Inability to work

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ReneeF
Posts: 204
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:52 pm

Inability to work

Post by ReneeF »

Back in august I had a request from a client, my first. I had 50 days to complete the request. I have yet to send him one article. The request of 50 articles is due October 8th. I keep submitting articles to it and they keep getting deleted or rejected by editors.

1. "Please submit articles closer to deadline."
2. "It is not my job to edit your work."
3. Vague editing requests ie. "There are too many errors" "Please proof your work more carefully"
4. "The article is too long." (the request is for 500-word articles with the exception of one submission on special request of 5,000 words)
5. "The article is missing hyphenation." (mind telling me where?)
6. "Please remove erroneous hyphenation." (which one is erroneous?)
7. "DO NOT MAKE COMMENTS IN THE SUMMARY BOX! The summary box is not a messaging system." (I posted in the summary box that "The article was for the customer XXXX and please let editor XXX know it has been submitted, thanks." because that is what editor XXX asked me to do in an email.)

You can easily replace the word "hyphenation" above with any mistake I could make for punctuation, grammar, commas, apostrophes, or the like. The editor doesn't point them out.(well the first time I submitted it back in the beginning of August the editor made it to paragraph 5 and stopped!) I have edited the first article well over 30 times now, and run it through editing programs, had others proof it, etc. I am at a loss. I have 49 more articles to write for this particular request and I can't get them submitted. I feel as if I am being purposefully held back because I pissed off an editor and now I am on their hit list. This is my first private request and I am about to fail because of odd and erroneous reasons. The client requested the work back in July, but because I was in the middle of moving, I had him hold off the request until August. Now he is beyond Pissed that he hasn't even gotten ONE article from me for the request. (He has purchased 4 articles from me over the past year and wants "hundreds and hundreds" from me this fall.)


On other submissions:

I have tried submitting other articles while waiting for responses and this one article in particular, it was rejected at first because it needed to be split into two articles. So I did. Then they were rejected because they should be joined into one article (the article is two lists: a list of symptoms and then a list of foods that causes those symptoms). The second reject reason was because the articles separately needed to list what the other article listed. So, I joined them and resubmitted. And now they need to be separated again because "they really should be two articles." what gives? On all three submissions these articles were outright deleted from the system, no chance to edit or give an explanation. They don't send them back with editing requests, they just up and delete them from the system and I get an email telling me why.

I've been with CC over two years and I havnt seen the editors this unhelpful before. Did I miss some huge update to the system? Are the editors just that overwhelmed that they can't take the time to help us help their clients? Did we get new editors? If I pissed any editor here off in any way, I am so so sorry. Can I buy you a cup of coffee to make it up to you? Do you not get paid to be an editor here? Or does the pay really suck that much?

I now have 49 more articles to finish writing and editing and about 15 days to do it in. I am completely overwhelmed and just wish things could go more smoothly.
(I have another client outside of CC, a group blog, who has requested 55 articles from me by October 20th. I REALLY REALLY need to get this CC order done so I can make that deadline too!)

:cry:
tayalltheway
Posts: 62
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2013 1:44 pm

Re: Inability to work

Post by tayalltheway »

Sheesh, sounds like they're really putting you through the ringer. If I might ask, what industry/category are all these articles for? I always wonder if that factor determines what editor they give you.
ReneeF
Posts: 204
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:52 pm

Re: Inability to work

Post by ReneeF »

The clients request is in marketing, the other rejects are in health, finance, and food. I've had very few edit requests and zero rejects for the last year (roughly 30 articles) and now.. Two months and I can't get anything up for sale.

I use open office and do not have editing plug-ins or apps on it. So ALL my editing WAS done manually. Recently, I put these last rejects through After the Deadline and a couple of other online editing programs and only found one missing hyphen and a couple missing apostrophes.

I even got one article deleted for "word choices"

What does that even mean?
tayalltheway
Posts: 62
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2013 1:44 pm

Re: Inability to work

Post by tayalltheway »

Do you know who the CC project manager is for the client? If so, I'd email them directly and explain the situation. If not, I'd message the client and ask if they can have their project manager email you. I deal directly with the project managers for a lot of my clients on here, and they always seem to be good at getting things done.
ReneeF
Posts: 204
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:52 pm

Re: Inability to work

Post by ReneeF »

tayalltheway wrote:Do you know who the CC project manager is for the client? If so, I'd email them directly and explain the situation. If not, I'd message the client and ask if they can have their project manager email you. I deal directly with the project managers for a lot of my clients on here, and they always seem to be good at getting things done.
He emailed me once, about 3 weeks ago, asked why it hadnt been turned in by then. I responded. And now this is the 5th email and still no response back from the project manager.

I'm going to just keep writing and editing and submitting. So at least the project manager will be able to see that I did my best to do as requested.
JDWhang
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:54 am

Re: Inability to work

Post by JDWhang »

>2. "It is not my job to edit your work."

They really should change these people's job titles.
ReneeF
Posts: 204
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:52 pm

Re: Inability to work

Post by ReneeF »

JDWhang wrote:>2. "It is not my job to edit your work."

They really should change these people's job titles.
Yes, it should be "admin." why dont they just hire editors? Seems we could sell more articles that way.

But that comment wasn't really helpful as to WHY the editor simply deleted my article. That was their ONLY comment.
JDWhang
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:54 am

Re: Inability to work

Post by JDWhang »

Depending on how their system is set up, it might be in the editors' best interests to be unhelpful. If you reject a bunch of articles with quick, vague comments and stop reading at the first error, you look a lot more productive in less time than another editor who's giving thorough notes. You're also not risking the chance of having missed a mistake like an editor who accepts articles more frequently.
ReneeF
Posts: 204
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:52 pm

Re: Inability to work

Post by ReneeF »

JDWhang wrote:Depending on how their system is set up, it might be in the editors' best interests to be unhelpful. If you reject a bunch of articles with quick, vague comments and stop reading at the first error, you look a lot more productive in less time than another editor who's giving thorough notes. You're also not risking the chance of having missed a mistake like an editor who accepts articles more frequently.
And while we are just tossing back articles with vague editing comments because we want to look productive as an editor, what happens when sales drops and the company is unable to pay us? Seems to me "editors" would want to work with writers. On the other hand, seems like every time I look at an article that is for sale on the catalog I can see at least one error. So I can understand how this process might weed out those who are eager for a quick penny. However, there are very very few absolute perfect writers or editors. Perhaps i've just been blacklisted in the system and the editors are hoping I'll give up and go away.

What will happen to the clients when they begin to see that they won't get the work they requested? Maybe editors dont care about client loss over time because its just a drop in the bucket.
Lysis
Posts: 1529
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:08 pm
Contact:

Re: Inability to work

Post by Lysis »

Never had *this* much of a problem before, but when I have issues like the OP, I take a break from wherever. Walk away and find something else to do and let the dust settle here.

The PM will try to facilitate things. Email him and let him know you're having issues. Maybe he can tell you where you're going wrong.

If you think you'll be late, send the customer a PM and let him know. Better to give a headsup than just be late and say nothing.
LauraGinn
Posts: 143
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2014 2:25 pm

Re: Inability to work

Post by LauraGinn »

Hi Renee,

I'm so sorry to hear you are going through this. I think I'd be completely burned out from it all.

I've never done a private request through CC, but if it were me, I would email the person in charge of your project and explain that you cannot carry on in this way. I would also prioritise my other clients work over CC now. Not out of spite, but because after spending hours and hours editing one article, you could have used this time much more wisely. I don't suggest possibly losing other clients because of a snarky editor here.

Hope it goes well.

Laura
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