How can a book review be YMYL?

1. 89

   paperfacetsposted 6 years ago

   This is one of the many reasons why my recent submission was rejected for Letterpile. I was hoping it would go into Book/Biographies.
   
   "is about a YMYL (your money, your life) topic. Articles on these topics need About the Author biographies to showcase expertise. If your article already had a bio, then it probably doesn't sufficiently demonstrate the level of expertise we are looking for."
   
   So I looked at my Bio and am going to come up with something different. I looked at bios of articles in Letterpile Biographies to get some ideas.
   
   Many submitted articles under Biographies in Letterpile do not even have author bios. The standard does not seem to apply across the board.
   
   I am a little irked. I have had rejects before, and have a win some, lose some attitude, but this process is bruising.

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   1. 93

      Christy Kirwanposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      These emails list potential reasons your article may have been rejected, they do not mean to imply that every reason is relevant to your particular article. It's possible that only 1 or 2 of the reasons apply.

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      1. 89

         paperfacetsposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Christy,
         Oh, well, not much to say about standard emails.
         It is a Reject. Maybe because it is about Lincoln. What else can be said about that subject?
         Sherry

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   2. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      As Christy said, that's just a standard email, and all it's saying is "Here is a list of  some POSSIBLE reasons why your Hub wasn't accepted."  Most of them won't apply.
      
      One reason why a good Hub gets rejected is if there are already Hubs on LetterPile covering the exact same subject.

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2. 89

   paperfacetsposted 6 years ago

   This is the first time I get a YMYL reason. I am thinking that someone included every reason in the book for why this Hub was rejected. There were a lot of bullets in this standard email.

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   1. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.  The standard email DOES include every possible reason in the book for why a Hub can be rejected.

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3. 89

   paperfacetsposted 6 years ago

   I feel my review was not even read. There is no review about this particular book in Letterpile and like I said there are plenty of articles in Letterpile with no HP auther Bio at all. I guess I still feel all bruised up.
   
   I got rejected to spots in the earning pool for Owlcation, Letterpile and Travel. Very discouraging.

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   1. 96

      theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Sherry, is it the John Booth book?
      
      I had a quick look and it looks to me as if the writing needs editing. It's a little woolly and vague. For example, are your readers going to be interested that your son and husband read the book? That doesn't add anything to the review.
      
      Have you tried putting the text through the free Hemingway app?
      
      I've had a go at the intro to see if I can tighten it up a little.
      
      ""American Brutus, John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies" by Michael W. Kauffman published in 2004 is an intriguing biography and reads almost like a modern crime novel. Not overly weighted down with detailed language, the book held my interest through 400 pages of compelling history."
      
      "American Brutus, John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies" by Michael W. Kauffman, 2004, is a biography of President Lincoln's assassin. Incisive and compelling, it reads like a modern crime novel. I was hooked from the very first page, and unable to put it down until the last.
      
      'Incisive and compelling' does away with 'not overly weighted down with detailed language', which in itself is a weighty sentence
      
      What I am trying to show you is that article writing, especially book reviews need to grab the reader with sharp and precise language. "Held my interest" is not exciting enough. "Hooked from the very first page" is more urgent and more in keeping with your crime novel comparison.
      
      My suggestion is to hop over to the excellent Udemy site and register. Wait until they are doing one of their $10 sales and grab hold of Writing With Flair: How To Become An Exceptional Writer or any one of the other well-rated non-fiction courses there. Worth every penny. There are free courses there too. There's one called 'On Writing', which I haven't tried but looks quite useful.
      
      Hope that helps a little
      
      Bevx

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      1. 89

         paperfacetsposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Bevx,
         Yes, it is.
         Your paragraph is much better!
         
         Son and husband reference was to illustrate the book would appeal to a wide age group. New structure may help get that across, but maybe a family read is not relevant. It does sound namby–pamby. 
         
         I have been using the Hemingway app, but failed to use it on this Hub. I am starting to come to the conclusion that speaking your own "voice"  is not what is wanted on HubPages. Am I right in saying a more "copy" approach is what is acceptable?
         
         Thank you for the Udemy site. I will explore it. I would love to get exposed to new sentence structure and a clearer approach to conveying my ideas.
         Sherry

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         1. 96

            theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Your own voice is absolutely what is required - I think so anyway. It's how you use it. If you think of an average person with an average singing voice who decides to take lessons. They hone and refine, and build their singing muscles in exactly the same way as you can with your writing muscles.
            
            It's still your thoughts and ideas, but you learn how to express them clearly in a way which pulls the reader in. Makes them want to read more of what you have to say. In fact, by learning how to do that, you get to find your real authentic voice.
            
            I find that mine changes depending on what I'm writing about. So I can write some arty/instructive/let's make a mess hubs in a very informal way, whereas if I'm writing something serious then I'll adopt a more formal tone. I don't even think about it really.
            
            There's a kinky pleasure in going through your work and deleting all the 'that's, and the weak adjectives, strengthening the verbs and picking up all the meanderings that make the piece flabby. So the more you learn about writing with boldness and clarity, the better we'll hear your voice. After a while, you'll look at your writing and see where the weeds need pulling. Talk about mixed metaphors here!
            
            

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            1. 89

               paperfacetsposted 6 years agoin reply to this

               My voice is passive and I will work on 'ly' words and more. I have spent the last year deleting  ' I ' in dozens of Hubs. 
               Thanks for the discussion and words of advice.

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               1. 87

                  Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  I think you've done the wrong thing in deleting "I" from your Hubs.
                  
                  At one time, Helium.com advised their writers to write in third person instead of first person, and I've seen a few ex-Helium writers hand out the same advice here.  It's the worst thing you can possibly do, IMO.
                  
                  HubPages is not Wikipedia and will never compete with Wikipedia, so writing impersonal, factual articles about any topic is a waste of time.   When people search on Google, they can find the dry facts about most things on lots of other sites already.  There's no point trying to compete with that. Where you can stand out is by offering your personal experience. Don't be afraid to show, in your Hubs, that you have done this or experienced that personally.  If you take yourself out of the article, you may also be removing the language that shows your enthusiasm for the subject and make the text sound flat.
                  
                  The passive form of verbs is to be avoided (that's an example of the passive, by the way).  However I hear lots of people talk about "passive voice" and misunderstanding what it means, so I'd like to know what you mean by it. 
                  
                  "-ly" words are not bad words.  It's just that sometimes, they're a lazy way of saying something, and if you stop to think, you'll find another verb that doesn't need the "-ly" word.  So for instance, instead of saying, "he walked slowly" you would say "he strolled".   
                  
                  However, that rule has got distorted, to the point where people think they can't have a -ly word at all.  So if they can't think of another verb, they'll add a phrase instead, e.g. "he folded the paper carefully"  becomes "he folded the paper with great care". That's just silly, because "carefully" is much neater than "with great care" and flows better. So you see, "-ly" words can be just fine in the right context.

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                  1. 89

                     paperfacetsposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                     I have kept the first person Hubs and trimmed the amount of I words. The noun was over done in most cases.
                     
                     What does YMYL (your money, your life) topic mean? Can anyone explain the term for me? I certainly do not want to submit another one of those.

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4. 91

   Sherry Hewinsposted 6 years ago

   Your Money or Your Life. It's having to do with financial or medical issues, or anything else that might kill you or cost you a lot of money.

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   1. 89

      paperfacetsposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Ok Now I know to ignore that reason for rejection. That is not for a book review. I need some serious guidance on what to IgNORE.
      Thanks Sherry

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      1. 96

         theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         I may be wrong but aren't the specific reasons added in at the bottom of the list? As in a 'note from the editor'? Or is that only when they want a pre-approved hub tweaked for a niche site?

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         1. 89

            paperfacetsposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            I did get an email for one Hub that gave specifics and those were thoughtful and made sense. I followed the editor's suggestions and the Hub was approved. That Hub was for delishably.
            
            I suppose the Hub was a pre-approved hub.

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            1. 87

               Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

               What's a pre-approved Hub?

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               1. 96

                  theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  When HP writes and says they are moving a hub to a niche site subject to a few tweaks by the hubber.

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                  1. 89

                     paperfacetsposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                     I was very thankful for specific changes to make on the one email that may have been for a pre=approved Hub. But when I made the edits and reviewed every word of my Hub, I could not speak with the editor at all. A return reply from me to the email was rejected and not sent. 
                     
                     When I do get a Hub accepted it feels like I got lucky and was hit by lightening or won a school lottery with a chance to get to the playground. Nonetheless, I will keep trying and editing.

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