From the BuJo method to morning pages to gratitude lists, journaling continues to grow in popularity. Industrywide sales of journals increase dramatically during the Q4 gifting season and have risen year over year since 2017. The category’s growth doesn’t show signs of slowing, and folks are certainly still posting #BurnAfterWriting TikToks.
Journals are also a publishing category with the ability to cross over into non-book territory. According to our consumer search data, when shoppers are looking for a gift for a teenage girl, they’re about as likely to buy a creative guided journal as they are a Bluetooth speaker, crafting kit, or necklace. This means that our journals compete not just with other journals, but with a much wider array of gift products. In other words, the purchase opportunities for journals are remarkably broad.
This is also a trend that endures after the holiday season into January. Think of it as “New Year, New Notebook.” The change of the calendar year is the perfect time to turn over a literal new leaf and take up a daily guided journaling practice. And this dovetails with the cultural shift we’re seeing away from self optimization and toward self care. This past January, both Tony Robbins and the Harvard Business Review (arguably two of the most goal-oriented sources out there) explained why ambitious New Year’s Resolutions simply aren’t the path to a better life. Rather, cultivating a reflective practice like journaling can help us connect with our habits, priorities, and passions.
See below for some of our bestselling journals, or click here for a complete title list.
