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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. Below that are hundreds of articles on topics all authors face in today’s literary landscape. Get help and advice on Writing, Marketing, Publishing, Social Networking 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...

Creative Mindfulness: List-Making

Mindfulness is the act of focusing your brain in a relaxed manner and allowing yourself to notice sensory experiences as a means of reaching a state of peace in your own head. This is particularly useful for people who are prone to stress and negative...

About Alliteration

As a writer, it’s good that you learn something new every day, or at least once in a while. What comes into your mind when you see the word alliteration? Yes, it is a literary device. But what exactly is alliteration? I know some writers...

How Suspense Applies in a Romance Novel

Suspense in romance is not the same as what is obtainable in crime or mystery novels; there may not be shooting, fighting and running through dark alleys. These elements may be present in romantic suspense, but in romance generally, suspense is the general kind common...

Identifying Creative Ideas for Your Romance Novel From the World Around You 

The truth is many authors have trained their subconscious to recognize story ideas. For them, it seems as though ideas just come from nowhere. This could be you, or you may need to train yourself to find ideas when and where you need them. The...

Concrete Methods to Crafting Compelling Romance Characters

The key to making compelling romance characters is the same with every genre of fictional narrative: you need to know your characters inside out. Of course, so much of what you find out about them (especially the secondary characters) won’t make it into the story,...

Metaphors

A metaphor is one of the literary devices writers use for various purposes in their work; we'll look at the purposes later on. Some writers have not embraced the use of metaphors that much, maybe because of the genre they deal with, or it’s just...

How To Create Secondary Characters That Enhance Your Romance Novel

Like every main character, the romance hero and heroine don’t exist in a void; they have family, friends, and colleagues. Secondary characters are equally important to your love story, and they help to drive the plot forward and highlight the traits of the main characters....

How to Excel at Persuasive Writing

Chances are very high that you encounter content in persuasive writing all through your day. For instance, you did choose your vacation destination because of that travel brochure you read, right? And not just that, your plane ticket too, right? Well, these are among the...

Four Hero Archetypes of Romance Novels

Every romance hero is not the same. Over time, romance readers have come to identify different types of heroes, each one having his own appeal. You can craft a hero from a combination of these archetypes, and you should use these archetypes as a starting...

What Do You Know About Descriptive Writing?

Have you ever read any piece of writing and you felt like you pretty much had a visual idea of what was being talked about, even without seeing the exact item being alluded to in the piece of writing? Or better still, you may have...