Author Services

Author Articles

Hundreds of Helpful 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...

The A to Z of Writing Fiction – Part 3

K is for Killing Off Your Darlings This doesn’t necessarily mean killing off your main character; it’s more about killing off or eliminating what isn’t right and doesn’t fit. You may have written a fantastic scene but if it doesn’t fit, it can't stay. You don’t...

The A to Z of Writing Fiction – Part 2

E is for the Ending – Always Have One in Mind Like a first kiss, a beginning can seduce you with potential; it can set the theme of what is to come but the ending has to deliver on those promises. And it has to do...

The A to Z of Writing Fiction – Part 1

There is nothing more daunting for a writer than staring at a blank page, especially first-time writers. What I aim to do is kill off your hesitation with my A to Z guide of novel writing, full of tips, advice, and hints on how to...

How to Write a Killer Plot Twist – Part 2

Avoid the Gimmicks Most readers will be emotionally invested in your story and that needs to pay off for them. Don’t ever have the plot twist happen in a way that they feel insulted or tricked. A good twist will always make their investment deeper. This is...

How to Write a Killer Plot Twist – Part 1

Have you ever picked up a novel that everyone has recommended to you? It's gotten rave reviews and you really do have very high expectations from it. Most of the books like this that you pick up will just fall flat but, every now and...

Writing Believable Dialogue

Writers are often tempted to plant too much information in character dialogues. They do this because they feel that such information is necessary for the reader to know, or that they could be giving too much information in the narrative so that putting it in...

Get Prepared for NaNoWriMo – Part 3

The final tip in your preparation checklist is a very important one. Step Six – Prepare yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally Think of NaNoWriMo as running a marathon. You wouldn’t do it without being at peak physical, mental and emotional fitness so don’t attempt this writing challenge...

Get Prepared for NaNoWriMo – Part 2

If your plan is to totally crush it at NaNoWriMo or NaNonFiWriMo(National Non-Fiction Writing Month) you have got to have a plan. There is no other way that you can maintain your focus and energy for such an intense challenge without one and your productivity...

Get Prepared for NaNoWriMo – Part 1

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is a big writing event that happens every November. The goal is for writers to push out a 50,000+ word novel in the space of one month and the ‘coat of arms’ for the event contains four things that...

30 Days to Write and Publish a Short Novel – Part 3

Time to Publish! You are unlikely to find publishers who are interested in short stories or short novels; they tend to be interested in the longer length novels only. What you are going to have to do is self-publish or send it to a journal or...