Guidelines for editor selected or submitted articles?

1. 98

   Shesabutterflyposted 7 years ago

   Is there a common standard or set guidelines that all the editors use to select articles? Or do all the different network sites/editors have their own guidelines for their own sites similar to when we submit our own articles? Is there a way to find all the different guidelines, without trying to submit an artice to every niche site?
   
   I'm also curious if there is an article about guidelines and how to get your articles accepted. I have read one of Marissa's articles, but did not find anything except that the guidelines are not rules, but suggestions and it did not mention anything about bio's that I could see. If these guidelines are not rules maybe that explains why there seems to be inconsistancies throughout the different and even within the same niche sites.
   
   I've seen multiple times on the forums that bio's are now required, yet I had an editor selected article moved just days ago to Owlcation (one that I would expect a bio to be necessary whether bios are now required or not) without a bio and the editor did not create one. I find this ironic as I've had several authors now create bios for me. I also already have a bio created that works for the article that was moved. All they would have needed to do was select my already created one, so I don't understand why it wasn't added if bio's are indeed actually now a requirement. Likewise, if bio's are not a requirement then why are editors adding them? It literally takes seconds to e-mail an author and allow them to add a bio before transfering the article to a network site. I added a bio and the article has since been moved to a different niche site. Makes sense as I did not think it belonged on Owlcation in the first place and was wondering why it ever would have been hand selected for that niche site.
   
   How do editors decide which articles to hand select? I've had several different articles hand selected for different niche sites that are similar to ones that I have submitted and my submitted ones were denied. I've also had articles that I feel are of much better quality than editor selected articles that have been denied with no explaination outside of the generic e-mail.
   
   I'm finding it very frustrating lately to submit articles when there does not seem to be a set standard or any reason for why articles are selected or denied. I've held off on submitting articles, because I feel they need more work yet an editor hand selects them. However, on the flip side I've submited articles that I feel are of high quality, get consistant traffic, and are one of my top earners, and it gets denied for reasons I can't seem to figure out. Do only some site editors work with authors on improving articles to be moved, while other sites simply accept & change (themselves) or deny?

   replyreport
2. 92

   Natalie Frankposted 7 years ago

   I think these are good questions.  Regarding bios - I think it's just good practice to add one regardless of whether it's required or not.  It establishes credibility through training, background, accomplishment, knowledge, interests etc. It also lets the reader feel connected with a real live person making them more likely to read the complete article and engage with the content/author. And I know that the argument will be made that we only get readers who are other HP members/authors but this is not the case - most of mine in fact are not internal.
   
   As for the other questions - answers would help the entire HP community.  I'd also like to know about how articles are selected as there does not seem to be consistency.  I have two series that I add to intermittently and about half of each have been moved to niche sites - different niche sites.  Given they are a series and written in the same tone, structure and quality, I do not know why some would be moved and others wouldn't, especially for the one that is a fiction series.  Why some are moved to one site and others moved to different sites is unclear.
   
   Thanks for posing these questions.  I hope a clear answer comes soon from Editorial.

   replyreport
3. 61

   EricFarmer8xposted 7 years ago

   On each network site if you click the editorial policy on the bottom navbar it gives some advice on what editors expect. I remember reading somewhere that if the topic of your Hub is already covered by multiple people on a network site the editors are less likely to consider moving it.

   replyreport
   1. 98

      Shesabutterflyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you. I'll take a look at the main network sites I usually submit my articles to. Hopefully that will give me an idea why some were denied while others accepted.
      
      That doesn't explain why there are such discrepancies within the same site though. Maybe it's due to editor discretion? Although if there were guidelines I'd assume the new editors would have been taught this before they were left alone to edit articles to create consistency within the same network site. This makes me think there are no guidelines and our articles are subject to which editor comes across an article first.
      
      I remembering seeing the same thing so I looked through the network site and the first few pages of Google and thought there wasn't much competition within the network site, but maybe I need to update some information and try again. I will take a look at the site's policy first though to see if the article is worth trying to edit.

      replyreport
   2. 0

      robhamptonposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Excellent example of why people need to be the BEST in their niche. Strive for it, it's worth it. Been on here since the beginning, my writing skills continue to improve and is paying off big time. "green pool" search yields millions of results. 2 of my articles appear first page of Google. Now just simple, general key word searches for my other article topics also appear first page. With just 28 Featured articles, I can say I pull in some pretty decent money during the summer. (seasonal swimming pool articles) Last year around 5 to 6,000 views per day in the summer. (that was before I added 4 more articles recently) . Dominate your niche! Be the best and you'll see results.

      replyreport
4. 75

   lobobrandonposted 7 years ago

   Editors are creating Bios for you? Or are they simply assigning a bio (you already created)  to the hub? If they are WRITING YOUR Bio, that goes against the whole concept of what they are trying to do here.

   replyreport
   1. 98

      Shesabutterflyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I've had editors to do both. I don't mind if they select one of my already created bio's as long as it matches the article. I would expect that if an editor is hand selecting to move one of my articles. However, I've had authors write bios that add no credibility and are basically nonesense. That is what I have an issue with.
      
      I understand bios add to the article, but agree with you that when editors create their own, it goes against the whole concept they are trying to create.
      
      This last article that an editor selected for Owlcation this week did not have a bio as its a very very old article and the editor did not add one or ask me to put one in. They simply moved it to Owlcation and then a day later it got moved to a different niche site.

      replyreport
   2. 61

      EricFarmer8xposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Editors have sometimes edited biographies I have already wrote. The edits they made were grammer related though. I always add one to Hubs myself. I wrote a few biographies for certain topics and I tend to reuse them.

      replyreport
5. 73

   Miebakagh57posted 7 years ago

   I think each networksite have their own standards. Otherwise, HubPages would be the same as Yahoo! news.

   replyreport
6. 96

   Tony Museposted 7 years ago

   I find myself proofreading my articles multiple times before publishing.  Often it is best to leave it as a draft, then come back a day or two later and re-read it again to make sure that the sentence structures and the flow of the article make sense to the a new reader.  I end up making many revisions before I end up submitting the article.  Best of luck!

   replyreport
   1. 98

      Shesabutterflyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I tend to do that as well, especially with the articles I wrote many years ago. I don't turn them into drafts, but I will update and edit the article several times before submitting. Sometimes I edit articles and then decide they are too much work and will work on something else and come back to them. Sometimes when editing articles it will bring them to the attention of editors and then I will get an e-mail telling me that an article has been selected to be moved, but it needs work. I will go back and continue working on it so I can submit it.
      
      I think doing several edits/proofreads is a great practice especially when writing new or editing articles that are several years old. I also like this, because it has the potential to bring articles to the attention of the editors without having to submit an article to a certain site. However, I do not find that it explains why editors are hand selecting certain articles and then denying others especially within the same network sites like in the example I presented earlier.
      
      The article that was most recently selected by an editor was 6 years old and at the point of selection I had not edited it in a few years. The editor did minor spelling fixes and added comma's, but did not add a bio and put it on Owlcation. I've submitted a similar article that ranks higher on Google and has more traffic that got denied twice by Owlcation in the last year or so; my best guess being that it's too personal and will not be a value to others. Which is exactly the kind of article this editor had picked. They chose an article that is more of a self essay, although the topic it's written on would fit in Owlcation, the content did not. It's been moved to Letterpile by an editor (which is where it belongs if it's being moved from HP in my opinion), but it doesn't explain why it was even selected in the first place. The article has less than 500 views in the whole 6 years it's been on HP, in comparison the article I've submitted twice has well over that in 6 years and ranks on the first page of Google.
      
      Makes no sense to me, but maybe there is something I'm missing and that's why I don't understand. There just seems to be a disparity between the quality of articles that editors are hand selecting to be moved compared to the ones that I've submitted and had denied. Makes me scratch my head and wonder what I'm missing or doing wrong.

      replyreport