Writers in the Storm

by Hannah Jacobson

Writing a book is no small accomplishment. For many authors, earning award recognition along the way is the kind of validation that makes all those hours at the keyboard worthwhile. If you've ever wondered what it takes to write an award-winning book, you're not alone.

The books that earn recognition are almost never the ones written with winning in mind. They're the ones where authors showed up fully for their story, gave that work the professional production it deserved, and put it in front of the right opportunities.

Writing authentically, producing with care, and submitting strategically are what set award-winning authors apart.

Let's talk about what that looks like in practice.

Write the book you actually want to write

The books that stand out have something in common. Each one feels rooted in a distinct perspective with something real to say.

That quality tends to disappear the moment you start writing toward an external target (i.e., writing for the purpose of winning an award).

When the goal is matching a pattern rather than telling your story or making your argument, the choices that would have made your writing distinctly yours get smoothed away. What remains is technically competent, but mostly unmemorable for readers.

Writing authentically doesn't mean writing without intention or craft.

It means trusting that the most compelling version of your book is the one that reflects your real voice and point of view, not a version filtered through what you imagine someone else wants to read. As Jenn Windrow wrote in a recent Writers in the Storm post, your voice is the point. Write the work only you could write, then make it as good as it can possibly be.

Give your book the quality production it deserves

Strong writing can still fall short if the production doesn't match it. Professional presentation matters, and readers notice, even when they can't articulate why.

Start with your cover.

It's the first thing a reader sees, and it does significant work before anyone opens to page one. A strong cover communicates your genre clearly, holds up at thumbnail size, and feels like it belongs in your genre while still being distinctly yours.

For example, a romance cover and a thriller cover communicate very different things to a reader, and those conventions exist for good reason. Working within them (for the success of your book) isn't the same as copying them.

Interior design is just as important, even if readers rarely think consciously about it.

Clean formatting, readable fonts, organized front matter, and consistent structure all contribute to a reading experience that feels polished and professional. Poor execution in any of these areas creates friction that pulls readers out of your work.

Edit until it's ready

There are no shortcuts here. A well-edited book is non-negotiable, both for award consideration and for your readers.

Good editing goes well beyond catching errors. It means the structure holds, the voice is consistent, the pacing works, and nothing is getting in the way of your story or argument. Most books need more editorial support than authors expect, and that investment shows. If you want to go deeper on what the editing process should look like before you submit, this post is a good place to start.

One thing most authors don't realize…

You don't have to wait until your book is published to submit it for awards.

Many programs accept unpublished works or advance review copies before the official publication date. This means you can enter during your pre-publication window and, if you place, launch as an award-winning author from day one.

That kind of recognition changes how readers, reviewers, and booksellers encounter your work before it ever reaches shelves.

There is another advantage worth knowing about.

Some award programs share judges' feedback with entrants, regardless of outcome. For authors who submit before publication, that feedback arrives while there is still time to use it.

Outside readers with no stake in your success can surface things your editor and early readers may have missed. For example, a reader may detect a problem with pacing, a clarity issue, or a structural question you had not considered.

If you receive that feedback before you go to print, you can act on it.

Of course if your book is already published, it's always worth exploring your options. Most programs have eligibility windows that extend one to several years post-publication.

Find the right awards for your book

Once you have written the best version of your story and given it the production it deserves, the last step is making sure it reaches competitions that are a good fit.

Not every award is right for every book.

Genre alignment, category eligibility, the reputation of the organization, and what the award actually offers its winners and finalists are just a few factors that go into deciding whether an entry makes sense.

Entering strategically is generally a better use of your time and budget than entering broadly. If you want to dig deeper into how to evaluate your options, this earlier WITS post is a good place to start.

Final thoughts

Book awards are a powerful tool for authors, offering validation, credibility, and a path to readers who might never have found your work otherwise.

When you approach awards as part of a broader book strategy rather than the finish line, they can become one of the most rewarding investments you can make in your writing career.

Remember to write the story only you can tell, give it the professional production it deserves, and submit it strategically to competitions that are a great fit.

Your best work, properly positioned, can open doors you didn't even know existed.

Are you thinking about submitting your book for awards? We'd love to hear where you are in submission process!

About Hannah

Hannah Jacobson is the founder of Book Award Pro, the industry's leading platform for book awards and reviews. Book Award Pro operates the world's largest database of legitimate accolades, carefully vetting to ensure high standards for legitimacy and value. Every year, Book Award Pro helps thousands of authors and publishers find the right accolades for their books with confidence.

Additionally, as Awards Advisor for the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), Hannah brings deep industry knowledge about what makes an award or review truly valuable. She is recognized as a leading authority on literary accolades and author advocacy, and is passionate about helping authors navigate the world of book recognition with clarity.

Begin your award-winning journey for free or connect with Hannah and Book Award Pro on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

by Lisa Hall-Wilson

I see talented writers sabotage powerful stories during revisions all the time. Not because they lack skill, but because they revise at the sentence level while the emotional engine of the scene sits there cold and dead on the page.

Emotional tension on the page comes from competing desires, fears, expectations, and vulnerabilities colliding in real time.

A student recently told me:

“…I’m looking at every sentence and trying to improve it when I need to be focusing on specific moments.”

*mittened fist-bump*

Trying to improve every sentence instead of strengthening the emotional movement of a scene is exhausting. A scene succeeds or fails based on emotional movement.

Revision Traps to Avoid

Here are five revision traps I see repeatedly in deep POV manuscripts and how to fix them.

1. Summary vs Immersion

One of the biggest revision speedbumps comes from polishing summary instead of deciding whether summary belongs there at all.

We rush inside only to be forced to find a place along the wall because the ballroom is so full. The music and posh revelry compete for acoustical dominance.

This is summary. No competing emotional pressures are visible in the scene yet.

Instead, get curious.

Here are some questions I might add in the margins off the top of my head:

• How does the character feel about being late?
• Is the noise comforting, overwhelming, irritating?
• Do they feel invisible or exposed?
• What expectation just got shattered?

Summary tells readers what happened.

Deep POV lets readers experience the emotional consequences in real time.

Thane quickened his pace. My heels clicked faster across the marble floor as I wrestled my gown hem with one hand. A feminine voice drifted into the hallway from the stage. The show had already started.

“Great. We’re late.”

We stepped into the ballroom. Heat, perfume, and orchestral music crashed over me. Every table looked full. Every head already turned toward the stage. I tugged Thane against the wall like we were in time-out.

Now the reader is inside the experience instead of hearing about it afterward. Not every scene deserves expansion. But if the emotional beats are missing, readers disengage.

2. Narration After the Fact vs In-the-Moment Experience

You can spend three hours polishing a paragraph and still avoid the emotional truth of the scene. This is one of the sneakiest forms of narrative distance in deep POV. Writers delay the emotional reaction until the moment has already passed. Deep POV thrives on immediacy. Readers want to experience the emotional shift as it happens.

Brewer stood across the ballroom near the bar. Staring at me. I folded my arms over my stomach and leaned deeper into Thane’s shadow.

Thane followed my stare and reached for my hand. “Ignore him.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “We’re going to have fun tonight.”

My spine straightened and I looked up at him. He met my gaze without hesitation, a slow smile spreading across his face.

The emotional realization happens inside the interaction, not paragraphs later.

When revising deep POV, move the emotional consequence closer to the trigger. When would this character actually feel this? That’s where the reaction belongs.

3. Generalized Emotion vs Specific Emotional Experience

One of the fastest ways to weaken deep POV is relying on emotional labels (nervous, anxious, happy, afraid…). These labels are efficient, but they aren’t immersive. Readers connect when they recognize the human experience behind the emotion.

Real emotion causes us to react. Emotions serve us by informing and protecting us. So…

• Fear can look like avoidance.
• Anxiety can look like overexplaining.
• Perfectionism can look like fixation.
• Survival can look like emotional numbness.
• Anger can look like cracking jokes,
• and shame can show up as irrational anger.

This is where deep POV lives.

Instead of labelling an emotion (summary or explaining), instead ask:

• What are they trying not to feel?
• What fear just got activated?
• What are they trying to hide?
• What coping mechanism appears automatically?

I was nervous.

Versus:

I checked my phone again even though the screen was still black. “He’s probably just running late.”

Or:

She was embarrassed.

Versus:

She took a sip of water to hide the heat spreading across her cheeks.

Specificity creates intimacy because readers recognize themselves inside those reactions. And we often downplay the emotions in our work because we’re afraid of melodrama.

But intensity isn’t melodrama. Unearned intensity is.

Writers often call something “melodramatic” when what they really mean is emotionally uncomfortable (for the writer).

Emotional reactions become believable when they’re grounded in the body, context, and character psychology. What are you risking? If you don’t have a vulnerability hangover writing key emotional scenes, maybe you’re still protecting the character—or yourself.

4. Explanation vs Dramatization

Writers often explain emotions because they don’t trust readers to infer meaning. But dramatization lets readers interpret meaning.

How is the character interpreting this moment? Not in a self-analytical, pyramid-style objective news piece, but in a lived-in-real-time human way?

He can’t be in love with me. I poked at the stubborn roll of fat on my belly. Not yet at least.

Or:

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my words down. I waited for the smile. For him to say he didn’t mean it like that. That I was being too sensitive.

Give your readers the opportunity to participate emotionally.

5. Talking About Emotion Instead of Embodying Emotion

This is probably the biggest deep POV problem I see. Characters talk about emotions instead of living them on the page.

I have read pages of cerebral navel gazing, and I’m sure some people are able to be that analytical in the moment. But generally, I don’t think to myself about how sad I am. Woe is me. Rather, I grab a pint of ice cream and watch archaeology on YouTube.

I’m grateful for the swoon and shiver I get from his confident touch…

Versus:

His hand settled against my back. Warm. Steady.

Deep POV is sensory before it’s analytical. The body reacts first. Interpretation comes second. That order matters.

Deep POV Revisions Go Faster When You Stop Revising Every Sentence

Deep POV rarely works with a single emotion. Humans experience layered emotions constantly.

• Relief mixed with shame.
• Attraction tangled with resentment.
• Fear competing with hope.

Those contradictions create authenticity.

When revising for deep POV, ask:

• Where does the emotional shift happen?
• What triggers it?
• Is the reaction immediate and proportional (why or why not)?
• How is the emotion felt physically?
• What conflicting emotions are present?
• What is the character risking emotionally in this scene?

Deep POV isn’t about adding more words, more description, more emotion. Deep POV is the discipline of refusing emotional shortcuts.

It requires writers to stop explaining emotion, stop polishing around emotion, and finally put the raw emotional experience on the page where readers can feel it too. That’s why deep POV revisions feel exhausting at first.

You’re no longer fixing sentences, you’re telling the truth.

Where do you struggle during revisions? Is it with Deep POV or getting the immediacy of emotion on the page? What other Deep Point of View questions do you have for Lisa? Please share them down in the comments!

About Lisa

Lisa Hall-Wilson is an award-winning writer and author. She’s the author of Method Acting For Writers: Learn Deep Point Of View Using Emotional Layers. Her blog, (Https://lisahallwilson.com)  explores all facets of the popular writing style deep point of view and offers practical tips for beginning thru advanced fiction writers. 

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by Rebecca Forster

Forty years ago I published my first book. I also found myself creatively tongue-tied when the publisher asked me for a back-of-the-cover biography. I had lived a full life at that point, so why was it so daunting to write about myself?

The answer is that I, like you, am a fiction writer.

The Character and the Author are not the Same Challenge

When we write our books, we reach outward, imagining our way into a fictional consciousness. The characters act at our bidding, the world in which they exist is one of our choosing. If we’re dissatisfied with any aspect of that universe, we change it.

The professional bio is restrictive, asking us to work with our history. Turning our creativity inward is awkward at best, but the reader wants to be introduced to a confident and marketable entity while we want them just to read our books.

So, we must bite the bullet and pen an intriguing introduction to ourselves. Modesty does not belong in a bio any more than hubris, and that is a fine line to walk. So what are we to do?

Turning to an Expert

After my tenth book, I knew I needed a more polished face to the public, so I turned to Robin Blakely, CEO of Creative Center of America, a branding coach who specializes in working with creatives.

One of the first things she did was revamp my bio. The next step was to help me embrace the vibrant author it portrayed. I asked her to breakdown the critical thinking behind that biography.

Tips, Tricks and a Robin Makeover

1. Hook them immediately.

Example: “Rebecca started writing novels on a crazy dare.”

Note: I have seen hundreds of bios that begin with some version of “my childhood love of writing was discovered by my English teacher.”

Spoiler alert: We were all in English class—and yes, good teachers matter—but that’s not what makes you memorable. There’s a more interesting, more unusual way to share your origin story. Find it.

2. Tell a story, not a résumé.

Example: “After earning her MBA, Rebecca spent more than a dozen years as a marketing executive before taking the leap into a full-time creative career.”

Note: That’s the setup for the author story promised in the hook.A list of accomplishments is impressive, but what matters is the arc of the character called you.

Spoiler alert: Rebecca was a successful ad exec who was dared to write a book because a client’s wife had done it. That “wife”? Danielle Steel.

3. Let credibility support the story—not replace it.

Example: “Now she is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author of more than 40 books—work that the CBS Legal Correspondent calls ‘perfect…impossible to put down.’”

Note: Define who you are now in a repeatable way. Credentials should back up your story, not be the whole story.

4. Be specific enough to be believable.

Example: “Her Witness Series has remained on bestseller lists for over five years in both the U.S. and U.K.”

Note: “Success” is vague and subjective. “Five years on bestseller lists in two countries” is clear and credible. If you aren’t at that level of success yet this rule doesn’t change, but don’t inflate or generalize.

Small and specific beats big and vague every time. Maybe your debut novel reached the top 100 in its category on Amazon or maybe you have launched a series of events that start at the local Barnes and Noble. Each rung on the ladder is real success.

5. Leave us with something we’ll remember.

Example: “Rebecca lives in Southern California with her husband, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. When she’s not writing, she’s traveling, teaching, or collecting the kind of details that eventually find their way into a courtroom scene.”

Note: This is the part where many bios fizzle out or get chaotic. Don’t empty your junk drawer of facts here. Help us understand that you know what you’re writing about.When you do, it makes us more curious to know you (and to read your work).

The Final Permission

As writers, we are often unsure of our work until it is validated through reviews or editorial approval. Even then, we second guess ourselves.

Let’s stop doing that.

Let’s shine not only through our work but through our branding because we’ve earned the right.

Consider this your permission to look inward and share your real-life, wonderful, accomplished self with humor, honesty, and above all confidence.

Rebecca Forster started writing on a crazy dare and found her passion. Now a USA Today and Amazon best selling author, Forster is known for her legal thrillers and police procedurals. Over three million readers have enjoyed her Josie Bates thrillers in the Witness Series alone. With over 40 books to her name, Rebecca had a long career in traditional publishing before becoming an indie author. Her fast-paced tales of law and justice are known for deep characterization and never-see-it-coming endings.

In an effort to make her work as realistic as possible, Rebecca has graduated from the DEA and ATF Citizens academies, landed by tail hook and spent two days on the nuclear submarine U.S.S Nimitz, engaged in police ride-alongs, and continues to court watch whenever possible.

Rebecca has taught at the acclaimed UCLA Writers Program and various colleges and universities. She is a sought-after speaker at bar and judges' associations as well as philanthropic groups and writing conferences. Rebecca is also a repeat speaker at the LA Times Festival of Books.

Rebecca has just released The 9th Witness, the final book in her acclaimed Witness Series, Josie Bates Thrillers. Find all her books at any online bookstore or here: https://www.rebeccaforster.com/.

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