My article was rejected for not being 'original content'

[Jaq]

Hi there!

I just had my article (The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Drinking Wine) rejected with a note saying they only accept original content. Originally I wrote this article in the first person a few months ago when I was thinking about starting a blog, and I posted it there. I deleted the post on the blog before rewriting the article (so as to include no mentions of myself in it) and submitting it to Constant Content. Is this not allowed? It is my own original work. Is there a way of explaining this to the editors?

Thanks in advance for any advice on this!

[LauraGinn]

I think that because it was already posted online, they won't class it as 'original', even though you originally wrote it. The webpage is probably still indexed even though you deleted the post, so that's probably why CC's plagiarism checkers are flagging it up. Could you resubmit it and sell it as a usage license? So long as your name was credited to the original, they should accept it then.

[Jaq]

Thanks Laura, that's good advice! I'm only a newbie so I'm still learning where to put my feet!

[LauraGinn]

It's worth getting a Copyscape account just to check your articles. With the one you mentioned already being published in the past, a scraper site could have also stolen and republished it without you knowing. Any social media links may also show snippets of your article. Copyscape is pretty good at showing where your article is online and only costs 5 cents (I think) per check.