First Article - Rejected

[Daisy06]

The other day I submitted my first article to CC, and it was rejected. It was 1000 words, and I thought it was very good. I will list below what the rejection email said was wrong, but basically it's grammar that is the problem, but I don't know where as I admit this is the only point in my writing that can at times let me down. It would be so much easier if you actually knew where the problems were, but you're left to guess if you have no clue. The email makes it seem there was a lot wrong within the article

I write for a few other companies, and some private clients doing mainly SEO articles, and I have never had any problems with articles getting accepted, so this is a new thing for me. I was going post on here the other night, but was a bit upset and it has knocked my confidence a little.

The email:

We do not accept content with run-on sentences or unnecessary/confusing use of sentence fragments.Run-on sentences: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ru ... ences.aspx

Rules for fixing comma splices and fused sentences: http://www.chompchomp.com/rules/csfsrules.htm
Rules for fixing sentence fragments: http://www.chompchomp.com/rules/fragrules.htm

Please note: When sentences exhibit characteristics of compound sentences, commas should be used appropriately. If two ideas are not sufficiently related, even compound sentences that are correctly structured should be broken into two sentences for the sake of the reader.

This article is missing commas necessary for clarity or includes commas that are misplaced.

Please observe rules for comma usage and apply these rules consistently.

Comma Use: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/01/

Commas and Subordinate Clauses: http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/subordinateclause.htm

PowerPoint Presentation for Comma Use: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/692/1

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

I have been reading, and taking notes out of the links that the editor linked to in the email. But now I'm scared to resubmit the article, and to have it come back rejected again. I like the style of CC, and would hate to get kicked out. There are numerous article ideas I have written down for putting content on here, plus some that I have already started working on, previous to this happening. Plus writing is all of my income, and I am needing to earn more which was why I like the idea of this company.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

[jadedragon]

Your approach is spot on. Clean up your comma and break up the longer sentences that could be run on. It is great they gave you specific issues and lots of info on fixing the issues. CC can make you a better writer and more money.

[HayleyWriter]

Hi Daisy,

The information on the rejection was very thorough, which is actually a good sign. It means the editors see enough value in your work to keep encouraging you to improve. We ALL get rejections and usually the rejection makes your writing better for all future articles. If you want someone to review it for you, I am happy to help. You can't post your article on the forum, but you could copy and paste it into an email to me as an author. Click on my profile from the author's page and you can send an email. Sometimes, just getting someone else to have a quick look helps calms your nerves for your submission. My penname here is Hayleywriter.

Kind regards,

Hayley

[Daisy06]

Thank you jadedragon for your reply you have made me feel much better knowing they don't think I'm a total loss. I really do want to make it work here, and maybe doing a shorter article would be a good idea at first.

And thank you Hayley, I will go back and look at the article this week and make the changes that I think the editor means, and then I will email it to you to look over. Thank you so much for offering to do that it would make me feel much better when resubmitting when it's done.

It was just a bit of a shock getting rejected and then having so much wrong with it when I never have any trouble anywhere else.

[HayleyWriter]

That's okay Daisy. Constant Content is a much stricter site than many others, which is actually a really good thing. It means professional writers here can make more money because customers know they can purchase articles of high quality, without errors. It does take a while to get used to stricter guidelines, which is why we writers can offer help and support for each other through these forums. This is a great community of writers, and because we don't have to "bid" against each other or undercut each other in price, the writers are more friendly than competitive. It works well. I'll look forward to hearing from you on the email system soon.

Kind regards,

Hayley

[mattrwriter]

I know how you feel Daisy. I'm new here too and my first article was rejected twice, mainly for mistakes with comma's. I was confident in my abilities before and felt I knew where to put commas. Not through knowing the rules inside out, but just from the sound of a sentence. I was wrong!

That first article was a long one (about 1300 words) and so, after the second rejection, I decided to try and submit something much shorter. I knocked out a quick 350 worder, paying a lot of attention to comma use (that was then rejected because I accidentally submitted in the wrong font!) but once that was sorted, it got accepted. It was a huge relief just to get something on here. I have decided to stick to short articles for now as it's obviously much easier to reread and check again and again before submitting. I've printed out all the information on here about punctuation and am checking everything I do against it. It's time consuming but I know that I'll get the hang of it eventually and get quicker. Then I can have another look at that 1300 word article and hopefully get that accepted too.

Just submitted my second article. It's 500 words but I've spent ages on it to try and get the punctuation right so fingers crossed.

I reckon everybody goes through something similar when they first join. I've written for other sites too and have never had such strict editors. I keep telling myself that in the long run, it will improve my writing (so long as the constant worry about commas doesn't stifle creativity!)

Good luck!

[HayleyWriter]

Good luck Matthew. I had a few articles rejected for comma usage when I started here and I had to go back and review the rules many times before I got it right! I hope your second submission goes well. While no other site may be as strict, CC's attitude is a relief against the backdrop of article spinning sites that accept articles that make professional writers cringe. At least here I know my work is respected and valued and the customers generally pay more for the higher quality articles available here. It does make your writing better to have strict editors who will reject an article if it needs improving.

Kind regards,

Hayley