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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...

How to Submit your Manuscript

You have written your book and you are ready to send the manuscript to a publishing house, but how do you do this? The first thing to remember is that every publisher will have different rules and requirements for submission so read these carefully before...

How to Best Approach a Literary Agent

You have finished writing your book and it has been edited to perfection, it is ready for the world to read, so how do you go about approaching a literary agent? First, in order to approach publishing houses you will need to find yourself a...

Are There Different Types of Literary Agents?

The answer to this question really is no, all literary agents perform the same role. However, you can categorise literary agents into the genres that they deal with. So, for example, you will have nonfiction literary agents and screenplay literary agents. They all pretty much...

How Do You Increase Your Chances Of Success When Querying Agents?

Sometimes you might send many query letters, only to realize that you get too many form rejections for no apparent reason. There are several things that authors often overlook and don’t want to consider. For example, the problem might not be in the query letter...

Playing the Waiting Game After You Send Query Letters

Writing and trying to get published can be a frustrating affair. The hardest part of this process has to be the wait before you receive responses from agents after sending out query letters. Literary agents can be compared to glaciers when it comes to doing...

Mastering The Art Of Sending Query Letters

When you are sending out query letters, you should always remember that “knowledge is power.” Ignorance may be bliss in some industries but when it comes to the publishing field, you should gather as much information as you can about everything. In publishing, you put...

Do I Need a Literary Agent?

Like everything in life, you do not need a literary agent, but it is extremely useful to have one working with you, especially if you are a first time writer and looking to secure that elusive book deal. This is especially true if you want...

Literary Agents: Do We Really Need Them?

Do I really need a literary agent when trying to get my book published? This must be one of the most asked questions by any writer who wants to see their book in print. So, what is the answer? Well the answer is both yes...

Why You Should Consider a Literary Agent When You Have Self-published

Self-publishing is a wonderful opportunity for any writer to be able to publish their work independently; they remain in creative control and it is a useful way of finding out if they have a popular book. Basically they can test the waters, so to speak,...

Mastering The Art Of Writing A Proposal For A Non-Fiction Book

Non-fiction books do not have to be completed before you start looking for an agent. Books such as how-to and self-help books can be sold to agents and editors using proposals. A book proposal has certain components that you must include. Below are the vital...