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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...

Show, Don’t Tell

How many times have you been told that when you write, you should “show, not tell”? Is your writing too demonstrative with little experience? Tired of writing a telling narrative and looking for ways to share the experience of your story? First of all, you...

How to Write a Story That Starts With a Lie and Ends With the Truth

Stories are built on contrasts. One of the most interesting contrasts or maybe surprises in a story is the journey from deception to honesty, where a narrative begins with a lie and ends with an unexpected yet satisfying truth. This storytelling technique creates intrigue, tension,...

Writing About the Visual Arts

I love a good story about the visual arts. I believe it was books like Irving Stone’s “The Agony and the Ecstasy” (a biographical novel about Michaelangelo), that inspired me to seriously study the arts. Other authors have equally inspired my fascination with the arts,...

Crafting a Sidekick Who Could Totally Be the Star of Their Own Book!

Sidekicks have been an essential part of storytelling for centuries, from classic literature to modern fantasy and even superhero sagas. They offer comic relief, moral support, and, at times, protect the protagonist. But how compelling the sidekick would be if you flipped the script and...

Writing In An Era of Non-Readers

Walking into a coffee shop, I’m looking forward to a cozy visit with a dear friend. We’ll chat the hour away until our drinks get cold, but it’ll be a good visit. Glancing around, I see tables lined with young people, all glued to their...

The Problem With Overused and Misused Words

“That just about sums up that problem.” Or does it? That which is that is too much of that. I searched for the word ‘that’ in my most recent manuscript. What I discovered shocked me. In a 65,000-word story, I had used ‘that’ over 450...

Why Readers Dislike Dream Sequences and What to Do Instead

Among the top pet peeves that readers consistently tell us they really dislike are dream sequences. These vehicles that are most frequently used to symbolize emotions, foreshadow events, or cannonball into a character’s psyche are surprisingly unpopular among readers. While they might seem like an...

Writing About Time Travel

If you could go back or forward in time, when and where would you go? For me, it would be the sixteenth century, Scotland, the era of Mary Queen of Scots. I chose that era for two of my books: “Queen Mary’s Daughter” (Clean Reads:...

To Be Continued…

Give your story a strong ending. There’s nothing a reader dislikes more than that endless tag at the end that reads: “To Be Continued…” Teaching creative writing to young people always earns you a chuckle or two. Not that I’d laugh at the student writer,...

It’s All Greek to Me! Ancient Philosophy and the Modern Writer

One of my favorite jokes to unleash at a party and impress absolutely nobody goes a little something like this: Why did the Greek philosopher bring a pencil? Because he wanted to draw a conclusion! Bah-dah-chhhhh! And then somewhere out there the thinkers, lovers of...