Bookish Gift Ideas: Story Letters Mailed to Their Mailbox

If you're shopping for someone who's always got a book in hand, or a stack of them on their "TBR" (aka To Be Read!) pile, you already know the usual gift ideas. A gift card to their favorite bookstore. Yet another tote bag with a pun about reading. A candle that claims to smell like "old library."

There's nothing wrong with any of that. But if you want something that actually surprises a reader, here's an idea you probably haven't seen before: a story that arrives in their mailbox, one real letter at a time, week after week.

That's right, it's fiction sent as snail mail!

It's fiction, but it's not a book. It's not just mail, it's Fiction Mail!

Fiction Mail sends fiction as physical letters, delivered through the mail over several weeks or months, rather than as a book someone reads in one sitting (or, more realistically, never gets around to, landing instead on their TBR pile).

Each letter is:

• Personalized: the recipient's name is woven throughout the narrative of the story itself, not just on the envelope and the beginning of the letter.
• Written in a custom handwriting font modeled on real penmanship, so it looks like a letter from a person, not a mass produced page.
• Dated and mailed just like real correspondence, in a kraft envelope, and each 5-6 page letter uses custom stationary.
• Has the anticipation built in! The story unfolds letter by letter, so they'll look forward to the next letter landing in their mailbox!

A story for every kind of reader

Fiction Mail stories are sold as series of letters. Each series is a complete story sent as letters from a fictional friend who has an amazing story to tell.

Let's look at a few series that make amazing gifts for the bookish person in your life...

• Detective story fans will love Seeking Justice. Jen writes you 8 weekly letter as she tries to solve the murder of her neighbor, and the letters are filled with twists and turns and a fun cast of characters. Or, check out The Closed Case Files (available as 4 or 8 weekly letters or 12 monthly letters). Each of private eye Jason Harlow's letters focus on an unusual case he's cracked.
• The adventure reader will enjoy The Scavenger Hunt. Sarah's 8 weekly letters bring you along as she hunts down historical treasure. Or The Whistleblower, which contains 8 weekly letters from Trevor as he's racing for his life after he blows the whistle on his evil employer.
• Anyone who likes a family-secrets slow burn will want The Cold War Spy. Eliza's 8 weekly letters follow her journey to understand who her sweet cookie-baking grandma really was. Hint: she was a brilliant Cold War spy, and her work saved millions of lives!
• Fans of the eerie and unexplained should look at Phantom Cruise. Paul's 8 weekly letters bring you aboard the most unusual cruise ship ever, filled with creepy happenings and creepier passengers.
• History buffs get something a little different with The Time Traveler series. Prof. Mellon is an eccentric man who also figured out how to travel through time. Each of his letters is penned from a different time in history, like the Salem Witch Trials, Elvis' first concert, and Cleopatra's Egypt. This series is available as 4 or 8 weekly letters or 12 monthly letters.
• Fans of fantasy stories will love our first-ever fantasy series, The Meadows Mystery. This series of 8 weekly letters will deliver them into another world filled with magic and dragons.
• Anyone feeling nostalgic for a specific decade can get letters built entirely around 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, or 2000s pop culture and memories. Each decade-specific series contains 4 weekly letters
• For romantics, the Lowcountry series is the perfect sweet, but complex, romance series. You're Maggie's confidant and she writes you 8 weekly letters as the love of her life returns to her small Southern town.

We also have several curated bundles that combine multiple series into one longer 20-, 40-, or 52-letter gift for someone you want to keep surprising well into next year.

Check out all the bundles here, like the Mystery Bundle, the Whodunit Bundle, and the Historical Fiction Bundle.

Why Fiction Mail's stories as letters work as a gift

A few things make this a genuinely easy gift to give, rather than a novelty that gets set aside:

It's a one-time purchase. There's no subscription to remember to cancel later. You pay once, and the letters go out on their schedule. When the series is complete, nothing auto-renews and your credit card is never charged again!

You control when it starts. You can choose the date the first letter gets mailed, so you can time the mailing of the first letter perfectly.

It keeps giving after the wrapping paper's gone. Most gifts are opened once. This one gets "opened" again every week or month for the length of the series.

Shipping is free, and you can add a personal gift message that's included with the first letter. You can even have the first letter gift wrapped!

The ultimate bookish gift that's not a book!

A Fiction Mail series gives them something a book can't: anticipation. Instead of finishing a story in one sitting, they get to live inside a story for weeks!

It's a truly unique bookish gift idea! You can check out all the Fiction Mail series and bundles here.

Thanks for stopping by!
Eric