Firt Time Rejection Reason

[Judith]

I hadn't had a rejection in a long time, so when I saw the notice in my email I was anxious to read it. I was quite surprised to find there were no grammatical errors in the text, but the editor though my two sentence conclusion should be longer and contain greater details. Coming from a journalism background, I tend to keep the conclusion short. I added a few more sentences, resubmitted, and it was accepted. Now I have received a second rejection for the same reason. I had deleted an accepted article to remove two sentences referring to specific products, and resubmitted it with a note that it had already been accepted. This time it was rejected for the same reason as the first one. The editor thought the conclusion wasn't quite the same as the opening paragraph and thought they should match. This time I deleted the article and will use it on one of my own photography sites. I am just wondering if anyone else is having this problem or is it just that this particular editor has a thing about the conclusion. I have never had an article rejected for this reason in over 1,000 articles. I Had to say that as I went over 1,000 a couple of weeks ago

[Word Gypsy]

Congrats in reaching 1000+ articles!

[Lysis]

Grats on the 1000 mark! That's my goal!

Haven't had the problem myself, but I only submitted 2 last week. Still got 2 in the queue so it's not too late for me.

[evaku]

Yup I've noticed that they are paying more attention to conclusions as well. It used to be that you could get away with a list article that didn't have a conclusion (they just seem better to me without one), but now I have to make sure to always include one. Seems a little frustrating to be told that the intro and conclusion should match though. I agree that the conclusion should sum up the article, but sometimes I like to introduce a last little bit of "food for thought" that makes it pretty different from the intro. I haven't run into trouble because if it yet but I also haven't been writing too much for the catalog, more for private requests. Also congrats on hitting 1,000! As of today I am at 995. I hit 900 last fall and it has been a slow year for me writing wise, but slowly and surely I am getting there

[Lysis]

Damn 995. I've always thought conclusions on lists were kinda lame but I always use them here since they are required. Conclusions are difficult for me because I feel like I'm saying "blah blah I already said this blah."

[evaku]

Well its strange because up until maybe two months ago I was always able to get away without writing a conclusion for a list article. Then I got rejected for it and even after a that rejection I managed to sneak a few in there without conclusions. Then I got rejected again for it and decided to just include them from then on. It bothers me though because I don't want to put the conclusion in the last section because I don't want it to look like its a part of the last item on the list, if that makes sense. So I am always left thinking up some lame final section title where I can throw my conclusion. My list articles without conclusions always sold well, and if anything they are selling less now. Oh well! I guess it's not that big a deal just a small annoyance.

[ScriptMaster]

A long time ago I learned these rules for presentations, reports, articles etc.

Intro: Tell'em what you're gonna tell'em
Content: Tell'em what you told'em you'd tell'em
Conclusion: Tell'em what you told'em

[Judith]

Thanks for the congrats everyone... My new goal is 2000 by December. I have a business, but am semi-retired so have a bit more time now. Both of my articles had already been approved and were in the catalog and I decided to make a couple of deletions. I noted that in the small summary.

ScriptMaster - About 100 years ago when I was a journalism major, the same rule applied although worded slightly different. (I still have it memorized)

Tell the reader what you are about to tell them (a word or two of suspense)
Tell the reader the facts
Tell the reader what you just told them

When I did my internship at the LA Times it was again reworded.

Tell them what your going to say
Say it
Tell them what you said

It's all the same!

Evaku - WRITE those five articles this week!!!!

Lysis - I'm rooting for your 1000

I have only done lists when for a request, but I usually end them with a single sentence. So far no rejections on those. It is probably a single editor's preferences.

Thanks to you all for your comments! Much appreciated.

[Lysis]

Thanks for the confidence! I'm somewhere around 650 now.

Evaku - I put "Conclusion" in a couple of my articles as a header, but then I thought it's lame so I quit. I also want to say I remember that you're not supposed to do that? I saw it on a couple of blogs and thought I'd try it, but of course you're not supposed to take grammar suggestions from blogs. lol

I have the same feeling with long conclusions. I feel like I'm adding a section to the end.

[light87]

I know I'm a CC noob, but the way I see it - writing is evolving. Unlike science or medicine which rarely goes back on itself, writing is an art, so there aren't any set rules or whatever and format is more of a zeitgeist thing. One year, good writing should be restricted to 300-word articles, the next year it's 500. Same with conclusions and intros.

The way I see CC, we have to conform /our/ writing to /their/ standards, and if their standards change, just go with the flow.

I've noticed that it's the same editor editing my stuff. I've never resisted them, and that's worked out well (faster reviewing times, less rejections sometimes). Just like judo, go with the flow I guess

[light87]

Nvm. The editor reviewing my last article just approved it with a two-sentence conclusion. I think that all of CC's editors should be uniform in their format rules, at least. I mean it just feels weird that my article would've been rejected by your editor, and your article would've been accepted by mine.

[ScriptMaster]

light87

I've noticed that it's the same editor editing my stuff.

Just wondering how you know that?

[evaku]

Evaku - WRITE those five articles this week!!!!

Well I wasn't able to do it that week but I am at 1004 right now and will be at 1008 by the end of today woohoo! Now my next goal is to have 1000 full rights licenses but I am a ways away from that! Around 750 I believe.

Evaku - I put "Conclusion" in a couple of my articles as a header, but then I thought it's lame so I quit. I also want to say I remember that you're not supposed to do that? I saw it on a couple of blogs and thought I'd try it, but of course you're not supposed to take grammar suggestions from blogs. lol

Yeah I considered doing that as well but it didn't sit right with me either!