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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 Write About The Emotion Of Death

Writing any kind of emotion that touches a reader’s heart is difficult. But when it comes to relaying the feeling associated with the death of a loved one and the grief that follows, it is paramount you get it right. If you have never experienced...

Character Types to Include in Your Story

Another writer messaged me today to ask how they could make their characters more realistic and three dimensional. I believe this takes time and many hours of people watching. For example, the type of clothes a person wears, or the way they speak, can say a lot...

Misused Words in the English Language - Part 3

So, now we come to the last part of this series and some of the most commonly misused words. I bet you recognize a few that you have used – or misused – in the past: Adverse Should be used to mean “hostile” or “unfavorable.” Commonly mistaken for...

Misused Words in the English Language - Part 2

You should now be aware of some of the common vocabularies in the English language and some of the more common mix-ups in grammar, but knowing doesn’t guarantee that you will always use the right word in the right context. The English language is constantly...

Misused Words in the English Language – Part 1

We all think we know how to use words the right way. Probably one of the first words you learned was “good” and everyone knows how to use that word – don’t they? It isn’t such a straightforward word as you think and is, in...

3 Ways to Understand a Setting

Setting is one of the key elements of any story not reliant on the story being fiction or non-fiction. Many writers believe that a setting is merely a location and by stopping at this simplistic definition, they fail to truly understand what a setting is. Literacy...

Rewriting Your Novel 2

The completion of the first draft of your manuscript is actually not the end of the creative process, but the beginning of it. The rewriting process is far more time consuming, and the average amount of rewrites is around six before the novel is ready for...

Disney’s Gruesome Tale: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Even back then, Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame raised more than a few eyebrows. Many families were quick to point out the film’s dark elements, as well as the horrific implications the antagonist had. What’s more, despite the fact that there is a happy...

The Shadows of Love: The Phantom of the Opera

Obsession is often considered to be humanity’s cruelest way of showing undying love. Whether it be following your loved one, even until death, or kidnapping them and hoping they’d love you, it’s this very behavior that many of us will find creepy, and some others,...

Sexism in Literature

I picked up a book yesterday, put it down, then started pondering on what it means for gender roles to exist in literature, modern or otherwise. Of course, this is an age-old question a lot of people have answers to. For instance, some people say...