Wordiness Major Issue Apparently

1. 91

   Kain 360posted 9 years ago

   Well, I have been writing for Constant Content for several weeks now. I actually got a dozen articles approved, but I am getting rejected for wordiness a lot!
   
   Quite frankly, I do not agree with 100% everything that the editors tell me. There is certain information that I think is significant for the article. I have written health and fitness articles btw.
   
   How can I prevent wordiness? Wordiness seems like a subjective subject. I have a good grammar book, but it does not have a ton of info on wordiness. It's quite ironic that I am getting articles rejected for wordiness, as I was very concerned about messing up punctuation or making grammar mistakes.
   
   It is frustrating to have about four to five thousand words of work get rejected for basically only one thing.

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      Cardisaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Wordiness could mean several things. It could mean that the article contains a lot of unnecessary fluff or you are over-explaining (if there is such a term) stuff.
      
      Constant Content likes articles that are concise and to the point. Don't add fluff to your article and don't go on about the same thing too long. Explain your points as briefly as possible.

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         Kain 360posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, wordiness could be, for example, saying "it is absolutely necessary" instead of just saying to "it is necessary." The former has an adverb in it. I do not consider it intrinsically wrong, but some editors do not like that. That adverb puts more emphasis on the word that follows it....

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   2. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      "Wordiness" usually means that the reader can't see the "meat" of your topic because it's overwhelmed by other stuff.
      
      Take a look at the articles rejected for wordiness.   Is it easy for the reader to find what they're looking for, or are they a wall of text?  Is the information presented in a logical sequence or do you jump around?  Are you diverting off on tangents in places, instead of sticking to your topic? 
      
      If I wrote an article which was several thousand words long, I'd expect to spend more time editing and refining it than I did writing it.

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2. 60

   LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

   Constant Content has the habit of passing you on their test, accepting articles, then start rejecting everything you write, shut you down telling you that your writing does not meet their standards.   It is crazy since they are not the ones who own or are buying your articles.  I think they are a waste of time.  I remember their Website page and other things they write were full of errors.  Grab your work and run.

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3. 96

   chef-de-jourposted 9 years ago

   You've got the editor's blues I can tell. I sympathise but that's no real consolation.
   In my humble limited experience editors usually get what editors often want. It sounds as if you've been unlucky and landed an editor who doesn't like too many words buzzing around the page. On a different day a different editor may have passed it, who knows?
   
   I've no experience of CC so can't make a completely valid statement. I can only suggest that if you're keen enough you could read through these wordy articles and cut some flesh off the bone? I guess it depends on how much you want the work. You must be doing something right if previous articles have passed scrutiny.
   I wish you well in your CC ventures!

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      Kain 360posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Well, I had 3 articles all approved in a row in one day before. And many of them were nearly 1000 words -- so apparently I was either more intelligent those days or I got different editors -- probably a combination of both.
      
      It's frustrating, but at the same time, I have already got a lot approved, so there is hope. If I can just prevent what they do not want.

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4. 83

   SANJAY LAKHANPALposted 9 years ago

   I think SEO is wordiness.
   Shakespeare said, "Brevity is the soul of wit".
   Is hub pages related  to Constant Content ?

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      Kain 360posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      HP is a content farm; Constant Content is to an extent, but is far more professional, they adhere to strict standards. You can sell articles on CC. It's not like content farms where you write and try and get views.
      
      It is theoretically possible to make a passive income on CC by selling articles for usage over and over again. But most people want to buy full-rights. I have sold one article thus far, but run into trouble with editors so it slows me down. The plan is to get hundreds of articles approved.

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         SANJAY LAKHANPALposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         +1

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5. 80

   SusannaDuffyposted 9 years ago

   Are you saying 'wordiness' is also a problem at HP?

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   1. 91

      Kain 360posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      If there were editors on HP, there would be many rejections.

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6. 81

   I Ramjohnposted 9 years ago

   "How can I prevent wordiness? Wordiness seems like a subjective subject. I have a good grammar book, but it does not have a ton of info on wordiness. It's quite ironic that I am getting articles rejected for wordiness, as I was very concerned about messing up punctuation or making grammar mistakes."
   
   Edit ruthlessly.
   
   "How can I prevent wordiness? It seems subjective. My grammar book says little about wordiness. It's ironic that my articles are rejected for wordiness when I was concerned about punctuation and grammar.

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7. 81

   I Ramjohnposted 9 years ago

   (Looking back at what I wrote, I hope I don't come across as a jerk. I just wanted to give a concrete example.)

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      Kain 360posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      This is a forum. I do not adhere to the same standards lol.

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   LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

   I Ramhon:  I don't care much for Grammerly, but they do have an article about wordiness. http://www.grammarly.com/handbook/sente … wordiness/
   
   Run on sentences contribute to wordiness as well.

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9. 83

   Sam Montanaposted 9 years ago

   An experienced writer once told me that when you write about a subject you know very well or are passionate about, you can become too wordy. Otherwise, wordiness can just mean being redundant. Try not to repeat yourself too much, even if you think it clears up the subject better. Google and Hug Pages like longer articles. If you look at the box when you are writing an article here, you will see the checkmarks as you write over 700 words. Other places like YCN never liked articles over 700 words; they considered 400 to 600 words the best.

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   1. 91

      Kain 360posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Serious? That may be true. I am extremely passionate about fitness. I wrote a 800 word article on pull ups discussing the different muscle groups involved etc..Personally, I can do a few pull ups with 100 lbs attached to my body.
      
      I have a 2000 page article here on HP. There is no way it would get accepted on CC.

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10. 76

    Kathleen Cochranposted 9 years ago

    A couple of tricks from an old editor: go through and find every "that".  Most of them need to be removed because we don't write like we talk.  Then look for words (especially adjectives) you've used more than once.  Replace them or get rid of them. And if you have sentences with a couple of conjunctions and commas, they are probably in need of being broken into two or three separate sentences.  Good Luck!

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11. 72

    relacheposted 9 years ago

    Have you asked your editor to explain the feedback they are giving you? 
    
    That seems like it would be a lot faster and more accurate than wading through the random guesses of others as to what your editor might have meant.

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    1. 91

       Kain 360posted 9 years agoin reply to this

       They do mark things, although sometimes they do not mark anything at all. I have a few 800 page articles that have no marks, but were rejected. Little typos and basic grammar have been easy for me to fix. It's usually the wordiness and occasional "awkward" wording comments that throw me off guard.
       
       The feedback varies. It depends what it is.

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12. 64

    thestudiobydebposted 9 years ago

    Constant Content rejects things that are excellent writing. I am a 5-star writer on every other site but they rejected things I think just to justify their jobs. The editors are "red ink" happy and they seem to find pleasure in cutting down good writing. Perhaps they can't write and they are jealous? They already take a 30% cut so they're not worth my time. There are many others who are respectful to writers and don't waste time glorifying their editorial staff.

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    1. 91

       Kain 360posted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, the editors are tough, but I was fortunate enough find to find CC and get approved. Celeste Stewart is very successful on there. If I could just have 1/4 of her success lol.
       
       I would like to find other sites to sell my articles on as well (mainly a few that got rejected on CC, others I will revise). There is articlesale.com but that website is not even remotely popular or professional.
       
       I did find a decent website that allows you to upload articles to sell, but I forget what it is called.   I've tried searching the deepest ends of the internet, but I've had no luck in finding that particular site.
       
       As for HubPages, I really do not want to post health and fitness articles here (at least not all of them). I want to sell those articles; can't do that on HP.

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          KoraleePposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          There's a website called ghostbloggers.net. They let you post your own articles to sell, and you can charge what you want per word for them...I'm not familiar with constant content so I don't know if its the same thing...On GB they have an editor, and if its rejected they tell you why, and they want you to fix the problem so they can sell it for you.

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          1. 91

             Kain 360posted 9 years agoin reply to this

             Do you have to get approved to write for them? I did for CC.
             
             I want to be able to charge 9-10 cents per word for a full-rights articles article. If the subject is very obscure or simple, then less than that.
             
             I'm looking at reviews and hearing bad things like people not getting paid....Man, 99.% of websites on internet are corrupt.

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                spartucusjonesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                I have posted a couple of articles on Ghostbloggers which I wanted to remove but there doesn't appear to be an option for deleting your articles once they are approved. I tried emailing them a couple of times and they never got back to me. So if you feel there is the possibility that you might want to reuse your unsold articles later, that may become an issue. Also even though I no longer use Constant Content (issues I don't want to get into here), they do seem to get much better traffic and sell a lot more articles than Ghostbloggers. When I was using them I did sell a number of articles (which were mostly former Hubs or other unused articles that were just collecting dust). That being said you do get the editing headaches and they are not always the most responsive when you try to contact them about issues. But there is the potential to do well with Constant Content and I wish you the best with it.

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                KoraleePposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                You don't have to apply at Ghostbloggers, just set up an account and write an article and submit it. They will tell you if it needs editing, but if they approve it the article goes up for sale right away. spartucusjones is right, they're not always quick with responses, but they usually reply. And they do pay. It takes a couple of days before it transfers to your Paypal.
                
                My articles that sold quickly were marketing and web design articles. I have two there in the diet/exercise niche that have been there for over a year..
                
                The site doesn't do a lot of promotion, but they seem to have a lot of repeat buyers. It may not hurt to put your articles on a few different sites instead of putting all your energy into one.

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    thestudiobydebposted 9 years ago

    Yes and I was approved fine by CC...and several of my articles were . But once you get in with them, they make a hobby out of OVER editing good work. I dropped them like a hot potato. I make almost $5000 per month writing now so I don't need prima donna editors. Regarding ghostbloggers.net, they're ok and yes you have to be approved. I was. I uploaded several articles...all approved easily but I have not sold one yet.
    Their traffic is apparently not as good as CC.

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    thestudiobydebposted 9 years ago

    Well you do actually apply because you have to submit an article and it must be approved.

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    MartieGposted 9 years ago

    Writing for Demand Studios  can be lucrative if you can deal with the editors-getting paid twice a week is very nice. A must have is the AP Style Book which is their bible for writers and must be followed. I have had many an editor say "Be concise, don't overwrite."

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    classicalgeekposted 9 years ago

    I grew up with Strunk and White. I can quote from memory their entire chapter on wordiness:
    
    

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    SusannaDuffyposted 9 years ago

    Just realised. This has nothing to do with HP.

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       Kain 360posted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Directly, no. This is why I posted it in freeform discussion.

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    SusannaDuffyposted 9 years ago

    apologies.. I misread the name of the forum

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