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Book Review & Contest Insights from Real Reviews and Submissions

What separates great books from the rest? Below are articles with insights from real reviews and contest submissions—what works, what doesn’t, and how to improve your book. You’ll also find a wide range of articles covering writing, publishing, marketing, and more. Each article has a Comments section so you can read advice from other authors and leave your own.

Why Some Books Win Awards (And Most Don’t) — Insights From Real Contest Submissions New!

What separates award-winning books from the rest? After evaluating contest submissions across a wide range of genres, certain patterns become clear. Some books consistently rise to the top. Others, even with strong ideas and clear effort behind them, fall short. The difference is rarely dramatic—it...

What We’ve Learned From Reviewing Hundreds of Thousands of Books (And Why Most Don’t Stand Out) New!

After reviewing and evaluating books across thousands of submissions over the past two decades, certain patterns become impossible to ignore. Some books immediately stand out to reviewers. Others—even well-intentioned ones—fade into the middle or fall short. The difference is rarely luck. It comes down to...

Ways Ghost Writing Is Completely Overrated

Ghostwriting Pros and Cons

If you don't mind someone taking the credit for what you have written, then ghostwriting might be just what you're looking for. First you should consider the various aspects of this form of writing. You might be hired to take someone's ideas and make them into a great article or perhaps even a book. So you get their ideas on paper and then you are responsible for creating the final draft, which will be published under their name, not yours. Someone can give you an outline or transcript and you have to do all of the research work, after which, once you have written a draft, they will have to approve it. Finally someone might hire you to write an article or book entirely with your own ideas and all they'll do is approve it and put their name to it.

 

Getting The Facts Together

Therefore, if you are considering doing ghostwriting, make sure you have all the facts first before you are held responsible for your actions. It is a good opportunity for a freelance writer just starting out because you get practice in writing, plus you get steady income. There are lots of people out there looking for writers because they have no time themselves. You can also learn a lot of things which will give you advantage in freelancing if you strike out by yourself. In other words, you can learn a lot about various subjects once someone hires you for ghostwriting, and you have to do research. For those just starting out, ghostwriting provides great practice in writing and you don't have to worry about criticism because that will come to the client who puts his or her name on the material.

 

Negotiating For Money

On the downside is that if you are an inexperienced ghostwriter, you might not have the experience of negotiating a good fee. So you need to educate yourself on the ongoing fees and also read about what other ghostwriters are saying. There is a lot of information online so don't rush into anything. Never get too comfortable in ghostwriting because it is important to build your expertise in other fields as well so that you always have the possibility of switching to another form of freelance writing if one has become stale or is no longer working for you; otherwise your source of income just dries up.

 

Don't Get Into This Without Research

Before you commit to ghostwriting, get all of the facts first and consider if this is the way to go.