Author Services
Author Articles
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...
Using Philosophy in Fiction Writing 2: Plato’s Cave and the Revolution of Social Fiction
In this course of articles, we take a cursory view of a philosophical social movement or way of thinking and examine how that movement’s ideas can be utilized to enhance your fiction writing, bringing dynamism and realism to your worldbuilding and character motivation. In this...
Using Philosophy in Fiction Writing 1: Marxism, Dystopia and Beyond
In this course of articles, we take a cursory view of a philosophical social movement or way of thinking and examine how that movement’s ideas can be utilized to enhance your fiction writing, bringing dynamism and realism to your worldbuilding and character motivation. In this...
Avoiding Writing Distractions
You are distracted. It is difficult to avoid distractions in a world that peppers our existence with commercial temptations to prey on our weaknesses. When distraction and the thought of how challenging writing kick in, procrastination ensues. Most of us would instead think about writing rather...
Ways to Make Your Protagonist More Real and Relatable to the Reader
Things have changed a lot in the literary world. Readers now look for characters that are relatable and real. They want to see a part of themselves or the people around them in the characters they read about. It is no longer about just fulfilling...
Gender Roles in Romance
We’ve all heard the stories before, about how brave knights save princesses, how superheroes save damsels in distresses. We’ve seen young women fall in love with dark, troubled men and, through the power of love, change them for the better. We’ve heard the manufactured romances...
Nature's Gentle Giant: The Bugul Noz
It’s no secret that people are afraid of the dark. Families tend to avoid going out at night, and when they do they stay in well-lit areas. Night clubs are filled with strobe lights, and when the fun is done, friends go out together. No...
The Effort of Rewriting
The rewriting process is the most challenging part of writing, and it is indispensable. The effort of completing a book with all its necessary elements falling into place is a feat worthy of admiration. Everyone can write, but not everyone can achieve a novel. The...
Horrific Inspirations: The Weeping Woman
Oftentimes, the best-known horror stories come from the inversion of cherished ideas. Whether it be the goodness of people, society’s trust in the government, or even an individual’s faith in religion, as humans we have lofty expectations for the institutions and relationships we allow in...
The Beauty of Contemporary Romances
In Charlotte Brönte’s Jane Eyre, the heroine falls in love with a man whose terrible secrets are dragged into the light. But despite these secrets, she continues to pine after this man and at the end of the novel lives out her life with him. Although we...
Why We Need Technical Writing
Do you remember when you were back in high school or college? Remember when your professor forced you to write all those papers and presentations, made you rewrite those drafts over and over again even if it meant spending night after night correcting everything? Remember...