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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...
9 Reasons to Write About What You Don't Know (Part 1 of 2)
Gillibrand drops from the presidential bid. The Stromboli volcano erupts. The US-China trade war pushes Asian nations towards recession. A golf ball has 300 dimples. Elephants can't jump. Earth will collide with a giant asteroid according to NASA. The world is ever-changing. The fast tempo of...
Chapter and Space Breaks
A chapter is the main division in a book that separates a time or an episode. These separations are emphatic and shift the story from one place and event to another. Readers often use chapters as a reading break, as chapters end a scene to introduce...
Universal Feelings in Fiction
What’s your favorite story? What genre? Why is it your favorite? Did it move you and in what way? Regardless of the genre you are writing, whether it is set in the past, present or future, readers must be able to identify with characters through...
Thinking of Becoming a Digital Nomad? Read This Before You Leap (Part 2 of 2)
3. Do you have travel insurance? Let’s face it. It’s hard to move these days without insurance. Accidents and illnesses happen when we least expect it. With the world as your office, health and safety should be a major concern. Good insurance must cover you wherever...
Thinking of Becoming a Digital Nomad? Read This Before You Leap (Part 1 of 2)
Becoming a digital nomad is all the rave, especially for millennials and people who are tired of being confined inside a cubicle for eight hours. If you look at your social media feed, you could swoon in envy watching your friends working on their laptops...
Side Hustles For Struggling Writers
There is a road one woman took that others doubted. People really did not think of her as having any type of real job. At first, she did not even have a computer. She did everything by hand through the United States Postal Service. She never gave...
The Mystery, Detective, Suspense, and Spy Novels (Part 2 of 2)
4. The hero or heroine does not always have to be competent. Remember that they can have inner conflicts? A detective can be an alcoholic, drug-dependent, or on the brink of retirement and is slowing down. The protagonist can be ineffective at the beginning and...
The Mystery, Detective, Suspense, and Spy Novels (Part 1 of 2)
Contrary to popular belief, the mystery, detective, suspense or spy novel did not begin with Edgar Allen Poe. These genres date back to as far as ancient mythology. If you look closely, the different mythologies--from Greek to Norse--carry such stories. Even sacred books like the...
Cultivating Writing Habits (Part 2 of 2)
Looking back, you will find that your simple habit of writing in short bursts has become full-blown so that writing has become your priority, that a day without writing makes you uneasy and restless to the point where you may have a writing addiction. Well,...
Cultivating Writing Habits (Part 1 of 2)
It only takes twenty days to form a habit. If you have been doing something consistently without skipping a day, then you have developed a new habit. A habit, they say, in any form of endeavor serves as your foundation that will hone your skills....