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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

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...

Does Reading Literature Really Make You Smarter And Nicer?

Many scholars don’t agree that reading literature has the ability to change you in any way. This is largely because there are few studies that try to relate reading literature with improved mental capability. However, there is evidence that reading literature makes you smarter. Professor...

Lessons That Novelists Can Learn From Screenwriters

People who love to read books and those who can’t stay away from movies are considered to be very different. Many people who do both claim that books are better than their movies. On the other hand, some people who read books see the movie...

Ten Rules Fiction Writers Must Know

1. Don’t use prologues because they can be annoying to readers. A prologue that comes immediately after a foreword should especially be avoided. However, forewords are usually found in non-fiction novels so fiction writers should be a little safer. In a fiction novel, a prologue...

7 Tips for Creative Writers

In order to write captivating short stories or the beginning chapter of a book, you should start as close as possible to the action. If it is a novel, start with the incident that will give the plot a rolling start. If you leave anything...

How to Write an Author Bio

As an author, why do you have to learn how to write an effective author bio? There are a lot of reasons. First, there are many situations where information about you is required such as an author directory, blog pages, promotional pages, and even the...

Can Writing a Blog Help Sell Your Book?

Congratulations! You have written a book. You have published a book. And now, your concern is to sell your book. You are wondering if writing a blog can help sell your book. Technically, writing a blog is neutral. It could have a positive or negative...

3 Tips to Start Writing a Novel

The authors that struggle to start writing novels are usually those that write fiction. There are many ways a person can start writing a novel and mastering all the techniques can turn a run-of-the-mill writer to an excellent author. We shall tackle three main points...

Useful Writing Tips for Fiction Writers

Fiction writing becomes more complicated and multi-layered as you explore it. When you go through the process of brainstorming, outlining, researching, writing, and revising several times, you discover countless details about fiction writing. The creative writing and technical aspects of writing fiction novels are particularly...

Writing Tips for Short Story Writers

Most people wonder why it is important to have tips for short story writers. The answer to this conundrum is that every writing style has its own requirements and peculiarities. For short stories, you have to write a complete story with enough detail in a...

How to Write a Novel to the End

Kurt Vonnegut said that one’s soul grows as he practices an art, no matter how well or badly. If this is true, novelists must have the most mature souls because the art of writing requires patience and persistence. The following are some points that will...