What are the rules for Bylines?

[EricG]

What are the rules for bylines here?
I was unable to find a definite answer on the forums or help files here.

I've always understood that a byline is the name of an author, plus a short sentence or two about them.
So this is what I submitted as a byline on my first article here, which is still under review.

But apparently, a byline also means just the authors name - and nothing else.

So can someone please tell me what is acceptable here.
Is it just the name of an author - or a name and a short bio statement?

Thanks,
Eric G.

[HayleyWriter]

Hi Eric,

A byline is a simple statement, "By Eric Blogs". The author's bio is different and is not acceptable on this site. You may not promote yourself as an author, except with the simple byline. Literally, a byline means a line that states who the article is by (the person who wrote the article). It has never included biographical information in the proper use of the word, but I guess other sites will accept that kind of information and misname it a byline. If you have included bio information in your article, it will be rejected. I advise you to edit the article while it is still in review and submit a new version that does not include the bio information.

Hope this helps,

Hayley

[EricG]

Thanks Hayleywriter.
I'll do that.
Cheers, Eric G.

[HayleyWriter]

Hi Eric,

I'm glad you asked, I would hate for your article to be rejected for a simple thing like that!

Anyway, best of luck here,

Hayley

[EricG]

Thanks Hayley,
I've replaced the offending content.

I've also been thinking . . . . (Because I'm a technical person, and will undoubtedly fall foul of some rule or other)

From some of the forum comments, it looks like only very general reasons are given when an article is rejected.

Is there any service provided by experienced writers, to do a more detailed "pre-review" analysis (for a fee) where any obvious faults can be pointed out?
Or perhaps a paid review option by the editors of Contant Content, where they provide more detail on what needs to be fixed on an article?

I think that something like this would be of help, rather than a rejected author wondering exactly how to fix their article.

Cheers,
Eric G.

[HayleyWriter]

Hi Eric,

Unfortunately, our trusty Editor does not have time to review and suggest changes for every article. Such a service would hold up the review process, so that articles could sit in review for many days. Sometimes you will receive a general comment on the rejection notice AND a link to a website with information about the particular problems spotted in your articles. I have received a link to information on commas, for example. The link included exercises to complete to check my understanding of the rules provided in the information. Once I read all the information thoroughly from the link provided in my rejection notice, I was able to find the errors in my rejected article for myself. I also learnt some valuable writing lessons along the way.

I think that some of the inexperienced authors who have complained about general comments on the rejections may not have taken the time to review all the information Ed does link to the rejection.

Some of the experienced writers will offer to proofread or review for some authors, although it does of course depend on time factors. There is no system set up to offer this as fee payment service at this stage. You may like to make that suggestion in the site suggestion or requests part of the forum too. In the meantime, I am happy to review an article for you, as I do for my affiliates. If you want to send me an article, use the "Contact this author" link on my profile page, which you can see by clicking on HayleyWriter in the authors list.

Hope this helps you,

Hayley

[Celeste Stewart]

Also, we have a "constructive criticism" thread in the Author Exchange section of the forum where you can post small portions of your text for critique.

[EricG]

Thanks Hayley and Celeste.
I'll keep those offers in mind if I need them.
cheers, Eric G.

[Ed]

Broad rejection reasons produce the best results because authors, in most cases, fail to look beyond specific examples given to illustrate the problem.

Ed

[Celeste Stewart]

Yeah, if Ed says, "Your opening sentence needs an apostrophe on the word 'lets' (let's)." You would go in and correct that opening sentence, right? But what about the rest of the article? The article may have several instances where the contractions lack apostrophes. A broad statement ala, "Check your article for proper punctuation and contraction use" forces the writer to evaluate the entire piece.

[EricG]

My article was accepted, so I must have done most things right.

Thanks for the support and feedback - and especially the tip about the byline content :-)
Cheers,
Eric G.

[HayleyWriter]

Hi Eric,

Congratulations on getting your article approved. I'm glad it all worked out for you. Now you just have to start on the next one and build up your portfolio on CC!

Kind regards,

Hayley