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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...

How to Submit Poetry or Short Fiction – Part 1

If you write short literature, such as fiction or poetry, submission of your work can be very positive. It is a way of sending yourself a powerful signal that you think enough of your work to let the world see it. And, if your work...

Monsters and Creatures from Greek Myths Part 2

Cyclops The Cyclops were one-eyed, viscious feral monsters with no use for kindness, manners, and laws. Many of the cyclops were shepherds out of necessity as they needed to eat and if they wandered to close to a human village, the villagers would come together to...

Creating a Writing Schedule that Works for You

It is excruciatingly hard for me to stick to my writing schedule. I started a book ages ago and I was stuck in the first chapter for quite some time. Somehow, I do not seem to have enough time to focus on my manuscript. Until...

On Writing Science Fiction… (Part 2)

(Continuation from Part 1…) The Deftly Paradox by Matt White is another book whose theme I loved. The plot follows the invention of an earth-ruling machine. Humans institute the machine to govern the whole universe. At first, the idea seems outrageous but with time, many people...

On Writing Science Fiction… (Part 1)

From time travel to distant planets, aliens or possible future inventions, science fiction or better still, speculative fiction, has many options to offer any aspiring author of the genre. Even though it feels sometimes that many of the great ideas have already been selected or...

Monsters and Creatures from Greek Myths Part 1

In How to Write a Unique Spooky Story, I wrote about how to write a unique spooky story by either creating your own monster, creature, or horror yourself or by finding a monster that is not well known. I advised finding a monster by researching...

Why We Need Editors

As a freelance editor, I can confidently say that authors are the spawn of Satan. I'm joking, of course, but don't get me wrong, I’ve written stories before and I understand the attachment to one’s writing. The biggest disconnect between authors and editors is that...

4 Tips to Revamp your Love for Reading

Part of being a great writer means having a love for books. Reading is crucial for every author or blogger. It helps you grow in your profession and opens up your mind to new styles of writing, new ideas and trends. Still, many avid readers...

5 Guiding Questions to Starting a Blog

What do you love? What are your favorite YouTube channels? What books do you love? What do you like spending time doing? The most important thing in establishing your blog is to ensure that you have fun. Passion will keep you at it before your...

Building Character Relationships

Whenever you read a novel, you will find a main character or protagonist and a supporting cast of characters which will either support the main character, or prevent him from reaching their objective. It is very rare to find a single character in a novel; they...