Book Review and Contest Insights from Real Reviews and Submissions

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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...

Good Copyediting is Vital to the Success of Your Book (3)

Ten Top Tips for Good Copyediting 1. Quotation Marks Surprised? Most people expect spelling to be at the top of this list. Correct spelling is vital, of course, and we’ll get to that soon. So why on earth begin with quotation marks? Because nothing screams Amateur! like incorrect...

Monsters from Mesopotamian Myths

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...

Jamaican Monsters

Mythical Creatures of Iceland

The Writing Ritual That Worked For Me

I have tried many ways to keep focused over the years when I am starting a new writing project or facing dreaded writer’s block. I always try to set unrealistic goals of writing so many words every day and have failed miserably. I asked myself...

Good Copyediting is Vital to the Success of Your Book (2)

Get Organized for Maximum Effect There’s no such thing as a perfectly copyedited book. If you look hard enough, you’ll find that every book has its errors or things that could have been done better. Nobody’s perfect, after all. And while it’s right to aim for...

How To Build Tension and Suspense

‘The suspense is terrible, I hope it will last.’-- Oscar Wilde. Creating tension or suspense in a novel is not only limited to a thriller or horror. It can be used in any genre. Will the couple get together? Will the hero save the day? Tension...

Creating Realistic Characters

When I first started writing, I struggled continuously with creating good characters. They spoke and acted in an unrealistic and two-dimensional manner. When writing a villain, for example, it is such a temptation to over exaggerate the evilness in the character so your reader is...

Good Copyediting is Vital to the Success of Your Book (1)

There are lots of reasons why a book can fail to find readers, some of which are out of anyone’s control. However, two of the principal reasons why a book doesn’t succeed are these: • It has not been copyedited. • It has been badly copyedited. From the...

Use a Character Collage to Stay Inspired

I am a visual person and I find that using these visual cues helps my writing enormously. For example, if I am using a location I’ve never visited before, finding images of the location really helps. Google Maps is another great visual aid if your location...