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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...

Book-themed Food Truck Festivals: Serving Up Delicious dishes inspired by Your Story

Food truck festivals have been around culinary culture for quite some time now. They offer a diverse array of cuisines served on wheels and give people an opportunity to try new things, both in making and consuming. In the same way, literature gives people the...

How Craig Mod Marketed His Book Before It Was Published

Craig Mod, a writer, designer, and publisher, is known for his unconventional approach to marketing books. In fact, he has been able to build a significant audience and generate buzz for his book, "Kissa by Kissa," even before it was published. In this article, we...

Tap into the Power of a Community Book Launch Event

As an author, you have poured your heart and soul into your book, and now it's time to launch it into the world. One way to ensure your book's success is to organize a community launch event. The community plays a vital role in an...

How Independent Authors are Using the Metaverse to Promote books

The Metaverse, a term used to describe a shared virtual space where users can interact with a computer-generated environment and each other in real-time, is rapidly gaining popularity. It is estimated that the Metaverse could generate up to $1 trillion in revenue by 2030. As...

Would Your Novel Benefit From An Epilogue?

You may think whether you choose to add an epilogue depends on your story. To a great degree, it does, but it’s also a marketing decision as important as a good cover, a well-written book description, and professional editing. It applies to all novels, but...

Do You Use Free Advertising?

I saw a post on Facebook yesterday. The author was offering the first book in a trilogy free, obviously hoping it would lead to sales of the other two. This is a tactic I have used myself with great success, especially when the other books...

How to Identify a Target Audience for Your Book

You may feel that your book could be a huge commercial success if only the right people knew it existed. And you'd be right. If there were ways to know your target audience, you could reach out and convince them to buy your book. This...

How to Market Your Book Through a Street Team

You can't achieve commercial success as a writer without a lot of help along the way. You can get access to freelance marketers from various establishments like Reader's Favorite, which runs affiliate programs and offers book review services. But soon, you must also learn to...

5 Book Marketing Ideas for Indie Authors

Self-publishing authors are always looking for effective ways to market their books. Despite the difficulty of penetrating this overpopulated market, indie authors have found different ways to get ahead and sell more books. In this article, we discuss five techniques that many successful indie authors...

How To Write an Interesting Author Bio

An author bio is a brief passage that introduces you and summarizes your work as an author. It's usually a paragraph long, loaded with vital information your readers may need to know about you. It lets readers get a sense of who you are and...