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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...

The Challenges of Writing Young Adult Fiction

Young Adult fiction (YA) is targeted at readers between 13 and 17 years of age because it tackles subjects that relate to their experience in some way. But, while it’s written with teens as the intended audience, many adults enjoy reading it too. YA is...

Are You a Rhyme Criminal?

You have a great idea for a children's picture book, and you've decided to tell it in verse. Children love poetry because they can anticipate the rhyming words and say them along with the adults reading the book to them. You already know that picture...

Inspiring Activities

I don’t care what people say, writer’s block is real. We all get burned out even on things we love, and a break is necessary to replenish the creative well. Sometimes you can tell when that dreaded case of writer’s block will happen. For example,...

Alternatives to Journaling

I could never stick with journaling. From my days in middle school where it was required in English class to a counselor telling me it was necessary after my Dad passed away, I couldn’t seem to make myself do it. It felt like a chore,...

Five Free Resources for Writers

We all feel the pinch of inflation and soaring gas prices these days. It seems like costs are rising while paychecks stagnate, leading us to be more creative about making better use of what we have and buying less. Today, I’d like to tell you...

Insight about Writing a Short Story

Short stories are the shorter version of novels and fall between thousand to five thousand words. These word restraints challenge the writer's creativity. Crafting a story with a theme, well-developed characters, a plot, and an ending is complex. The limited number of words also limits...

How to Write Fight Scenes

Fight scenes can be daunting to write. In simple terms, the conflict in your story manifests as physical violence in an all-out fight. Here are some essential tips for writing good fight scenes that hold your reader's attention:  Plan your fight scenes in advance:  Fights don't happen randomly....

Plot, the Rise and the Fall

The plot is not just a device we use to move a story forward. A plot must have a purpose and a meaning to both the character and the reader. The plot is driven by the character and the character is driven by the plot. One...

How To Write A Negative Review

As a reviewer, coming across a book that one did not like is frequent. The negative review written without consideration might deter a writer from the art. Therefore, one needs to be careful while crafting such reviews.  Writing a positive review is much easier, in my...

How Colors are Incorporated in Writing to Depict Different Moods

To write effectively is to make your readers be present in your story and feel the mood of the story’s setting. Color symbolism is one such element that has been used in literature over many years, either to describe the spirit of the environment or...