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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...

Writing Graded Readers - Part 1

What is a graded reader? Whether you're an experienced writer or a newbie, you may be wondering what a graded reader is. They are books that are written or adapted for language learners. Graded readers help people read and enjoy the language they're learning. This is important...

Knowing and Reaching your Audience - Part 2

Audiences love pieces that ask questions and provoke thought. They want to feel like they are part of the process and not mere outsiders. They also like taking something away with them after reading an article or book. It could be a new perspective or...

Knowing and Reaching your Audience - Part 1

A critical part of the writing process is knowing your audience as a writer. Sometimes this is clear but, for many writers, it is not always easy to identify the specific audience you intend to write for. There are tips discussed in this article that...

Things to Consider While Hiring an Editor

Editing a book is a skill that many people believe they have, but very few people actually possess. Editing a book is not easy. It is more than just removing a few words here, adding a few words there. Authors have to be very careful...

Drowning the Voice of Self-Doubt Part 2

Only compare yourself to you In the modern world we live in, it is a constant struggle not to compare yourself with the next person. As a writer or author, this can become frustrating. As hard as it might be, refraining from comparing yourself with other...

Drowning the Voice of Self-Doubt Part 1

I recently read Sharon A. Davidson’s book, You Go Girl: Start. Build. Sell. In the book, Davidson describes a psychological pattern known as the Impostor Syndrome. A person with this syndrome is not convinced that they are competent enough and suffers from a lingering fear...

Inspiration For Writer's Block

Writer’s block is a fact of life for every writer of every style and genre. When writer’s block strikes, it has many different ways of affecting each writer. Some never recover, opting to quit writing altogether while others will find some very simple ways to...

Kuwait Mythical Monsters

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...

7 Must Reads For Any Writer

The best aspect of being a writer, for me, is that there is always an opportunity to learn more about yourself and the craft of writing. The journey is a continuous one and even the bestselling authors will admit to gaining information from numerous sources to...

The Concept of Time

While writing a book, there are many decisions that need to be made. One such decision is the time frame of the scenes and the story as a whole in the book. How long should each scene take and what amount of time should have...