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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...

Growth Tips for the Beginner - Part 1

Everyone has been praising you for your writing, you know that you can write but you are not sure how to grow. There is always fear that accompanies anyone’s first step when they are embarking on a dream. As a beginner, there are a lot...

A Gaslighter Villain

As a writer, I am always looking at ways to make my characters more three dimensional, especially villains. I recently came across the term Gaslighting and thought I would do some investigation into the term. Gaslight originates from the 1938 stage play of the same name, about a man who successfully convinces his wife that she is insane....

Writing A Toxic Personality

I think it is fair to say that during our lifetime most of us have had the misfortune of having a toxic friend. Whether it was from school, university or work. Whenever there are a group of friends, especially a group of females, there is always peer pressure to conform. You...

Achieving Your Writing Goals

With 2019 fast approaching, many people will be wondering if the New Year's Resolutions they make this year will be kept longer than a few weeks. I, personally, feel that setting goals should be in the form of small actions that I know I can achieve. The...

Writing for the Olympics

The Nike slogan "Just Do It!" is a great mentality to adopt when it comes to being an author. "I wanna write a book," you may say. That's great! But are you a writer? All great authors are first and foremost writers. The best writers write daily....

Places to Find Inspiration for Your Writing Part 2

Get Inspiration from your Friends You can always ask your friends what great ideas they have heard of or what movies they are watching and what the movie is about. You can also find what they specifically loved about the movie and try to spin the...

Places to Find Inspiration for Your Writing Part 1

Once in a while, we all need something to inspire us when writing a particular piece. Sometimes our creativity does not come as naturally as it normally would, which leads us to the infamous ‘writers’ block’. There are places that inspire motivation and these places...

Creating A Character With Post-Natal Depression

How many novels have you read where a character gives birth and immediately is overwhelmed with maternal instincts, and they all live happily ever after? Sadly, most romance novels do not delve deeper into the reality of giving birth for many women. If I were a...

The Importance of Voice and Tone In Writing

While writing my article recently regarding tips and techniques for new writers, I began to wonder about voice and tone, and why it is important to the process of writing. It may come as a surprise to many people, but your voice and tone will influence everything you write. So, what...

How to Review a Short Story Collection Part 2

Third Step: Writing the Review By the third step you should have finished the whole short story collection and you should have a decent note sheet in front of you to use for the writing of the review. The review is generally made up of three...