friend could be a novelist, journalist, poet, copywriter, scriptwriter, technical writer, or an academician.
Different writers have gifts specific to their type of writing. For example, some poets would love it if you bought them something related to Maya Angelou.
2. Level of Expertise
For budding writers, books on writing are so practical. At this level, they need all the expert insights they can get.
Although learning never ends, buying beginner books for seasoned writers isn’t a good idea unless they have communicated that they want that book.
3. Personality
This is a straightforward factor. Some people don’t like certain things. Like buying earphones originally designed for android devices won’t cut it for an Apple enthusiast.
Other things like bags and journals are also fashion accessories, and depending on the writer’s fashion sense, they can either like or dislike such gifts.
3. Age & Gender
And there are the issues of gender and age. You’re surely not going to buy an old writer an intensely backlit keyboard when you know quite well that they have eye problems.
And imagine buying a very girly Tote bag for a straight male writer. Hmm-hmm, that’s a bad idea.
How Much Should the Gift Be Worth?
It’s not really about the monetary value of the gift. It’s the thought and the action taken that matters.
You might buy an expensive gift that the recipient loves, but some writers would be happy with a $5 gift.
Just make sure you do your research on what the recipient likes.
Apart from Gifts, How Can You Support an Indie Writer?
Buying gifts is one of the ways of supporting an indie writer, but you can do a lot more to help them achieve success.
The first and best way is to buy their books directly from them or the links they share. You can also help them share their work by sharing links on social media or your blog.
Attending their events (i.e., a book signing event) is very encouraging, in two ways: firstly, you’re showing them that you care, and, secondly, you’re increasing their event’s attendance figures, thereby making it a successful event.
Conclusion
Getting an impressive gift for a writer is somewhat a complicated thing to do.
But if you do your research, you will probably get your writer friends some awesome gifts that they like. There are just a lot of things you can give us writers.
Just remember, we are also humans and love the things you love. Thanks.
