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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. Below that are hundreds of articles on topics all authors face in today’s literary landscape. Get help and advice on Writing, Marketing, Publishing, Social Networking 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...

Practical Tips To Help You Write Your First Novel – Part 1

It doesn’t matter if this is your first novel or a second one that you are struggling with, a bit of help in getting your focus back on track never goes amiss. The practical tips here will help you to go from your very first word...

7 Reasons Why Writing a Book Makes You Cool

To some people, writers are nerds; they spend all day in front of a computer; they get upset when you use the wrong grammatical terms and so on but you know that when you finish that book you’ve been working on for months, you feel like...

How to Break Up with Someone the Write Way

It’s not easy to break up with someone. Whether it is because you don’t like their attitude, you’ve fallen out of love with them, or you’ve noticed an unspeakable habit about them you can’t get past, we don’t like hurting the people we care about....

Horrific Inspirations: Vlad Tepes

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the main characters must fight against an evil entity known as a vampire in order to save the life of a beloved friend. This groundbreaking character later cemented the supernatural aspects of the horror genre, creating dark, gothic scenes for protagonists...

Romantic Inspirations: Hadrian and Antinous

It’s no secret that ancient Greece and Rome nourished relationships filled with homoerotic subtext. Whether that of a teacher and student, or a master and slave, many of these relationships have been romanticized in literature, such as The Gladiator’s Master by Fae Sutherland, The Soldier of...

The Artistic and Medical Implications of the Black Death

In many zombie apocalypse movies, the outbreak usually begins with an infection. They describe it as a fast-acting pathogen or parasite that can render a human undead within minutes. This fear has been, at times, replayed over and over throughout the medical community. The Center...

Romantic Inspirations: The Troubadours

In the Middle Ages, there was a group of individuals who would go around to various courts and perform poetry. They would verbally paint beautiful images of chivalry and love, with perhaps even a bit of humor every now and then, to the point where...

Dragons in Literature

Dragons have always had a romanticized relationship with humanity. Whether it be through their portrayal in major religions, or even the friendly reptiles in kids' movies and TV shows, dragons have been a staple of the fantasy genre for many years. For instance, in Eragon...

Horrific Inspirations: The Vampire of Sacramento

While the legends surrounding the Bloody Countess might be more than just a little over exaggerated, and the aspects of the real life Dracula rather mundane for the first vampire in Europe, there is one man that managed to properly claim the title of ‘vampire’....

Romantic Inspirations: Dante and Beatrice

More than once has Dante mentioned a woman named Beatrice through his beloved works, such as The Divine Comedy andVita Nuova. It’s abundantly clear that she made a rather huge impact on Dante, and could even be considered the love of his life. She served as...