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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...

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...

Politics and Social Justice in Fiction

I’ve always been a fan of the dystopian genre. From its corrupt governments, to humanity’s twisted evolution, to even the macabre details in the setting, it’s this kind of literature that’s led many readers to understand not just the story itself, but how the writer...

Aspects of Setting

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

The Beauty of Historical Fiction

History has held onto many of the muses writers keep using. From the musings of the Borgias, to the arrogance of King Henry VIII, to even the pain of the Affair of the Poisons, it’s these instances in history that have led writers to the...

Horrific Inspirations: The Goatman

I spent around three years in Denton, Texas. It’s a small town full of liberals, and has a university that I’m grateful towards. But whenever I go out on Halloween, I can’t help but notice the way people talk about a certain bridge that’s been...

Character Inspiration: TV Shows and Movies (Part 2)

Personality Creating a personality for a character from scratch can be one of the hardest parts of writing as not only does the writer have to come up with a personality, but also that the personality needs to match up with the background of the character....

Character Inspiration: TV Shows and Movies (Part 1)

The first step in writing a book is always the inspiration; the book starts with the author becoming inspired to write their book. Once the writer has become inspired to write their story, they generally begin by writing an outline or a rough draft and...

Why Rewriting Is Essential

Oscar Wilde once proclaimed that he spent all morning adding a comma and all afternoon deleting it. As a writer, it is important to learn the art of analysing your own work, and not only relying on the use of a professional book editor. A novel...