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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...

7 New Ways to Find an Editor – Part 1

Most writers don’t tend to concern themselves with too much i-dotting and t-crossing. At the end of the day, your role is to turn your ideas into something tangible and that can make it very difficult for an author to see if their logic has...

Top Web Apps And Desktop Tools For eBook Creation – Part 3

In the final part of this mini-series, we’ll be looking at desktop tools you can use for your eBook. Open Office Of course, you can use Word but Open Office is free and you can convert .doc files to PDF for free. It works in much the...

Top Web Apps And Desktop Tools For eBook Creation – Part 2

Welcome back; by now you should have chosen your format and are now ready to decide what tools you want to use to create your book. There are many to choose from and I’ve narrowed things down to the best of the best. Web Apps and...

Top Web Apps And Desktop Tools For eBook Creation – Part 1

Writing and publishing an eBook is a fantastic way of widening your audience and gaining more loyal followers and, if you’ve got a great idea knocking about in your head, an idea that would help solve a problem with a non-fiction book or provide an...

Top Four Tips For The New Mystery Writer

Mystery writing can be murder and if we aren't organized enough, mayhem! We must create an intriguing plot, develop an endearing cast of characters, and devise enough twists to keep our readers engaged and entertained to the end; not just the end of our book,...

Formatting Consistency

One of the most intimidating aspects of writing any kind of manuscript is knowing how to format it properly so that it is more readable and looks much more professional. Formatting is the term writers use to refer to how a manuscript is written. Letter...

Top Five Resources For The Mystery Writer

Are you a fan of Agatha Christie novels? Would you like to write to the caliber of the Miss Fisher series? Writing a mystery requires a specific set of tools; you must be well organized, understand character arcs, know how to utilize your settings, and...

Importance of Proofreading

Writing a book is a wonderful endeavor regardless of the reasons for the work. An author could write because a general subject means something to them or applies to their life in some way, or to share something specific with the world or just because...

Growth Tips for the Beginner - Part 3

Say yes often Try saying yes to different opportunities. Do not let fear hold you back. There are so many times I have said yes and it has turned out great, better than I had envisioned. Saying yes can be fearful. You do not want to...

Growth Tips for the Beginner - Part 2

Edit, edit again and then again Writing does not end when the book is done; editing should be part of the writing process itself just as actual writing is. It does not matter how great a book is, if the editing is not done thoroughly and...