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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...

Tips for Writing an Epilogue

An epilogue is the part of a story that appears at the end of a book and is meant to conclude or comment on the main story. Depending on how effectively it is used, epilogues can have great impact by making the story unforgettable. Tip #1 Use...

4 Ways to Write Authentic War Stories

The beginning of the past century was marked by a world war and less than three decades later the world would experience the horrors of another world war. Apart from these major wars, other wars were fought and more people perished. The impact these and other...

How to Flesh Out the Main Character

Let’s say you are working on a novel. You decide to make it a crime novel. When writing any manuscript for a proposed novel, an important element of the story is the main character. Just like in a movie script or a Broadway play, it...

How to Fall in Love with the Writing Process Part 3

The last three questions you need to ask yourself are perhaps the most important: Four – Are you open to change? There are three stages of change a character must pass through – enlightenment, where a new perspective is found; decision, not always a good one, that...

How to Fall in Love with the Writing Process Part 2

On to the next question: Two – Is your focus on the small details or on the bigger picture? If you aren’t quite sure of the answer, think about this. You ask someone to fetch you a pen; do you just ask for the pen or do...

How to Fall In Love With The Writing Process Part 1

Do you love your characters? Do you find your plots exciting? Perhaps more importantly, do you love the art of creating something? If you can answer yes to all three, you have a real passion for writing. If you can’t then you don’t. But it isn’t...

Myths About Writing Young Adult Fiction

Whether you are a reader or a writer of young adult fiction, there are a lot of misunderstandings and misconceptions, so hopefully this article will clear many of them up and give you a better insight into the term 'young adult fiction.'  Young adult fiction is...

Prologues, What they are and What role they play Part 2

Prologues are, however, not always important and some authors prefer to leave them out. A good reason for this is because they can be confusing to the reader. If the prologue is not tied effectively to the main plot, the reader can be left with questions....

Prologues, What they are and What role they play Part 1

A prologue is a part of a book that comes before the main story. It usually foreshadows what will happen in the story and does not usually belong to the timeline described in the book. When used effectively, it can add to the book’s content...

Why You Should Write a Short Story

Working on a novel? Looking for a bit of a break from it? Or are you just looking to build up some writing experience? Then write a short story. Short stories can be a lot of fun to write; you have the perfect opportunity to create a...