Self-Editing for CC Success

[Kjdavis]

Thank you for this wonderful reminder. I need to definitely expand my library as I progress with my CC career.

[jadedragon]

I found an interesting resource that may help authors learn to recognize errors and self edit. http://grammatically.blogspot.com/ It's not my site - it belongs to some other author.

[Sile]

Wow. You're right. Print the darn thing out and read it on paper. I don't know how many times I have written a memo, printed it, copied it, read it, and rewrote it.

[RKGowdy]

I had a couple of my articles rejected for silly reasons like formatting and grammar. Mistakes that I should have (and would have) found it I wasn't in such a rush to edit, edit, edit, and get it submitted. After a day of sulking I came back and read through the forums (which I should have done first!) and am now back to writing with some new goals in mind. The idea of waiting a day or two between editing has been a big help to me and I intend to apply it myself. Thank you for the great suggestions.

Rae

[nicolane]

Here is another blog post that some may find useful

http://www.copyblogger.com/commonly-misused-words/

[DeadlineDervish]

The real frustration comes when you do self-edit. And then someone dings you for something that's not even a grammatical error. "Wordy," for example, I should think, is really a matter of style and opinion, yet that's exactly what I got on my last article. I also got someone questioning an actual point I tried to make in an article, saying my point was "wrong." I--have trouble understanding how I'm supposed to catch someone else's opinions before I submit my articles.

[aprilk10]

"Wordy" can be a grammatical error, as it leads to run-on sentences and confusion. Was the "point" you were trying to make an actual fact or your opinion? For the most part, opinion pieces are not allowed on CC. They may occassionally be accepted if a pubic or private request specifically asks for it, or if you accurately represent both sides of an argument. If it was a fact you were referring to, did you have all of your facts accurate? Perhaps you inadvertantly claimed something as being so when it, in fact, is an opinion. Just my thoughts. I can't accurately say what the editors may have been thinking without knowing what your article was about or what the editorial comments were word for word. Good luck!

[BarryDavidson]

For the most part, opinion pieces are not allowed on CC.

I've always found this an interesting statement. Most articles written for online are based upon the opinion of the author, or the site which purchases the work. An editorial piece however, well, they are mostly pure opinion. I'm of the "opinion" that there are probably quite a few articles rejected ad being editorial-style without actually being so, and that is based on the opinion of the editor reviewing the piece.

Back on the subject of this thread... I find that work I've written on paper first stand a better chance of getting accepted. It's weird how I seem to have fewer errors that way. I sometimes wonder if it's an "age thing" with me. My handwriting is readable. My kids, no matter how hard I tried, just aren't grasping that their writing should be readable to themselves and other people as well. At work it is worse.

[travisbaker]

Great advice. After i finished my writing. I am always thoroughly go-through my content for rectifying grammatical errors.

[angela21]

Self-editing, like any other process should be developed. Today, the grammar used in the industry of the media is getting worse. The absolute annoyance comes when self-editing. This is more effective than trying to find all errors in a single reading, as it gives a small thing to focus on.

[jadedragon]

Thanks to another writer here (sorry forgot who) I checked out a free tool called PaperRater. It was good enough I wrote a review of the tool: http://www.infobarrel.com/Increase_Earn ... oofreading

[Lisa-Anne Sanderson]

Hello everyone,

I'm upset because I've had a few rejections lately. I'm wondering if I need an 'editing buddy' and whether anyone is interested?

Some of my sentences are 'ambiguous' and that is what has really upset me. I have revised the article and I hope that it will be accepted but I am feeling very upset about the whole thing.

[Yogagirl]

Great tips! I'm a professional copywriter, and I write on and off for Constant Content to supplement my income and make some extra money. Before submitting, I highly recommend going through your articles with a fine tooth comb before you submit. Use active voice and remember to write for a target audience. Break up your content with lists, etc. and make your content reader friendly for online audiences. Pay close attention to the client's guidelines, especially for private and/or standing requests.

[ReneeF]

My advice is to keep a running list of errors editors here at CC have caught you on along with a list of mistakes you know about. Type this list up and print it out periodically, but leave a few lines to add new notes. Use this list religiously for editing.

What I do is type up the article as fast as I can, without stopping to correct myself or fix typos or misspellings. Immediately after I finish writing it in the entirety I go through and fix typos, misspellings and any glaring errors and then slip the article into editing folder number one. The next day I use the list, one note at a time, and edit the article all the way through a dozen times (for each section on my editing sheet) then I slip it into editing folder two. I repeat this process all week until the article has made it through 5 editing folders. From editing folder 5 the next Monday the article gets proofed out loud and then posted onto CC on or the clients blog and gets moved to the pending folder, where it sits and waits review. Once up for sale or published it goes into the published folder. I have a clear set of each of these folders in each main folder, one main folder for each client I work with. The folders are: progress (for documents each containing one title that needs research), Writing (for researched topics that need writing) editing 1, editing 2, editing 3, editing 4, editing 5, pending, published.

My editing notes are on a two-page document with sections as follows:
1 - flow and organization,
2 - personal pronouns,
3 - conciseness,
4 - demonstrative structures and ambiguous pronouns,
5 - commas,
6 - subordinate clauses,
7 - apostrophes,
8 - showing omission of letters/characters,
9 - apostrophe misuse,
10 - forming plurals and possessives,
and lastly - commonly misspelled words
and commonly misused words.

Each section has a numbered list of points to check for or rules to follow. and so, I edit the article 12 times per each folder or a total of 60 times. and guess what, the editors still catch things..

[siouxsays]

I have about 100 (give or take 10) submissions on CC and - at last check - around an 80% sale rate. I am the type of writer that writes it and submits it immediately, with little self-editing. I think this is a carry-over from writing through a different site, where everything about the submission was tightly controlled by the buyer and the site itself. The following attributes of the submission were dictated by the client:
- word count
- keywords required & density for those keywords
- title of submission
- writing style/tone (1st person, formal, etc.)
- deadline (usually 24-48 hours)

If a submission did not meet those requirements, it could not be submitted. This sort of forces a writer to automatically self-edit as he/she goes along, because time is very much "of the essence."

I rarely (thank goodness) have rejections by CC for submissions, and the few I can remember are:
- use of an ampersand (in the title, which was included in the body)
- length (too long)
- sentences needed breaks (I can write looooong sentences)

The "too long" rejection was surprising - it was a first and just happened a week or so ago. I deleted a few hundred words and resubmitted with no problems.

The "ampersand" rejection was politely disputed from my end, because the ampersand was in the title which was included at the beginning of the body, as per instructions. Also, I had checked accepted content and noticed a great deal of approved work with ampersands in the title (and elsewhere in the content). I guess I just got the one editor that was a stickler about ampersands. Changed it to an "and" - resubmitted with no problems.

A lot of rejections or rejections for vagueness, ambiguity, wordiness, etc. - from the 3-year stint at "the other site" (as editor for 1 year AND writer for all 3 years), this means your work is far from polished and professional. Clients/buyers want polished and professional. I saw some pretty horrid writing as an editor, to be honest, and I was amazed that those writers got any work at all.

Because Google has placed an "emphasis" on longer word count, a lot of writers try to create longer content, naturally. This means wordiness will come into play in many cases. If your work is superior, shorter word count is negligible in terms of content that gets attention and ranks positively for the buyer.

Basically, the only "rule of thumb" I use when "editing as I go" while writing is to determine if the content is necessary to say what needs to be said. If you can say it in fewer words, do so. (Studies have also shown that the average internet user's attention span is about 5 to 8 seconds, so you have to make an impact as soon as possible or they will move on.) If content isn't captivating right off the bat, and stays that way, no one will want to read it - which means no one will want to buy it.

A tip on the side - don't write about things that you aren't truly familiar with. Too many writers try to be "experts" on subjects that are foreign to them, and it shows through in the content itself.

Just my 2 cents.