Rejected Submissions.. 3 strikes and your out

[willwrite]

Being new to the site I wrote some content that was in the requests area of the board. Little did I know that they would be quickly rejected and seeing that I also submitted an article that was not requested this too was rejected. Just joined today and I think if the buyers were given a chance to see some of the content that is being rejected they would like what they see and promptly buy it. I thought that the site also provided a chance for revisions if need be. I honestly think that it what I wrote in the description as it states that this must not be something from the article itself and so I made some short sentence details about the articles that perhaps blew my opportunity. Can anyone tell me what I did wrong and help me out...

[willwrite]

I made the mistake of submitting 3 articles all at once when I should have submitted only one and waited for the response. That way I could have revised and resubmitted without losing my opportunity. Perhaps in my haste, I didn't read the TOS as close as I should have.

[Ed]

I'm sorry, but your articles did not meet our requirements. We cannot accept content with grammar errors, sentence structure errors, or other errors. Authors who submit to Constant Content must be able to consistently submit content that does not contain basic errors such as the ones found in your articles.

Thank you,
Ed

[gonzobrains]

Hi,

I am new to constant content. I managed to get my first article approved but my second article, which was rather similar, was rejected three times and now I cannot submit it again. I was never given specific reasons for it's rejection. I thought I had checked everything. Is there any way to get specific reasons for rejections so that I can better make the changes? I don't want to waste CC's time re-submitting when I don't know what errors they are asking me to correct. Their responses tend to be rather vague.

Jeff

[Ed]

You were given a specific reason: your article contained grammar errors. We cannot identify all basic grammar errors that should be caught by the author upon proofreading. One requirement for writing for Constant Content is the ability to self-edit, and another is a solid grasp of grammar. Tips for self-editing can be found here:

http://www.constant-content.com/forum/v ... dit#p34648

Thank you,
Ed

[barrywiki]

So is that it, then? Gonzobrains and Willwrite are banned for good?

I realise that it takes time to review articles and I can understand that you must get some really badly written submissions occasionally but it seems a little harsh to ban people completely, especially when they have already proved they can do the job by having an article successfully accepted. Maybe a suspension for a month or something would be less draconian, giving them time to read, learn and hone their skills before giving it another shot.

What happens to articles which have been successfully submitted by people who are subsequently banned? Do they still have the opportunity of selling those through CC or are they removed as well?

[RaisingDreams]

My first article got rejected due to grammatical error. I'll be careful to submit next time, this thread helped me to be careful about it.
I can't comment about their strategy because its their site, they can impose their own strategies. But my past experience says that anyone can come back with much better result after facing difficulties. If one fails for the first time (up to 3 times), may be after 2-3 months he will be good at grammatical syntax.

[Celeste Stewart]

Perhaps, but CC doesn't have the resources to be a training ground for writers needing help mastering basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation. There's only one editor and he's busy enough as it is.

[Avie47]

I have been browsing the site and can't find where it mentions the "3 strikes and you're out" rule. Is this 3 rejections on one article, 3 rejections on 3 articles, or 3 rejections on your total articles submitted. I messed up a while back when I forgot to change my title from all caps. I fixed it and got accepted. Then today I found out I didn't fix the word pointsettia, which was my stupid mistake. I knew I had to go back in and change it, and actually thought I did, but I didn't. So now I have two strikes against me for being basically a dolt. Does this mean if I get another rejection in the future I will be out? Or does being accepted after being rejected redeem ourselves?

[Celeste Stewart]

It's not a hard and fast rule but more of a discretionary policy. If your writing is solid with the occasional error, you should be fine.

[PREZ]

I'll have to agree with Barry on this. This is probably more so on the basis that I'm a published writer, having written for national magazines whose editors have given way more leeway than Constant Content. But hey...it's their website. They can do what they want to do.

Seeing as the market is wide open and there are plenty other opportunities, I'm not going to sweat over the fact that my articles get rejected. It's part of the business. Doesn't mean my articles were insufficient and I will more than likely find another market for them as I always do...and be paid for it for the umpteenth time (I'm quite aware that's not a word).

Stephen King was told by his English professor he'd never write. Yeah...that's gotta feel embarrassing.

[4rumid]

Hi prez,

Based on this and your other posts, it seems that you're taking the rejection for that one article as an affront to your skills and experience as a writer, i.e., personally. But it's just one article. Maybe you missed an error, maybe CC made a mistake. Why not let it go and submit more of your writing?

Or is it more than one article? (Just reread your post above and now I can't tell.) Either way, you'll find any number of writers here who also have experience and success under their belts who are doing very well on CC -- some extremely well. So maybe if you figure out what the rejections were based on (if there's more than one), you'll find CC to be a great place to sell. I suppose my message is don't shoot yourself in the foot by making more of a rejection than it is -- nobody's saying you'll "never write"! (At least I don't think so . . . )

Whatever you decide, best of luck!

[Lysis]

> Stephen King was told by his English professor he'd never write.

I read that he also was rejected 5(?) times by agents. Imagine if you were now one of those agents who rejected him. How badly would you be kicking yourself right now? LOL

Something that drives me nuts about Stephen King was that he is sooo wordy. He explains everrrrrything, but I also have to admit that his last book that I read had me actually scared to turn off the lights. LOL

[Celeste Stewart]

Stephen King is one of my favorites and he can do no wrong in my eyes I have his latest book but haven't cracked it open yet. Maybe tomorrow. Favorites are: The Stand, It, and The Talisman (by King and Peter Straub).

Have you read his book On Writing ? It's awesome. Even my husband, the non-writer in the family, enjoyed it. He couldn't believe he liked reading a book about grammar. THAT's how good Stephen King is!

[4rumid]

Peter Straub . . . never been more scared of a book in my life.