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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...

Let Contrast Enliven Your Characters

One way to grab, and keep, your readers’ attention is by letting your characters have contrasting attributes in their personalities. I’m not speaking of your story’s plot containing a twist or having a surprise ending. I mean conflicting qualities within a person. Here’s an example: One of your...

Why Writers Should Use Action Tags

Any work of fiction can be improved with the judicious use of action tags. As their name implies, action tags show characters engaging in some sort of physical action. They’re used in conjunction with dialogue. Here are a couple of examples, first a simple one...

Why and How to Write a Nut ‘Graph

You have heard the expression “the story in a nutshell,” which means telling a story quickly and including only the most important information. Learning to tell your story in a nutshell is a useful skill. This process is called writing a nut ‘graph (sometimes spelled nut...

For Nonfiction Writers: How to Write a Direct Lead

The simplest way to start a nonfiction article, especially for inexperienced writers, is to employ a direct lead. Also known as a traditional lead, a direct lead tells who did what and perhaps when and where they did it. Here’s an example:      George Washington...

Understanding Motivation Part 3

Fun Workplace Theory It has been found that incorporating fun in the workplace can have an influence on motivation. Hazelton (2014) noted that positive emotions contribute to productivity and that positive emotions tend to be generated by fun working experiences. Hazelton (2014) also found that having...

Understanding Motivation Part 2

While it is important to understand the basics of motivation, a deeper understanding can also be useful for writers who wish to go for a more in-depth explanation of their characters' motivations. For a more in-depth understanding and explanations of motivation, one would need to...

Understanding Motivation Part 1

In my article "The Need for Psychology Understanding” I discussed how fiction writers need at least a basic understanding of psychology in order to write realistic content, dialogues, characters, and relationships. One such psychological concept is motivation. An understanding of motivation can help fiction writers...

Use Specific Nouns and Verbs for Vivid Writing

Here’s a tip that improves any genre of writing—make your nouns as specific as possible. The more specific your nouns are the richer the mental picture will be in your readers’ minds. As an example, we might write:             Mud covered her...

Contractions – To Use or Not to Use

Which is better? I’ve been thinking about what you’ve been telling me. You’ll know who’s behind it all. You ain’t e’er seen what he’d’ve seen. Or: I have been thinking about what you have been telling me. You will know who is behind it all. You have not...

Don’t Ever Assume Writing is Easy

So, you think writing is easy. Have you ever read a book and thought to yourself, I could write this? I’m sure we’re all guilty of that sentiment. After all, there are only a few basics to writing a good novel, a good story, right?...