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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...
Five Ways to Get Writing Experience Part 1
If you’ve nothing to write about, how can you possibly get any writing experience? That’s tough for someone who wants to write for a living; you know you can do it but you’ve no proof of experience. And how do you improve? It doesn’t matter if...
The Em-Dash – How To Use it Part 2
So, what is this em dash all about? We use the em dash to create a sudden shift in thought, especially when you need the emphasis to be on abruptness. It can also be used to replace semicolons, colons, and commas. An example: She took the lead—although...
The Em Dash – How To Use it Part 1
Do you use em dashes? Do you even know what one is? Loads of authors use the em dash—perhaps too much at times. Too many of them look unprofessional, create a sloppy look and really do nothing more than decrease effectiveness; despite that, you still...
The Secrets of Using Semicolons Part 3
Now we get a bit more complicated – using semicolons, conjunctive adverbs or transition words with a comma to join complete sentences. Conjunctive adverbs are also known as transitional adverbs and include words like: However Moreover Nevertheless Consequently Therefore Otherwise And many others like them. Transitional phrases and words include: In the first place In...
The Secrets of Using Semi-colons Part 2
Before you can even think about using a semicolon properly, do you know what a complete sentence is? In all its forms? This is very important. A complete sentence is also called an independent clause; it contains a subject and a corresponding verb. Be careful because other...
The Secrets of Using Semicolons Part 1
Do you know the right way to use a semicolon? Do you use them in your writing? Many good writers will often leave them alone, for fear of putting them in the wrong place. And there are those who think the semicolon is old-school stuff, far...
Leave It For The Copyeditor? Fix it Yourself! Part 3
Two more tips and your manuscript is ready for an editor. Ditch the Prepositions Prepositions are used for relationships between words and when you use too many, your writing becomes weak, unconcise and non-specific. Some of the common prepositions include: About After Against At Before Behind Beneath Except From In Into Like Of Since Too Toward/s You get the idea. Look through a few...
Leave It For The Copyeditor? Fix it Yourself! Part 2
Have you removed all those unnecessary expletives? Good, time to move on. Check your sentences and paragraphs Do they start the same way? While expletives are often the culprit here, there are some other offenders that crop up frequently, including character names and pronouns. You need to...
Leave It For The Copyeditor? Fix it Yourself! Part 1
Every writer comes up against a set of writing problems and any novel that is worth the time it takes to read should be put through some pretty rigorous copyediting. And that works for all writing, not just novels and not just fiction, but I’ll...
Kill The Adjectives – Some of Them, Anyway! Part 3
In the last part of this series, we are looking at ways to replace interpretive adjectives. One way is to use descriptive adjectives that you chose with care. If you really need to use an adjective, choose one that accurately describes the noun it is modifying...