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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...
Why Is It So Important To Be Productive?
Whether you write for a living or just as a hobby, the planning of your writing schedule, getting the most out of your time is so important. Making your day productive is essential to your creativity for many reasons. I have listed the most important below. First, you can...
How To Repair Plot Holes
Plot holes in your manuscript can make the difference between a successful novel and one that never gets off the ground. But trying to find them might not only be difficult, but so stressful too. So, let's first discuss how we find those menacing plot holes and then how to fix them. Before we...
How To Stop Fear Killing Your Dreams
The fear of failure is the main reason that kills most people's dreams. Nobody likes to admit they have failed in anything they have tried in their life. It is a huge knock to your sense of self-worth, and you begin to doubt that you can ever become...
What Should You Look For In a Mentor as a Writer?
Even though it is not a necessity, having a mentor as a writer helps you grow faster than you could by yourself. However, sometimes challenges arise and it is not always easy to find someone who is as invested in your future as you are....
Three Reasons You Are Not Writing As Much Every Day
Being a writer for a profession can be so hard at times. Not only are there those dreaded periods of writer's block, but also trying to create unique characters and realistic dialogue, along with plots that engage the reader and sub-plots to support the main storyline. A writer predominantly works alone with no one...
How To Build Personality In Non-Fiction
Whilst checking through my emails this morning, I came across an advertisement for a writing course. Apparently, this course can transform you into a bestselling author within weeks, with no writing experience needed. Intrigued by these bold claims, I began to read through the article. Funnily enough, it was not the huge...
Are Writing Groups Useful?
The reputation of writing groups has, for some time, been quite negative. They seem from the outside to be quite impenetrable and filled with judgemental and critical writers that offer no kind of support to new members. I have been a member of many writing groups throughout the years, and so this reputation,...
Word Processing Platforms
There are so many different word processing platforms available that sometimes it can be difficult to decide which one is the best one for your individual needs. Of course there are the typical notepads that come standard with pretty much every computer. These notepads do not...
Importance Of Research
When an author writes about a subject in which they have personal experience, he or she may think that they know enough to fill the pages with just enough information to entice their readers. While a subject may in fact be interesting to a reader,...
Creating a Professional Bio
Creating your own bio can be fun and fulfilling. The simple tips included here have helped me work on my bio and achieve greater influence through using a couple of simple but impactful lines. Who is the reader? By defining who the reader of your posts or...