Having written articles for local and national newspapers, the BBC, and other publications, retained by several websites, written articles for major companies worldwide, having been paid to travel the world and write articles for banks, countries, bios of stars and an American President, to name but a few jobs, it comes as a surprise that five articles are rejected one after the other for "==== Rejection Information for Your Article: ====
We do not accept content with grammar errors, sentence structure errors, or clarity errors.
==== End Rejection Information for Your Article ====
Like all good writers I went back to the drawing board, picked the top writer from Constant Contact, and though it was impossible to read a full article I saved the page to my computer, got into the page and copied the article to see why it was successful and mine a failure. It was so easy, make spelling mistakes (5) in 400 words, punctuation, make errors it appears you need several in an article before it is published, poor grammar and capitalisation and best of all, write about something you have little knowledge and is technically incorrect and uses language that is painful and difficult to understand . I shall not embarrass the author by saying who they were here.
I have been complimented by editors, other authors and the people I have written about that my style is humorous and punchy. I hope this is humorous as I am not feeling very good humoured. I do not like rejection, though accept it when it is warranted, to be rejected for reasons that have no bearing on the writing or content I find unacceptable and can destroy the hopes of young budding talent. To reject five articles that the time taken would suggest they were never read and to use inaccurate reasons for rejection is lazy and irresponsible when a thank you and they are not for us would be better.
Rejection Comes Hard Having Been a Professional Since 1970
Moderators: Celeste Stewart, Ed, Constant
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BarryDavidson
- Posts: 561
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:10 am
Re: Rejection Comes Hard Having Been a Professional Since 1970
I have had articles rejected for the same reasons, but when I went through them again I noticed that I took a long time to not say much of anything on the subject the article was about. It's a habit. I can ramble on for hours, especially when it's a subject which interests me. (I also have a habit of adding personal opinions on technical subjects.)
I sat down one night with a yellow legal pad, and twenty-four hours had thirty-two thousand words. Granted, it was fiction I was writing, but I love the subject matter. I let an agent read it, and he cut it to pieces.
On another occasion I got a particularly vague review (line four is too cliché-like), and my anger actually brought forth my first humorous piece. That story, written almost entirely in clichés, got me my second publishing contract. It also started me writing humor.
I do understand your frustration though. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, writing has changed a lot over the years, and not always for the better. Novels are now only published if they fit some lofty formula, and most news writing is op/ed. We either evolve and adapt, or we quit writing. I don't recommend the latter. It's damned hard to look at the state of writing in the world today, and not come away a little saddened. We can only be who we are.
Personally, I found a home here after years of experimenting on other sites. I still have to search for a home for my short stories and poetry, but even some of my political satire can be edited to fit what the customers here want. In the end, it's really the customers who decide what good and not so good writing is.
I sat down one night with a yellow legal pad, and twenty-four hours had thirty-two thousand words. Granted, it was fiction I was writing, but I love the subject matter. I let an agent read it, and he cut it to pieces.
On another occasion I got a particularly vague review (line four is too cliché-like), and my anger actually brought forth my first humorous piece. That story, written almost entirely in clichés, got me my second publishing contract. It also started me writing humor.
I do understand your frustration though. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, writing has changed a lot over the years, and not always for the better. Novels are now only published if they fit some lofty formula, and most news writing is op/ed. We either evolve and adapt, or we quit writing. I don't recommend the latter. It's damned hard to look at the state of writing in the world today, and not come away a little saddened. We can only be who we are.
Personally, I found a home here after years of experimenting on other sites. I still have to search for a home for my short stories and poetry, but even some of my political satire can be edited to fit what the customers here want. In the end, it's really the customers who decide what good and not so good writing is.
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Celeste Stewart
- Posts: 3528
- Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:28 pm
- Location: California
- Contact:
Re: Rejection Comes Hard Having Been a Professional Since 1970
Rejection is never fun. However, I've found it's not productive to search for everyone else's errors that have managed to slip by the CC editor. It is ALWAYS easier to spot flaws in someone else's writing rather than our own. Plus, the customer is the ultimate judge. If the customer sees too many errors or prefers an article written in US English rather than UK English (or vice versa), he won't buy the article - even if it was approved by Ed. So, you really can't worry too much about the other writers and their posted work. Worry about what it's going to take to get your article on the site. If Ed says there are grammar issues, then there's at least one sentence that needs to be tweaked - possibly more. If Ed says that sentence structure is a problem, go through and make sure that your sentences are structured properly. If clarity is a concern, look at comma usage and word choice as well as the overall flow of the piece.
When Ed rejects an article, it stings a bit. But once you take an objective look at his comments and look at the article with fresh eyes, you'll see that Ed usually has a point. We can all improve our writing, even if we've been doing it successfully for decades. Try not to take the rejections personally and feel free to post questions or specific passages in the Constructive Critism thread.
When Ed rejects an article, it stings a bit. But once you take an objective look at his comments and look at the article with fresh eyes, you'll see that Ed usually has a point. We can all improve our writing, even if we've been doing it successfully for decades. Try not to take the rejections personally and feel free to post questions or specific passages in the Constructive Critism thread.