Now you’ve done it.  You went and listened to us. You filled some Passport-style notebooks, assessed your writing and you’ve got your content list pretty close to perfect.  Now what?

The next step in our method is to “Find your notebook” but there are so many options ¹ out there.  What’s a Notebooker to do?

Relax.  We’re here to help.  Here are a few guidelines to assist you in navigating the notebook store ²

• Size Since the common style of notebooks are of European descent they tend to follow the European size system.  It’s really simple, at least as it pertains to notebooks.  A4, A5, and A6 are the most common sizes.  A4 being roughly letter sized, A5 being half that, and A6 being half of A5.  Imagine taking a letter sized piece of paper (actually slightly larger) and that’s A4.  Then fold it in half and you’ve got A5.  Fold it again and BOOM! A6.  Since numbers are easy to mix up we’ve come up with a esoteric taxonomy that might help but is mostly for fun.  A4 we’ll call “Letter size.”  Let’s refer to A5 as “Steno size.”  That’s fun.  Lastly, if we call A6 the “Pocket size” we’ll at least which one will fit in a pocket.  Steno sized (A5) is far and away the most popular which means the most options.  Unfortunately, Steno sized is also kinda tough to fit into a pocket.  Carrying a bag?  Great!
• Paper  Let’s talk paper.  These days pretty much every notebook uses “acid-free, archival” paper ³ so don’t worry about that. There are, however, 2 things to consider.  1) Paper quality.  There’s a TON to say about this but for the purposes of this article let’s just say that good notebooks have good paper and unless you have a penchant for fountains then you’ll be fine.⁴  2)  Printing.  Basically, you have to ask yourself whether you prefer blank, ruled or grid printing on your pages.  Most notebooks are available in many different configurations so it should be easy to find what you want.
• Features  Most notebooks have the 3 standard features.  Those being:  Ribbon bookmark, Elastic band closure, and Pocket in back.  These features are so ubiquitous that it’s hard to find a decent notebook without them.  Personally, I’ve come to rely on them but if you don’t care then more power to you.  Here are a few other features that are becoming more popular:  Table of Contents on the first few pages, Numbered pages, and perforated pages in the back for easy removal.  If you want these you might have to look around a bit but you’ll find what you’re looking for no problem.
• Lay flat design This is a feature important enough to warrant it’s own bullet point.  A notebook that lays flat, quite simply,  makes it easier to write in.  This feature is my personal obsession and I suffer under it.  Can you use a notebook that doesn’t open flat?  Absolutely!  When using a notebook, there are only ever 2 sides.  The side you’re writing on and the side you’re not.  A notebook that lays flat keeps the pages flat while writing.  A notebook that doesn’t requires you to either write on a curved surface, not write as deep toward the spine or allow the opposite side to raise up, mummy like, while you write.  If these don’t bother then congratulations!  There’s a lot more notebooks that you can use that I can’t.

Now that we’ve covered that, here’s one piece of advice I’ve noticed over the years:  The flashier the notebook’s exterior the worse the interior tends to be.  That beautiful leather covered notebook with the Celtic knot work stamped into the front you saw at Barnes and Noble for 30$ probably has cheap binding that will only lay flat if you break it and bad paper.

1. It’s an embarrassment of riches the likes of which I couldn’t have dreamed up ten years ago.  There’s also a lot of crap.  Riches and crap.
2. Or probably just Amazon, right?
3. It should be noted that most inks aren’t archival.
4. If you HAVE to use a fountain pen, between ink, nib, and paper you have a LOT of testing to do.  Have fun driving yourself insane.  Alternatively, you could just get a Rhodia notebook.