One of the most popular types of journals on the market is printed faith journals. These powerful books are more than a simple, lined-book format. Instead of open-ended, lined journals like many offerings on the market, printed faith journals are filled with inspirational content and are crafted specifically to enhance a user’s faith journey in intentional and meaningful ways. These meaningful books are packed with everything from Bible verses to introspective questions to inspiring quotes, all crafted to guide a user’s experience toward a more profound personal faith.
Religious Book Market
The last several years have seen a strong growth in books that fall into the religious category, like Bibles and printed faith journals, recording an impressive $757.5 million in sales in 2022 per the data collected by the Wall Street Journal and Christianity Today (January 2025).
Bibles have enjoyed a 22% growth in year-over-year sales in 2024 and printed devotional materials as a whole have seen double-digit growth in the same time frame as well. It is clear that religious, faith-based publications are something buyers are seeking, but why is there a resurgence in this type of book?
Why Printed Faith Journals Are So Popular
This resurgence in popularity doesn’t seem to be slowing down, and there are four clear reasons why those seeking religious book content are continuing to reach for printed materials to support their desire for a faith-filled experience.
1 Digital fatigue is real. Every day, we are bombarded by an increasing amount of content online, so our screen time has steadily increased in the last decade. While the convenience and instantaneous nature of this information is hard to resist, the human experience craves offline life. Religious connections are most often meaningful in person, so shifting away from a digital format to a physical one is a comfortable change for those wanting to develop a deeper faith in a personal, more intimate fashion than a screen can provide.
2 They make gorgeous, meaningful gifts. Printed faith journals can be created with stunning covers that reflect the faith journey inside, eloquent content, and personalized, calming content perfect for gifting others looking for a faith-based experience. On-demand printers like Dazzle Printing make it easy to create and print small batches of printed faith journals, contributing to a creator’s ability to personalize journals and create journals with different styles, appearances, and religious content, perfect for gift-giving.
3 Holding a tangible object is special. There’s just something about having a physical printed faith journal to hold, write in, and flip through the pages of that cannot be replicated with a digital book. And since each book becomes unique and personal once it is used, printed faith journals ensure an elevated experience for users from the moment the first page is discovered.
4 Printed faith journals help build strong spiritual connections. Those looking for ways to deepen their religious knowledge, strengthen their faith, and forge a faith-filled life use tools like printed faith journals to do so. These books are brimming with inspirational content that helps guide users toward a stronger relationship with their faith. And since you can choose to use a journal as deeply as you want to, the flexibility they offer users is appealing to both those just beginning their faith walks to those who seek to create a more in-depth, rich religious experience through journal use.
Creating Beautiful Printed Faith Journals Users Will Want to Use
You can develop printed faith journals concepts that those seeking a religious book will love to use if you focus on the five key areas that create the most appeal for your potential book buyer.
Find Your Niche for Printed Faith Journals
Before you begin making printed faith journals, you need to decide where to fit yours into the current market. Take a look at printed faith journals currently available to learn what each market segment’s products look like, and which niche you want to target with your journal. Picking a specific target user will help you create a book that appeals directly to the intended audience, so you can pick everything from the cover design to color palettes that your targeted user will love.
Printed faith journals that speak directly to a group, like women’s ministries or young adults, are easier to create as well because you can create content that will specifically encourage them, help them in their unique stage of life, and answer questions or concerns that those in that stage commonly may face.
Develop Inspirational Content
Now that you have a targeted audience for your printed faith journals, you can choose content that will be meaningful for them, addressing their faith-building needs directly. Look for ways to bring value to their faith journey by developing content that inspires, makes them think deeply about their faith, supports them through challenges, and encourages them to be consistent in their faith walk.
Fill your printed faith journals with varied content and blank space to provide ample room for notetaking, self-reflection, and guided responses. Use scripture, quotes, and opinions from trusted sources as well as thoughtful imagery that will help keep the user focused on their faith and the journaling practices.
Focus on Authenticity
Since faith journals are meant to provide an opportunity for users to delve deeper into their relationship with their beliefs, it is important that your journal’s content feels authentic. Journal creation may even come out of your desire to seek a deeper faith, so consider speaking directly to the user when appropriate to talk about your journey to inspire them to continue on their path to a stronger, more mature faith.
Make a Cover that Stands Out
Covers sell books, and printed faith journals with stunning, eye-catching or unique covers can help you get your journal into the hands of users. But not everyone who can make a beautiful, exciting faith journal can also design a cover that attracts the right audience. Don’t be hesitant to work with an expert cover designer to help you craft a cover that hits all the right notes with your target audience, because the right cover will help you sell your journals by effectively capturing the attention of your niche.
Use Quality Materials
The final step in creating a printed faith journal is to make sure that you are using the best quality paper and binding so your users will enjoy their experience with your product. Thicker, heavier-weight paper is more substantial and holds up better to writing on both sides and pens and highlighters won’t bleed through as easily. Look for 70 lb weight or thicker uncoated paper for your journal and consider a gloss or matte finish cover that will show off your cover design artwork, picture, and title beautifully.
Journals can be bound using a few different methods, depending on the look you want and how users will get the most out of the book. Perfect-bound books look gorgeous on a bookshelf, and their spine gives authors a location to add the title or journal theme to encourage users to keep their journals for future reflection.
To ensure that a journal user can write easily in the book, Wire-O and Plastic Coil bindings can be used because they allow the book to lie flat. This type of binding can still look very professional and users love it in a heavy-use book like a journal because they can open the book up to one page, providing flexibility on their worksurface that gives room for other religious books that are often used in tandem with a faith journal.
Completing Your Printed Faith Journals
Finalizing your journal is the last step in preparing to enrich your reader’s lives, so once you have completed the creation process, it’s time to partner with a printer and begin to plan for ways to get your book into the hands of users.
On-demand printing from a trusted, experienced printer like Dazzle Printing will allow you to print small or large runs of your journal, giving you flexibility in ordering and distributing your journals. Contact online retailers and physical locations about carrying copies of your printed faith journals to sell, and also consider making a purchase link available on a personal website or on your social media to connect with potential buyers.
Seek out places where your niche audience is already present so you can directly market your book to them, helping them to find what they are already interested in using and helping you to quickly reach an audience with your target user. Don’t forget to utilize word of mouth among friends and family, especially if your journal’s niche includes them or their acquaintances who would enjoy and benefit from the journal.
A Perfect Opportunity to Become a Published Author
With the recent rise of popularity in religious books like faith journals, it is a great time for writers to create something meaningful for those seeking to deepen their faith and become a published author in the process. If you have always wanted to write and publish a book that helps people in their faith walk, making a printed faith journal could be just the way to help others while doing something you love.
