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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. Below that are hundreds of articles on topics all authors face in today’s literary landscape. Get help and advice on Writing, Marketing, Publishing, Social Networking 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...

Do You Make This One Punctuation Mistake? Part 2

Going back to those sentences that have the commas, the pause or comma is breaking up the actions that are meant to go together in a group: “My friend skates - and cycles.” “Hannah sings - and plays the guitar.” “Andy draws - and paints.” Why would you put...

Do You Make This One Punctuation Mistake? Part 1

Punctuation is a killer; quite literally sometimes because if you get it wrong, nothing you write will make sense. Let’s take the humble comma. Many writers place them where instinct tells them to or they will place a comma where they would pause naturally in a...

Inventing Languages: Part 2

Besides J.R.R. Tolkien, some other favorite authors of mine who have used languages as integral parts of novels include Jack Vance in The Languages of Pao and Ursula K. LeGuin, in A Wizard of Earthsea. Of course, the Game of Thrones series of novels has some...

9 Reasons Why A Writer Needs a Website – Part Two

Without any further ado, let’s get to the next six reasons you need a website: It is the first step to developing your email list – it doesn’t matter whether you are on your first book or your sixth, you need to get the word out...

9 Reasons Why A Writer Needs a Website – Part Three

And now we have one last bonus reason why you need a website – and it’s a big one. It can help you to improve your search rankings – and that is a very important factor. Let’s say that you are just getting started in writing,...

9 Reasons Why A Writer Needs a Website – Part One

Every writer needs to have a website. That’s it. End of story. It really doesn’t matter what you write, be it non-fiction, self-help books, romantic sizzlers or a children’s adventure story, you still need a website. Why? Before I get to that, let’s just look at the what. A...

The Pros and Cons of Writing in the First Person

One of the benefits of writing in the first person is that it creates a connection between the reader and the protagonist. The reader takes in the character’s experiences from a more “real” perspective and hence they are able to grasp their meaning and feel...

How to Create a Sizzling Romance Story

A good love story is more than just the main characters fighting off a villain who has been trying to keep them apart, then living happily ever after. For many relationships, this is not the case. Life is not perfect and, well, people are not...

Dealing with Stress as a Writer - Part 2

Be compassionate with yourself. Stressful situations elicit different types of reactions from us which can range from anger to disappointment. If you are a perfectionist, you can be too hard on yourself which increases your stress levels. Understanding that you are not perfect and sometimes...

Dealing with Stress as a Writer - Part 1

In this article, the discussion is focused on various unhealthy and destructive ways of dealing with anxiety and what, as a writer, you can do to reduce stress in your life. Writing can be stressful and when coupled with everything else going on around us, we...