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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...

Taking Care of YOU

It’s super important to take care of YOU. When you don’t, you won’t have the energy or the focus you need to write powerfully, creatively and efficiently. In fact, if you aren’t doing what you need to do to take care of yourself, writing will...

How To Write A Winning Author Bio

What makes a good author profile? What should be included? How long should it be? These are some of the questions often asked when writing an author bio. The author bio is an important part of your book and should be given the attention it...

Research and Inspiration for Sick or Injured Characters

 In my article “Creating a Sick or Injured Character in Fiction,” I wrote about how fiction writers decide on what sickness or injury to give to a character, the steps that they follow to choose the injury or sickness, and the research process. However, that...

Creating a Sick or Injured Character in Fiction

Many fiction writers decide that a character in their book should be sick or injured in some way. This decision to have an injured or sick character is generally made because the author is going to use the character as a plot point in a...

Incorporating Jargon in your Work Part 2

What if it is impossible to avoid technical terms? In such a case, the most important thing is to ensure that the words add value to the article or book. Some other tips are included below. # Tip 1 - Know your Audience Keep in mind the...

Incorporating Jargon in your Work Part 1

Everyone likes reading something that they can understand unless they are reading the specific work for educational or information purposes. The idea of reading a book with a dictionary close at hand is not an option for many people, myself included. There are many reasons...

Diction in Dialogue Part 2

There are several ways to make your writing authentic, but the one I would like to touch upon is the way characters speak.  Mixing English and another language is not anything new or groundbreaking in literature. Take Agatha Christie's detective, Hercule Poirot.  To begin with, Poirot is...

Diction in Dialogue Part 1

The authenticity of language in dialogue is not something one often thinks of when they sit down to write their story. First, the most important thing to a writer, especially first time writers, is writing to get from Point A to Point B. Then draft...

How To Eliminate Dialogue Tags

What is wrong with “he said”, “she decided”, “he replied”, and the rest? They slow the pace of the story whereas emotion and action drive it. The first example occurs early in a sequel, so the scene is being set for new readers.      Bill...

Some Travel Writing Basics

Travel has become not only a major part of our lives today but almost a basic one. As more young people put their resources towards experiences as opposed to possession of material things, there is a growing movement of travelers wishing to explore the world...