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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...

What Makes a Great Story?

I love reading but due to my busy schedule, I’ve learned to embrace audio books. I can run through several audio books, especially on those days that I spend a lot of time in the car traveling. Initially, I was not a fan, but an...

Time Travel Story Problems

Time travel is an interesting concept that appears most often in science fiction and fantasy genres. However, while anyone can write a time travel story, not everyone can write a good one that makes sense. One of the biggest struggles most authors face when it comes...

How to Write Legal Fanfiction

If you have decided that you want to try your hand at writing fanfiction and posting it online, the first thing you need to do is make sure you are writing legal fanfiction. Fanfiction is when a writer takes the story and/or characters from a...

Taking Inspiration: Fanfiction

The first step in writing a book is always the inspiration; the book starts with the author becoming inspired to write their fiction book. That inspiration is what leads to character creation, plot line creation, and setting creation. Now not all books require inspiration for the...

Tips for Writing Believable Animal Characters

Animals in fiction have always left an impression on readers, from the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland to the tragic story of Old Yeller. They're friends and companions, show human nature, teach life lessons, or simply cause mischief with riddles and disappearing bodies. How...

Tips for Making Your Fairy Tale Retelling Different

To write a fairy tale you need to know your fairy tales. There are several out there, many that are rarely heard of. There's French, German, Chinese, and so many other tales from around the world. Even the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson have...

Advice for Writing Historical Fiction

There are several fascinating people in history that can be used for inspiration, from Anne Frank to the love affair of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Don't be afraid to tell stories based on real life people, and give an inside look into the personal...

Tips for Writing the Hard-Boiled Detective

Hard-boiled detectives originated with pulp magazines and were first in circulation in the 1920s. These detectives were popular, especially in noir. The detectives often lived outside the law, made up their own rules, had a rough outlook on life, and usually had a tragic back...

What to Write about in the World/International

The World/International is a very diverse field because of the numerous different countries and cultures that it can involve. The immensity of the topic area means that the writer needs to narrow the topic down by both perspective and focus. In choosing a perspective the...

Tips for Collaborative Writing Long Distance

When someone thinks of a novel, it's usually with the thought of one author. Or you think about your own novel, and don't think of having someone help with the writing process. Not many people think about collaboration. It can be difficult enough to navigate...