Books can make thoughtful gifts for any occasion. Readers often turn to inscriptions to remember when and from whom they received the book. To this effect, the first way to make an inscription meaningful is to include a date and signature. As far as personal content, inscriptions can range the gamut from a very individualized message to a more generic message. This largely depends on for whom the inscription is written, such as a child for a birthday or a co-worker for an office Christmas party. In an article for the "Kenyon Review," poet Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers explores the possibilities of personalized inscriptions, from the "Heartfelt, I'm proud to see you in the world" message, to the "I know you, so we have this inside joke" message.
Authors have to worry about penning numerous inscriptions for fans and public events. Those with lots of fans, for which individualized messages may be improbable, can use Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers' "cool" inscription. According to Rogers, these messages rely on irony and random association to delight readers rather than signify more personal meaning. They can be as simple as cartoons or random thoughts. In a column for "Publishers Weekly," author Ralph Keyes suggests writers use safe, formulaic messages instead of personal ones. The more books an author has to inscribe, he concludes, the more chances there are to botch names and offend readers.