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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...

How to Craft a Hero That Sweeps the Heroine off Her Feet

From the first appearance of the hero in the heroine's life, something about him needs to affect her in a way that no other man ever has. Despite the hero's special qualities and the connection between the two main characters that need to be established...

How To Make Your Romance Heroine Realistic

To ensure your readers identify with the heroine, you need to make her feel real. This doesn’t necessarily require her to be someone your reader could be or knows. What matters is that you give her reference points that your readers can appreciate, slipping smoothly...

How To Access Resources for Intending Romance Writers 

In writing romance novels, you may need to find the right community. Many sources exist to give you a chance to interact with aspiring and published writers and find guidance and instruction for your craft. This is not a complete list, but it includes some...

All You Need to Know About Narrative Writing

The fiction genre is very broad and offers a wide variety of exciting opportunities for authors as far as writing is concerned. It goes without saying, it is the most competitive genre of the two genres of writing. There are many tools, devices, and rules...

Types of Writing Styles

As a writer, having and delivering your content in the right context matters more than even how skilled you are at writing. What good will it do your audience if your writing abilities are magnificent but they can’t place the context of your writing? There...

The Types of Expository Writing and How to Make Them Interesting

Expository writing is a very important writing tool, especially for authors whose specialization is in the nonfiction genre. It is the only tool in writing that allows readers to learn something new or maybe understand better what they already know. In fact, when using the...

4 Genres Closely Related to Romance

There are a couple of non-romance subgenres that are often grouped into the romance genre or referred to generally as women's fiction. They are closely related to romance but only feature some elements of romance on the side, but not the main attraction. The difference...

5 Fundamental Expectations of Romance Readers

Like every other genre of fiction, romance is crafted with the reader's expectations in mind. To write a good romance novel, you need to know what these expectations are and strive to meet them. There are five fundamental promises every romance is supposed to fulfill....

5 Subgenres of Romance Novels

Before you venture into writing romance, you need to be aware of the various subgenres that exist in it. With this knowledge, you can define your writing and write according to the essential requirement that fulfills readers’ expectations in a particular subgenre. We will look...

How successful writers appeal to their reader's emotions?

One of the most effective ways to keep your readers turning the pages is to speak to their emotions. Writers need to remember that people don't read to share a writer's experience; they want their own experiences. Readers create these experiences by identifying and emphasizing...