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Thank you so much for participating in the awards. The entries all had something truly unique or special about them. However, there can only be one winner and just like a good steak, our judges must trim the fat.
Below, are the first round results for Dark Romance.
Good luck to those continuing and thank you for your efforts to those who didn't make it through.
AzraKhanna - Royal Secrets (Shhhh) Title: 0/5 Cover: 0/5 Blurb: 0/10 Hook: 0/10 Total: 0/30 Notes: Disqualified for not completing payment.
OmaPhinaPhire - THE EMPEROR'S BRIDE: VOLUME ONE Title: 4.5/5 Cover: 3.5/5 Blurb: 4/10 Hook: 3/10 Total: 15/30 Notes: The title is good, concise, original and fits the book. The cover is pretty, but the bottom of the title is cut off and the author's name is hard to read.
The formatting of the blurb — large spaces and overuse of emojis — make it hard to read. There are some spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors in the blurb, so make sure you edit it (Grammarly can help with that). I do think that it has all the elements needed in the blurb, but they're spread out and organized in a way that makes it hard to understand. I'd recommend rewriting it and concentrating all the important information in two to three paragraphs.
I had to scroll through 11 chapters before reaching Chapter 1. That's the largest amount of introduction chapters I've ever seen, by far. Adding an author's note and a prologue is fine, but it's best to keep it below three chapters. This is exhausting to look at (especially if you take into account all the ads we have to look at before we even get to any actual writing) and will put off most readers before they even reach the hook — it affected my scoring for that particular rubric. The first paragraph, while very well written, is too long, and followed by longer paragraphs. There's nothing the reader's eye gets caught on, just a wall of text. I'd suggest starting with a short, punchy line, and cutting the following paragraphs into smaller ones to improve the reader's experience.
Elisha_Pillayy - THE MAFIA'S TESORO Title: 3,5/5 Cover: 4,5/5 Blurb: 4/10 Hook: 5/10 Total: 17/30 Notes: You are a talented writer, but overall, the book feels a bit cliché. Don't get me wrong, I love a well-done cliché, but I feel like your book needs more unique features to stand out from your typical Wattpad mafia romance.
The title has already been used by other stories, some with 1 million or more reads. The cover is beautiful and very well-made but it's very similar to many stories in the same genre. The blurb was really short, and didn't give many clues about the story, aside from the prompt you used for ONC and that it's a mafia romance. I'd recommend you add more details about Viola (How old is she, what does she do for a living, is there anything special about her or is she just that ordinary?), the setting (Where and when is it happening?). Another thing I would like to know is the conflict. What are the two choices? "One is darkness, one is light" is too vague. Perhaps you don't have to give away everything, but a bit more of a hint could make for a better hook and capture the reader's attention.
