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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

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)

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...

30 Days to Write and Publish a Short Novel – Part 2

Ready to start? First and Second Weeks This is where your story will really start to take shape. Write your outline Allow your imagination free rein and get your outline down on paper. I’m not talking a perfect outline here, not unless that’s the way you work. Any outline...

30 Days to Write and Publish a Short Novel – Part 1

Are you a new writer? Just getting started on this exciting path? Or are you a seasoned writer looking for help on getting a short novel written and published quickly? Then you’ve come to the right place. If you sit down with no plan in...

Using Deus ex Machina Effectively

If you have been writing fiction for some time now, then deus ex machina is no stranger to you. A Latin term that means “god out of the machine,” it is a literary device wherein a stunning shift of events independent from a character’s action occurs...

Common Mistakes Made by Fiction Writers

Have you ever wondered why your work isn’t selling? You have a great cover and a tempting description, which leaves Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature, where you have seconds to persuade a potential reader to click “Buy”. Consider which opening would interest you most. 1. Janet was...

Mythical Creatures and Protectors of Cambodia

In How to Write a Unique Spooky Story, I wrote about how to write a unique spooky story by either creating your own monster, creature, or horror yourself or by finding a monster that is not well known. I advised finding a monster by researching...

Mythical Monsters and Creatures of Chile

In How to Write a Unique Spooky Story, I wrote about how to write a unique spooky story by either creating your own monster, creature, or horror yourself or by finding a monster that is not well known. I advised finding a monster by researching...

How to Write a Historical Fiction Review

In “How to Write a Review” I wrote about how many writers struggle when it comes to writing a review as they are never quite sure what to include, what not to include, how long it should be, what to focus on, and some are...

On the Craft of Description

Writing as an art form is a cerebral experience, a painting with words. Unlike a painting on a canvas with solid shadings and crisp lines perceived by the naked eye, writers invite readers to inhabit a world, real or imagined, through words and phrases, to...

How to Write a Romance Review

In “How to Write a Review” I wrote about how many writers struggle when it comes to writing a review as they are never quite sure what to include, what not to include, how long it should be, what to focus on, and some are...

Literary Inspirations: Percy Bysshe Shelley

The husband of the famed author of Frankenstein, Percy Bysshe Shelly was a poet who clawed his way to fame posthumously. Not only was he close to other important figures in Romanticism, such as Lord Byron, Love Peacock, and Leigh Hunt, but he also wrote...