Are you a Comma Chameleon? Do your commas come and go, come and go-oooo?

While editing submissions, I find many issues with comma usage. Some Comma Chameleons will use a comma correctly in one sentence, and then, in a similar sentence, do away with the comma. Other authors either using too many commas or two few commas.  Some authors seem to ignore the comma altogether. But pretending the comma doesn’t exist won’t get you off the hook. Commas, whatever people say about their fading importance, are still in use. And if you don’t use them correctly, you can jeopardize the rhythm, meaning, and quality of your writing. Comma errors will stand out, rather than blend in with the rest of the article.

Commas should be used to divide compound sentences, to set off parenthetical phrases, after introductory words or phrases, to separate items in a series, preceding and/or following quotations . . . and the list goes on. But I’m not going to outline every necessary use of commas when others have explained it better than I could already. Please refer to the following sources whenever you have a question about your own comma usage:

Rules for Comma Usage

Using Commas

Writing will be easy if these rules are in your dreams.

Red, gold, and . . . green?

Many of you have noticed that some of your submitted photographs are showing up as “sold,” even though they are still under review! This seems to be the case with most of the photo images in the “recently sold” image list. I’m sure this matter will be looked into once the weekend is over. Thanks for your patience.

Thanks for being patient while waiting for some information about photo submissions to Constant Content. While this service has not officially launched, we thought it would be prudent to outline what sort of qualities are expected for photo submissions to Constant Content.

Types of Photos

Constant Content seeks quality photographic images that would appeal to website owners who wish to illustrate written content or draw traffic to their websites. Images most likely to appeal to buyers include illustrative photos like shots of specific locales (think architecture and landmarks), multi-use photos to accompany commercial content (think people who represent certain professions), and general photos that feature unusual perspectives on everyday things (think a spilled glass of milk, cat’s-eye-views, or other original, creative depictions of places and items we see every day).

Constant Content does not want photos that are better off in family photo albums. Share your pets, vacation photos, and home interiors with friends and relatives, but avoid submitting them to Constant Content.

Reasons for Photo Rejections Include:

• Poor quality photos – photos that are blurred, too light, too dark, or poorly composed
• “Family album” photos, as mentioned above
• Photos that are smaller than 1000 pixels in size
• Photos that contain embedded watermarks, copyright symbols, or timestamps
• Photos that have no artistic, aesthetic, editorial, stock, or editorial value to buyers

Photo Submissions Must

• Be at least 1000 pixels in size
• Be submitted in JPEG or TIFF format
• Be good quality images that would appeal to buyers

Image and Video Submissions

Vector images will be accepted.

Images/Illustrations should be submitted as EPS files.

Videos should be submitted as MPEG, WMV, AVI, and 3GP files.