Reworking a rejection

Area for content rejection questions.

Moderators: Celeste Stewart, Ed, Constant

Sharion
Posts: 238
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2009 3:24 pm

Reworking a rejection

Post by Sharion »

Finally tackling the rewrite of a rejection that had issues with how it was written. Needed to sit on it for awhile and let it go so I could tackle it with a fresh point of view.

The subject matter is something I am compelled to share and Ed was right, there were other ways to tackle it. I'm happy with the new direction it's taking so far.

The message will be the same but the entire article is brand new. I don't think I kept a single sentence of the original. In fact, the one article is now going to be two articles :D

Ed won't see it for a few days and I wonder if he'll even recognize it as the article he nixed? Even the title will be different. I hope he recognizes it. I want him to see that I took his advice to heart.
Volante
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:57 am

Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by Volante »

hmm is ed facing a ton of articles to review?
I havent had 2 of my articles reviewed yet. They were submitted on the 19th and 22th of jan.
Is there a delay?
Lysis
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Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:08 pm
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Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by Lysis »

Tons of new public request means slow reviews for the general queue. I would give it a week.
Sharion
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Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2009 3:24 pm

Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by Sharion »

I always get paranoid if something is in review for too long and expect the worst.

Was getting ready to rework a baddie this morning but unexpectedly, I've got another person across from me so that venture will have to wait. I've never been a good multi-tasker. My sweetie took the day off and he's up here asking me lots of questions how to do things. I'd been teaching him the inner workings of Zazzle as I'm a proseller there and finally got him involved.

Dang the luck, I was also going to add another to a major series I've been writing.

He's happy as all get out so I guess I'd better go help him :)
Sharion
Posts: 238
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2009 3:24 pm

Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by Sharion »

This is an omen. He went off to the basement to work on a project so I took the opportunity to rework the baddie. Just when I got my noggin wrapped around it, he decides to take a break and come back up here. Doomed not to write today, dadgummit!
Celeste Stewart
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Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by Celeste Stewart »

I can never write my husband stays home. It's worse than having the kids around, but it's nice too.
Sharion
Posts: 238
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Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by Sharion »

I love this man dearly, but yes, when he's home I get very little done :-D

Other than that, I'm happy to say that there just isn't much bad I can say about him. I'm his biggest fan!
FivetoNine
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:14 am

Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by FivetoNine »

I submitted an article twice; had it rejected twice. I get that they don't have time to tell you why, but this is frustrating. I made sure to read over the guidelines and I'm sure I followed them to the letter. When you get rejected and you're sure that your technical formatting is correct, then I guess that means it could be the subject matter, the grammar, spelling (neither of which I think were the problem).... now what? I'm ready to give up. If the admins don't tell you what you've done wrong, how do you know whether it's worth it to keep trying?
Celeste Stewart
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Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by Celeste Stewart »

There's almost always a reason stated in the rejection message. What did the email say? The reason may be vague as in "Problem with run-on sentences," but it should give you a general idea.
FivetoNine
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:14 am

Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by FivetoNine »

Celeste Stewart wrote:There's almost always a reason stated in the rejection message. What did the email say? The reason may be vague as in "Problem with run-on sentences," but it should give you a general idea.
Nope, both times, it said only: "We have reviewed your content. Unfortunately, this article requires revision before we can accept it." and then there are links to the writers guidelines. The second time I submitted it, I reworked the first paragraph thinking that perhaps it wasn't "introductory" enough but now I'm wondering if I just should have left it alone. It would be helpful if the editors could at least give you some clue as to what exactly is wrong.
FivetoNine
Posts: 21
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Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by FivetoNine »

Another question? Am I correct in that you have to have one accepted article before you can write for the public requests? I've been getting them in my mailbox but I don't want to try for them until I can figure out why the editors keep rejecting my original article.
Celeste Stewart
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Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by Celeste Stewart »

Usually the reason is located in the email after the stock "your article needs revised, please read the guidelines etc" section and before the closing section. Can you copy and paste the entire message here?

I believe that you need to have an approved article before you can use the messaging feature to ask public requesters questions. I'm not sure about whether or not you can submit an article to a public request though. I think you can but I'm not sure.
Sharion
Posts: 238
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2009 3:24 pm

Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by Sharion »

I've never had a rejection that didn't include a good explanation. Read it more thoroughly.

If you've had an article rejected twice, I would hold off on attempting public requests until you get the hang out of what you need to do to get regularly accepted. Work out the kinks first :-)
FivetoNine
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:14 am

Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by FivetoNine »

Celeste Stewart wrote:Usually the reason is located in the email after the stock "your article needs revised, please read the guidelines etc" section and before the closing section. Can you copy and paste the entire message here?

I believe that you need to have an approved article before you can use the messaging feature to ask public requesters questions. I'm not sure about whether or not you can submit an article to a public request though. I think you can but I'm not sure.
This is the exact message that I got TWICE. (I've deleted the name of the article but otherwise I made NO changes to the message I received).

You have a new message at Constant-Content

We have reviewed your content, "XXXXXX " Unfortunately, this article requires revision before we can accept it.

==== Editorial Information for Your Article: ====

Please follow all formatting guidelines.

==== End Editorial Information for Your Article ====

Please take this information into consideration for future submissions. In addition, Submission Guidelines should be followed to avoid repeated rejections:

Submission Guidelines
http://www.constant-content.com/area/su ... elines.htm

Because articles are purged from our system once rejected, editors cannot always answer specific questions about your article. If you have a general question about your rejection, please visit “Article Rejection forum – be sure to include the article title in your post. In addition to the “Article Rejection” forum, other forums may help you get answers for other questions you may have about Constant Content.

http://www.constant-content.com/forum/

The forums are separate from the website so you will have to register before
posting there.

Thank you
http://www.constant-content.com/

You can view / reply to this message from constant content.

http://www.constant-content.com/mail/read/8359436/

-----------------

This message led me to believe that I had some technical error so I made sure it was the correct font, spacing, etc, as required and still I got a rejection. As you can see, there is absolutely no clue as to why the article was rejected twice. I don't understand.....
Celeste Stewart
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Re: Reworking a rejection

Post by Celeste Stewart »

Okay, so now we now it's a formatting issue so let's look at document type, spacing, font, etc. One super common formatting problem here is when Word adds spacing between paragraphs (rather than when the user hits the enter key twice). When this happens, when you copy and paste the text into the long summary, you get one huge block of text with no spaces between paragraphs. That would be one thing to look at because it's fairly common. What format is the file saved in? .doc and .rtf are safe but if it's a Works .wps file, it will probably be rejected. Font - go with Times New Roman 12 point - nothing fancy. Nothing too small.
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