Gain an insight into how those closest to you influence your life. Understand your values, beliefs and principles. Fundamentally increase your self-awareness. Recognise your biases, feelings and motivations. Take command of your own personal growth. The blurb explains: “Think of this book as Self Therapy. This sequel follows the same principles: questions that the reader must answer to see what their soul looks like. Sharon Jones seems to want to ride the wave of success of Burn After Writing, because she’s recently releases a new book, This Is What My Soul Looks Like. Credit: the_bookish_astronaut A sequel book that doesn’t say anything either… Because the book owes its success above all to the imaginative concept of burning your thoughts so that they stay secret forever. Now, on TikTok and Instagram, fans from all over the world film themselves opening the book with meticulously manicured hands, then write their most secret thoughts in it, often burning it afterwards.

There’s no doubt that the pandemic, a period that forced a degree of introspection from us all, was the perfect time for this type of book to take off. The book has now been translated into dozens of languages and has flown off the shelves around the world. The influencer’s post was reposted thousands of times and the hashtag #burnafterwriting now has over 80 million views on TikTok. And so the Burn After Writing craze took hold among millennials. But at the end of 2019, sales suddenly shot up when a TikTok influencer declared Burn After Writing was her favourite book. Indeed, as the blurb explains: “In a society where we ‘share’ our everything, Burn After Writing goes against the grain and politely asks you to ‘share’ nothing.” …whose very success is driven by social mediaįor several years after it was published, the book didn’t have much success. So she wanted to create a “place” that would belong to just the writer and would remain private. In her day, Sharon just had a notebook and a pen for jotting down her thoughts, which she certainly didn’t share with hundreds or even thousands of “friends” and followers. The story behind Burn After Writing began in 2014 when Sharon Jones, a graphic designer from the North East, saw her teenage daughter was spending an inordinate amount of time on social media and openly sharing all manner of highly personal information on her plans, dreams and preferences. Credit: thelindsayeliz An anti-social media book… Over 160 pages, there are dozens highly personal questions: What is the single most profound act of kindness that I will never forget? My first concert? My first kiss? If I could do it all over again, I would change… How cool would my 16 year old self think I am right now? The one thing I’m most excited about…My greatest heartbreak… If I had to sacrifice one of my relatives to save the world, it would be… You get the gist of it: the author provides the structure and the reader writes the story! It’s a book that you write yourself, but without having to be an author. It’s a sort of diary in the form of multiple choice questions and fill-in-the-blanks sentences. And when you’re finished, toss it, hide it or Burn After Writing.” So goes the blurb for Sharon Jones’ book. “Push your limits reflect on your past, present and future, and create a secret book that’s about you, and just for you. But not necessarily… A book that says nothing And most would agree that you need a good story and nice writing style to get to the top of the best-seller list. So much so that some prestigious publishing houses have even asked aspiring authors to stop sending in their work. And ever since the first lockdowns, publishers have been inundated with manuscripts.

According to a recent YouGov survey, 60% of Britons say their dream job is to be an author.

Burn after writing sharon jones pages