Author Services

Author Articles

Hundreds of Helpful Articles

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...

Fiction Writing – Why You Should Never Forget the Small Details

Fictional writing is a work of art and it is created much like a piece of art, one brush stroke at a time. You may already know what your bigger picture will look like but if the small details are left out, the big ones...

10 Rules of Writing a Novel – Part 2

Once you have digested the first five rules, you can move on. These are the only rules you need to follow when writing a novel because, believe me, once you learn these, everything else will follow naturally. Rule 6: Read, Read, and Read Some More Most writers...

10 Rules of Writing a Novel – Part 1

There is so much information, so many tips on how to write, how to submit a really great novel but, when you get down to it, most of the information is common sense. But would-be authors go trolling the internet, looking for a definitive set...

Tips on Avoiding Distractions when Writing

As a freelancer, there are many distractions that compete for my attention every day, not forgetting my own work on this list. The interruptions range from something as simple as a phone call to more habits that are harder to drop such as constantly checking...

Overcoming Perfectionism as a Writer

Have you ever started on an idea you thought was great, then changed your mind and the first draft found itself in the bin. Then the process continued and more and more drafts followed. It is said that we are our own worst critics. Even...

How Not to Write a Female Character Part 2

Here we take a further look at how to avoid the pitfalls of writing a female protagonist that is cliched or just wrong. If a woman is empowered, she is often portrayed as a man-hater who resents males for their positions of power. This is simply...

How Not to Write a Female Character Part 1

This article is aimed mainly at our more testosterone filled authors but can also apply to female writers who write a cliched female character. There are many articles to help you write a great female protagonist but let’s consider a list of things you shouldn’t...

How to Write Erotic Fiction

Recent years have seen the resurgence of erotic fiction and it is currently one of the more popular genres on the market. Erotic writing has been around for centuries, but modern readers have managed to disassociate from the feeling of “slightly smutty” that dogged the...

Nothing to Lose Except Writer's Block

Writer's block got you in its cruel grasp again? Fear not, my friends, I shall make a list of some of the most basic plots to help you out of your block's hold. But first, try to keep in mind that you may need to...

Advice for New Children's Authors From Established Authors

Setting out to achieve something you’d love to happen isn’t necessarily easy. It often involves all sorts of things you never imagined it would involve when you were there at the starting point.  There are certain things most authors would love to have known about being...