Please help

[jane]

Hi,

I have just received a rejection notice for my article "Dog Allergies." The article was rejected for several minor mistakes, three of which I don't understand. Firstly, because I wrote the word "diarrhoea" instead of "diarrhea" and secondly for "per cent" instead of "percent. " I am English and always use the English spelling of words consistently throughout my work and have never had it rejected for this before. I feel that it is easier for me to use English spelling because it is what I am used to and it keeps my work consistent. I rarely get any rejections and I regularly sell most of what I write. I have also checked the "Writer Guidelines" again and it says in there that both English and American spellings are accepted as long as they are consistent. The other comment was that my article needed to be formatted in 12 pt Times New Roman or Ariel. I always type my work in 12 pt Times New Roman and I have checked it from my end and it all seems fine. I do, however, always type my title in a slightly larger font to make it stand out, but I have never had anything rejected for doing this. Please could you help me with this as I am confused and love writing for Constant. Could you please also tell me whether the whole article is reviewed when it is first submitted, or just part of the article.

Thank you so much for your time,

Jane

[jak]

Hi Jane

I am English too, but tend to use US spelling for work placed here unless UK is specified or I think the piece would appeal more to a UK audience. I suspect some of the editors are not completely familiar with UK English - and diarrhoea is a difficult word anyway; I would point them to a UK English dictionary in the comments. Similarly explain about per cent in UK English. I once had to disagree about not using initial caps on a the name of a UK organisation, which the editor wasn't familiar with, and it was then accepted with the caps. Recently I had the comment about 12 point TNR in a rejection and I commented that I had used it so had not changed anything, and it was passed next time. Other authors have reported experiencing this as well.

The addition of the comment box is useful, and if you say you have made the one change you did understand and explain about the rest, hopefully, you should be ok.

[jellygator]

I've had mine rejected when the title was in a different sized font.

[jadedragon]

I always make the title 12 point, but bold it.

[jane]

Hi All,

Thanks for your very helpful comments. I will now go and amend my article and keep my fingers crossed!

Thanks again,

Jane