avatarWinifred J. Akpobi

Summary

The article provides insights into improving one's writing and storytelling to increase the chances of publication, emphasizing emotional connection, proper formatting, proofreading, understanding the audience, and adhering to publishing guidelines.

Abstract

The author shares personal experiences with rejection and the lessons learned about what editors look for in a story. Key points include the importance of evoking emotions in the reader, the role of proper formatting and proofreading in enhancing an article's appeal, and the necessity of understanding and writing for the target audience rather than oneself. The article also stresses the significance of selecting the right publication and following submission guidelines to succeed in the publishing game. The author encourages writers not to be discouraged by rejection, highlighting that even a story rejected multiple times can be accepted after careful revision.

Opinions

  • The author believes that the ability to evoke emotions is crucial for a story's success, as it creates a connection between the reader and the writer.
  • Good formatting is considered a key factor in making an article visually appealing and reader-friendly.
  • Proofreading is seen as an essential habit for writers to ensure their articles are free from grammatical and spelling errors, and to maintain consistency in language style.
  • Understanding the readers and writing in an accessible language is emphasized to ensure the content resonates with the audience.
  • The article suggests that choosing the right publication and adhering to their specific guidelines is vital for increasing the chances of publication.
  • The author's personal anecdote reflects a belief in the value of persistence and the importance of learning from feedback to improve one's writing.

What I Learned After My Story Drafts Got Rejected Multiple Times

What an editor truly looks for in a story

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator on Unsplash

Some people think they have to be a professional writer to get published by certain publications. The truth is, you really don’t have to be one. You could be an amateur writer and still get more than a thousand reads on one story and even receive responses explaining how good you are of a writer, and sometimes, it could be vice versa for a really fantastic writer.

In essence, it’s really about you making your readers feel some type of way when they read your piece. You shouldn’t feel discouraged when your story gets rejected or not curated, but rather, you should keep trying to improve your writing skills — not to that of someone who you deem professional, but to that of someone whose words have the ability to move readers.

Hopefully, after reading this — you’ll have an insight into what an editor looks for in a story.

Bring out the emotions of your readers

My story got rejected just because my editor couldn’t really feel what I actually felt; I failed to use my words to convey my emotions. You have to make your readers feel your exact emotions using just your words.

The story could be inspiring but the moment your readers feel nothing is the exact moment they get disappointed. It could be an article about writing or an article about gaming — the ability to relate and learn from a story or article is what connects a reader to a writer.

You can check out my story that got published in invisible illness on Medium. I submitted my draft to them the first time but it got rejected, I did a lot of work on my piece and tried my best not to hide the true emotions I felt. My story surprising got curated too.

Work on your formatting skills

Formatting refers to the appearance of an article, it’s what people refer to as layout. Articles should contain at least four kinds of text: headings, ordinary paragraphs, quotations, and bibliographic references. Footnotes and endnotes could also work as a boost.

I noticed how stories with a sub-headline stood out and how plain stories with just a title looked. As much as I hate to admit it, being beautiful does have a lot of benefits; the format of your article is the beauty of it.

Let’s look at it this way, the first thing that attracts a reader to a story is the title — bold and meaningful. Not a clickbait, sincerely something a reader can learn from. Then, the reader clicks and scrolls down your story page.

The question is why is this reader scrolling up and down your story page? It’s not a rhetorical question, so here goes the answer — the reader simply wants to see the appearance of your story. Does it look well spaced and neatly written? When the reader settles for a yes, he or she goes ahead to start reading the story you worked so hard to write.

Proofreading

To proofread means to go through a written text in search of errors in both spelling and grammar. Funny how most writers forget to do this —you as a writer must possess a proofreading habit for the sake of your article and its editor.

The common mistake I’ve noticed is the mixture of both American English and British English. There is completely no harm in using the British style actually — the problem is when they clash. These two English styles are different and as similar as they seem; it’s a grammatical crime for them to get mixed up in one article.

It’s normal for an unedited article to be filled with word omissions and basic mistakes, which is why proofreading helps to save the life of an article. I recommend using Grammarly as your proofreading tool. It’s free.

Understand your readers

Editors and curators are not bots, they’re people too — to sum it up, they’re also your readers. I know it could be a bit tempting, having to write exactly what you want to read just because you couldn’t find it in your search results. It’s the one mistake that’s probably very popular in the blogging industry.

Apparently, I was one of those writers who wanted to please myself by writing. I remember when I started writing my first novel on a free publishing platform, the story was so good I couldn’t believe I was the author.

Much to my disappointment, my novel couldn’t account for reads. I would read a cliché book and check the reads it got. The number surprised me so much I began to question myself and my writing style. It took some time for me to realize that I wrote that novel specifically for myself and not my readers.

Of course, it’s good to be happy with what you write but when it comes to something you want people to read and enjoy — you have to program your mind as your reader which could be an editor or a curator.

A writer should reduce the use of hard vocabulary and rewrite sentences that are hard to read — it might seem good to you, but it may be the other way round for your readers. A good software I’ve grown fond of when it comes to deciphering hard-to-read sentences is Hemingway Editor.

You shouldn’t write what you want to read, write about what they want to read. This is also a connection between a writer and a reader — in other words, make sure your story holds the ability to captivate your readers.

Master the publishing game

You may be playing the publishing game wrongly. Getting your article published in a big publication is good; another thing is if they’re actually the right publication for your article.

Wrong publication equals fewer reads.

Before submitting, endeavor to work on your story — understand that what entices the editor is the title, the subheadline, the display image which must be cited, the starting point, and lastly, the conclusion of your article. These qualities determine if the body of your article is fit enough to be published or curated.

I mean, these editors and curators go over hundreds of articles/stories a day — you really can’t afford to submit a pitch with a discouraging kicker right? You have to give them some credit.

Final thoughts

As I’ve noted earlier, you definitely shouldn’t feel discouraged. A story of mine got rejected 3 times — lucky enough, the editors sent me notes on why it got rejected.

  1. The display image wasn’t formatted to match their submission guidelines.
  2. The quotes in my story weren’t properly cited.
  3. Long paragraphs weren’t broken into smaller ones, which meant my story was harder to read since it didn’t allow white spaces between the texts.

I clearly didn’t follow their submission guidelines which in turn gave the editors a hard time. I learned the hard way. Regret moved me to make careful amends on my story and thankfully, it got accepted.

To all my fellow writers, no article is ever so bad to an extent that it’s unworthy of amendments — if your article gets rejected, carefully review and make amends using an editor’s eye.

I know the feeling of either getting your story published or even better — curated and honestly, it’s an incredible feeling. I simply want writers like me to have a taste of that feeling.

Use my link to sign up for Grammarly

Writing
Self Improvement
Publishing
Blogging
Editors
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