Article for a request rejected

[Celeste Stewart]

Hi,
Just received my first "article for a request has been rejected" email. It took me a while to figure it out as I hadn't submitted any lately. Okay, so it's an article that I submitted to a public request last week and the customer has opted not to use my article. That's fine, no problem.

Suggestion #1 - Might want to detail which request such as "The article submitted to the 'Cats on the Prowl' request has been. . ."

Suggestion #2 - Maybe use a different term other than "rejected." Maybe "declined" or "was not chosen" or "is now available to the general CC customer base." I don't really mind the "rejected" because I know the nature of this game, but the term does have its negative undertones and newer or more sensitive writers might be demoralized by the message. We all know that public requests are a gamble and I'm not sure we need to be reminded that we lost that particular one. Not even sure we need a notice that the article wasn't picked because we already know that due to the lack of an "article sold" message.

The more I think about it, I like the idea of "Your article, "____," is now available to the general cc customer base." This reassures us that even though the article didn't get picked up, it's not in limbo hiding somewhere where no one can find it. It's more positve where the other message has an unnecessary sting to it.

[jrichards]

Hi Celeste,

Thanks for those good suggestions to soften the language. Those are all great ideas, that I can build into the emails.

Thanks,
jrichards

[canywriter]

Hi

I too just received a mail saying "Your article for a request has been rejected and moved to the general pool where it can be purchased by other customers.". It's really nice to be notified, rather than to wait around for the stipulated three days and then check if it has come into the general pool. However, I agree with Celeste on both points
1) The word "rejected" is perhaps the most damning word in the career of a budding writer, and can really dishearten most. How about substituting it with "declined:, as Celeste suggested, or even "not selected for purchase"?
2) I also wondered for a bit as to which article it was till I went back and checked - and the sender was the customer, so I gathered which request it was. But would it be possible to make a simple addition in the mail - Your article titled "How to ..." has been declined..."?

It's great to receive the notification, though, so thanks, JD!

Canywriter

[jrichards]

Alright, I've softened this message a to avoid the word rejected.

Hopefully, this reduces the confusion around articles that are declined by the customer.

Thanks for your help improving this!
jrichards
Constant-Content.com

[canywriter]

Thanks! And for constantly being on the ball where improvements are concerned... Wouldn't mind not seeing that particular mail, though..., to check out the new wordings:-)