Author Services
Author Articles
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
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)
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 To Consider When Choosing Your Genre, Topic and Title
The very first thing you should think about when you decide to write is what exactly you want to write about. For some people, choosing a genre, topic and title is an easy task, but not so much for others. It is imperative that you...
Developing Your Personal Writing Style
Simply put, writing style refers to how you use language. Your specific style is developed from how you use certain features of a particular language to bring out the meaning. As a writer, there is something distinctive about the way you use these features that...
10 Ways To Polish Your Writing
10 Ways To Polish Your Writing 1. Avoid Long-Winded Statements: Long-winded explanations and unnecessary details are boring, exhausting, and take the pleasure out of the reading experience. If the additional explanation adds very little or nothing to the content, leave it out. Read an example of...
Three Mistakes to Avoid on Your Fiction First Draft
Whether you’re looking to entice your readers with your wonderful, well-imagined, and exciting characters or to grab the attention of a literary agent with your powerful storytelling skills, there are some elements of writing that writers tend to ignore when they write the first draft and...
Authors Who Inspire
There was a time when readers avoided memoirs. There was no spark to the story; it was dry and uninspiring; it just told a story about a person’s life. With the increasing demands to entertain readers, to capture their attention from the first line, the...
Writing About Social Issues For the Young Adult Market
There are a lot of pressing issues facing teens today. One of the biggest concerns is teen suicide. What drives a teenager to want to end his/her life? It can’t be stress and peer pressure alone. Two serious causes of teen suicide have been identified:...
How to Switch Between Your Creative Brain and Editing Brain
We've all been there. Writer's block. You sit down at your computer, ready to write 500 more words in your book today... and nothing happens. You try to pound out a couple hundred, but afterwards your new section jars with the flow that the rest...
Top 5 Best Software Programs for Organizing Your Novel
With the advent of technology, writers of the modern age have a new set of tools to boost their creativity and increase their productivity. Thanks to these programs, they can easily organize their thoughts and edit their work. But with so many programs available on the...
The How, Why, And When Of Writing Nonfiction Book Introductions
When readers are deciding whether or not to buy a book, they usually start by looking at introductions. Introductions answer the pertinent questions that readers ask when buying books. The title, cover, and synopsis might already have potential readers interested. The only thing remaining for...
Rewriting Tips - Murder your Darlings
“Rewriting Tips - Murder your Darlings” by Debra Gaynor How exciting! You had an idea, cultivated it, and spent countless hours putting it to paper, and now you are finally done! Congratulations! You have done what many dream of doing but lack the drive to accomplish....