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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. Below that are hundreds of articles on topics all authors face in today’s literary landscape. Get help and advice on Writing, Marketing, Publishing, Social Networking 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...

How Best to Use Social Media to Boost Book Sales

The rise of social media and the people who use it every day are unstoppable. It continues to grow and expand each year. It is the new form of mass communication and the preferred marketing tool today. Social media is low-cost compared to traditional marketing strategies,...

Is Twitter Useful for the Self-published Author?

The rise of many social media platforms these days is obvious. It seems that every day new applications and networking websites are being developed. There are platforms which are merely a fad and a few successful social media forms that continuously evolve. Consumers are easily swayed...

How Social Media Can Help Market Your Book

These days, traditional book marketing methods such as press conferences aren’t enough to get your book out there. Times are changing; consumers no longer spend much time in bookstores. In recent studies, sales at brick and mortar bookstores are lower compared to sales from sites...

How Authors Can Increase Their Social Media Visibility

Many authors still believe that social media is where people go when they need to talk about unimportant things. They think that social media can be a distraction to their writing. All these points can be argued. However, social media can be a great marketing...

Important Tips For Authors Using Social Media

We all know that social media can be used to create huge followings for authors and to interact with their audiences. But is there a good or bad way to use social media as an author? Using social media has no formula but there are...

Best First Steps For An Author’s Social Media Plan

Whether or not an author uses social media, it still remains a vital tool for authors to personally communicate with their readers. Any author who wants to use social media should have a well laid-out plan in order to be highly successful. The following are...

Get to Know What Your Readers Want

It’s easy to advertise on social media platforms and to gain some followers. But what’s hard is to make sure that you do not lose those followers and that you are able to give them what they want. There’s no question that social media marketing...

Social Media Marketing Tips for Authors

Social Media Marketing Tips for Authors If you are an author and you want to start marketing your books and getting more credit for your work, then maybe it’s time to sign up on Facebook or Twitter, or create your own blog and get into the world of social...

Benefits of Marketing on Social Media for Authors

Benefits of Marketing on Social Media for Authors Many authors these days choose to promote their works on social media platforms instead of the usual book launches or autograph signings that were popular back in the day. While those things may still be done now, more and more authors are...

Ways to Use Social Media for Marketing Books

After finishing a novel, there is one more important thing that authors should keep in mind: How to market your novel? Well, if you’re already a well-known author, then a launch will probably take place sooner or later and you may already have a loyal...