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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...
Horrific Inspirations: The Paris Catacombs
Paris is filled with history and wondrous mysteries. The city has been a witness to historical events like the Affair of the Poisons and the French Revolution. It’s seen the Hundred Years' War, has lived through the Black Plague and gone through Napoleon’s downfall. Nowadays, Paris...
Horrific Inspirations: The Island of the Dolls
From the movie, Annabelle, to the iconic Chucky, dolls have played an important role in horror. In fact, a lot of people won’t even go near a creepy doll in a dark room, with their macabre smiles sneering at you. However, creepy takes a new...
Writing Personal Memoirs
People have a lot of stories to tell. Sometimes, those stories are lessons we can remember when we find ourselves in a moral quandary or inspiring tales we can use to motivate ourselves in darker times. And how writers share these stories is by, more...
The Bird of Hermes: George Ripley
Alchemy was an ancient practice dating back thousands of years. It’s a practice laid the foundations for actual scientific practices we value today, such as medicine, psychology, and experimentation. It brought to life biology, astrology, and chemistry, and had sown the seeds for some of...
Beta Testing Ideas with Fanfiction Part 2
Legal Writers need to understand that the legality of fanfiction applies to fanfiction works that are published or posted online and as a result, the writer needs to understand how to avoid legal trouble from writing the fanfiction. The easy way to avoid any legal issues...
Beta Testing Ideas with Fanfiction Part 1
One question of writing that troubles many fiction writers is how to find out if their ideas are not only good ideas but if they will be well received and understood by readers. Thankfully, there is a way for writers to have a beta test...
How Writers Can Keep Earning Under the Pandemic (Part 2 of 2)
They find that stories unrelated to the coronavirus are still in demand. The world continues to turn and life goes on. If you look at online job boards and wanted ads in social media, jobs for writers to pen non-pandemic related articles are alive and pulsing....
How Writers Can Keep Earning Under the Pandemic (Part 1 of 2)
You’re probably at home reading this. You’re finding ways how to make use of your time to maximize profits as a writer. Businesses are down and job seekers are struggling to find jobs as the indefinite period of our self-quarantine continues to suspend industries in...
Understanding Trials, Mistrials, and Juries Part 3
Juries and Jurors In order to understand how juries work, the writer needs to understand how jurors make decisions and how those decisions affect the jury as a whole. Most juries follow the same basic decision-making framework of (1) presentation of issues, (2) clarify questions and gather...
Understanding Trials, Mistrials, and Juries Part 2
Types of Trials Civil Cases A civil case is a trial that is comprised of a disagreement between two or more people or businesses. These cases do not involve criminal charges, but rather civil charges. Some examples of civil court cases are: 1. Disputes between landlords and tenants 2....