Got my first acceptance =D

[Neptune]

I submitted my first article (for a request) last week and I've been waiting to hear back before submitting any more because I don't want to get three rejections. It just got accepted! Does this mean that I don't need to worry about the three rejections rule any more? I heard it wasn't a hard and fast rule anyway, but does this mean that I should be safe now (edit - from being banned, not from getting rejections) as long as I don't start submitting absolute rubbish or plagiarised material? Also something I was wondering... I heard it takes longer for first submissions to be accepted. Is this just the very first one or all of them until you're established as reliable?

[JD]

Congrats!

My advice to ensure you get future submissions accepted is to treat them in exactly the same way you did your first submission.

Review times - for everyone - for general submissions depend on the number of private/public submissions the editors have to deal with. If you submit articles for private/public requests, these will be reviewed quicker than general articles.

Good luck!

Jane

[Neptune]

Well, the way I treated the first was to submit just that one. Does this mean I should continue not submitting more than two at a time in case three get rejected and I get banned? That's what I meant by asking whether I still needed to worry about the three rejections rule.

Edit - Also, I meant safe from getting banned not safe from getting rejections.

Edit - Also, thanks

[Celeste Stewart]

Just make sure you're comfortable with the site's guidelines before you submit too many articles at once. Once you're more confident with CC's quirks and your ability to conform to the guidelines consistently, you'll be able to submit more articles without being fearful of the so-called "three strikes" rule.

[Neptune]

Thanks. Yeah, I read all the info I could find and a lot of posts before submitting my article, which is probably why it got accepted first time. It's just that a lot of the posts make it sound like it's so easy to make tiny mistakes without spotting them and notch up a few rejections and a ban before you know it. I don't know if that's just because the people saying that grossly overestimate their knowledge of grammar though. I noticed that a number of the posts like this had poor grammar and/or a comment from Ed saying their articles contained basic grammar errors. On the other hand, I looked at some of the author biographies and they were quite intimidating (there seemed to be a lot of professional writers). That said, most weren't filled in.

Is it three articles in a row or three altogether? Before I thought it might be the first three articles.

[Celeste Stewart]

Account suspension is looser than that. Really, it's up to the discretion of the editor. He's not going to suspend someone's account for three minor mistakes whether in a row or spread out across multiple submissions. He will ban when grammar is obviously poorly understood, when articles are loaded with errors, and when writers continually submit articles with the same mistakes despite being told how to correct them. Sometimes this happens well after three rejections; sometimes beforehand. As long as you can submit well written articles, proofread carefully, and take Ed's advice to heart, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

[Celeste Stewart]

And yes, it's hard to take complaints about article rejections seriously when the complaints are loaded with grammar errors, isn't it?

[Neptune]

Thanks a lot. That's what I wanted to know. After submitting that article, I wrote a huge list of topics I knew I could write about. I'm looking forward to getting started on that. I hope they're of interest to someone. Actually, I'll probably be back on the forum tomorrow asking how suitable they are and how likely they are to be of interest to buyers.

Yes, I found it especially odd when they claimed that there couldn't be any problems with their grammar because they're professional authors or proofreaders or similar.

[Celeste Stewart]

It's funny, some topics seem like they wouldn't appeal to buyers yet they do. Others seem like sure things but remain unsold. If you're excited about a topic, you might as well write it and see what happens. It beats writing an article on a topic you're not excited about.