A recent trend in book publishing is building writing journals.
The idea, as far a I understand it, is to build a journaling system that ties
into an online platform. The hope is to build a skill enough where you can
achieve a specific goal. Some journals focus on writing prompts while others
are introspective (such as “burn after writing”). However, when I look at the
preview of these journals via Amazon’s sneak peek, I can’t help but be
disappointed. Usually these “books” are single questions filled with lots of
free space. I don’t see charts, I don’t see a system, and I don’t see anything
more than a marketing ploy. Perhaps I am missing the “system” behind many of these
journals. Here are five things I think these journals are missing.
Missing Journal Feature #1: Math and Tables
This is my top compliant. It’s easier to build a product
that is pure fiction then it is to build a scientifically useful product. How
do you make a scientifically useful product? Include calculations and table
lookups. This doesn’t have to be super complex and can even relate to a number
of published psychology experiments. By building a quiz, and corresponding
table, based upon a scientific article you give your writing more credence.
Without this, the questions you quiz people on don’t have direct merit. One
example includes children and marshmallows. The study mentioned looks into how
people behave with instant gratification. If you build a quiz that outlines a
quick “go here for a simple answer vs solve this for a complex answer” then you
can have a table based upon gratification. If someone is closer to instant
gratification, they might need different tools then someone who is willing to wait
or work for results. This can then be referenced to the initial marshmallow
experiment, which allows people to not only understand themselves better, but
understand those around them better.
Missing Journal Feature #2: Focus
The next big problem with many writing journals is focus. A
lot of authors just want to pump up word count, and I can’t really fault them
for that. However, the audience wants to be heading towards a story ending,
even it the subject is non-fiction. Why are they doing this? What is the
purpose behind writing all these questions and answers? What do they gain at
the end of this? Many writing journals only offer warm feelings of completion
at the end. What if the end of the rainbow had more than feelings? What if you
could get specific rewards, discounts, and resources? There has to be more of a
point to writing journals than simply a feeling of completion. That’s because
less than a day after completion, the book is forgotten. What’s next should
always have an answer. That answer should start at the beginning of every
journey and culminate at the end of the journey.
Missing Journal Feature #3: Dictionaries
Sometimes there are many answers to a question. This is where
dictionaries can help. If a person can resolve a task, then dig through corresponding
dictionaries or resources, that can greatly improve the quality of their
experience. This can be done with a number of dictionary like entries. One of
the best examples I can think of like this is “Strength finder”. This book has
you solve a timed quiz that has many “no right answer” questions. By digging
through these questions, the quiz shows you a number of core strengths you
have. While this can sometimes feel like astrological charts, the beauty of this
system is in taking the quiz once every year or every few years. By comparing
your results throughout the years, patterns can start to emerge. Sure, some strengths
may ebb and flow away, but some may stay with your results every year. The
great thing about this book is that it then provides a dictionary of those specific
strengths. Furthermore, you can see how those strengths interact with others.
The point of this is that building writing journals with further areas to
investigate can lead to more gain. If a fan of the journal completes the
exercise, they need to have a place to further investigate.
Missing Journal Feature #4: Branching Books
If a dictionary entry is not enough to contain all the
information, perhaps writing branching books is the appropriate next move. This
allows the completer of the journal to have a more tailored experience.
Ultimately, the better you can tailor the experience to the consumer of your
work, the more they are going to get from it. Bringing value to each reader is extremely
important because that’s what writing is all about. In addition, readers who experience
good value will leave positive reviews and will tell others. If a reader has an
impersonal, this really isn’t for me, moment… they could experience buyers
regret. That could lead to negative reviews or less sales in the future. The
closer you can tailor your experience to the individual reader, the better.
Sometimes this is best done with writing branching books.
Missing Journal Feature #5: Feedback Loops
Finally, many writing journals are written and then left out
in the rain to rust. They don’t have a method of being refreshed on a regular
basis. This is extremely unfortunate, as reader feedback can be used immediately
to improve the writing journal. By building a feedback loop, the author of the
writing journal can make something that gets better and better over time. One
of the best resources of knowledge is past success. However, most people throw
this away when they don’t capture or reuse this experience. This is a massive
source of waste that shouldn’t be allowed to exist.
There may be more items missing then just these five.
However, I think if a writing journal had these areas, it might be worth
investigating. Until someone can solve these areas, I am not sure I will spend
any of my cash buying a writing journal.
