Surprised by what passes for quality

Seems to me that if you are submitting an article, you're associating your good name with that article, right? Otherwise what's the point of you submitting it - whether you wrote it or someone else wrote it for you for pay.

In that case, I personally want my name going along with only the best-written articles possible. Writing and/or submitting quality content can only enhance your reputation, right?

Dot

Agreed.

To me it all comes down to what the article is trying to accomplish. Is it an attempt at selling? If so, then quality is so important.

Or is it a simple dash for Backlinks? Then quantity over quality is king.

I agree. I've read a few good articles there, but in general most of them were probably written just to generate backlinks.

Tell me about it.

The value of being an expert author has decreased more than the US Dollar.

EzineArticles should make the process of becoming an expert author harder and take longer.

As a writer for more than 25 years, I will side with the folks who insist on quality. A proper command of the English language is little enough to ask, for any kind of writing. If my name is on it, it WILL be polished and perfect. I have in the past submitted novels to traditional publishers. Do you think I would do that without the manuscript being absolutely perfect? Not a chance.

All that said, it sounds like many of you in this thread are experienced writers, but for the sake of those with maybe more marketing skills than writing skills, let me share a few things. Yes, it's true it took me 25 years and a BA degree in Journalism to learn my skills, and become the expert that I am, but you can learn basic "command of the language" skills without it taking that long. To instantly improve your skills, pay attention to the following:

1. Spelling. Yes. You have to spell correctly. Use your spell checker, and use a dictionary. My favorite is Merriam-Webster.com. The reason you need to use a dictionary is the spell checkers, even the best of them, will miss out-of-context words or mispelled words that happen to be a correctly spelled word with an entirely different meaning. (where/were, for instance). If you're not sure, look it up.

2. Use the grammar checker! Microsoft Word has a built-in grammar checker, but again, with these automated tools, they are NOT always right! My favorite handbook for quick grammar checks is The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager and the Doomed. Main problems to watch out for: passive voice ("the body of Frodo" as opposed to "Frodo's body") (Yes, Tolkien did this, but we can forgive him, since he was a God.) "Frodo's body" is considered much better sentence structure. AND watch out for subject/verb agreement! ("The fisheries of the Kenai are rich" as opposed to "The fisheries of the Kenai is rich". This second example is wrong because "Kenai" is not the subject of the sentence, "fisheries" is. You can tell what the subject of a sentence really is by removing the prepositional phrases (of the Kenai), and you still have a sentence that makes sense.

3. Punctuation. This is fairly easy to pick up on, and a good read of a great book might solve the problem. Get The New Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed.

4. Read your writing over and over again, and read it out loud. If it sounds awkward, rewrite it untill it's smoother. This does take time and practice, but it get easier.

Well, those are just a few things I could think of that might be of service. By the way, mentioning the books above are not money makers for me; I'm just honestly sharing my favorites. Please feel free to add your own favorites or ideas. I know I've missed something.

And if there's a typo or bad English anywhere in this post, make sure to point it out and rub it in my face!

I totally agree with you, Russ. My many books . . . well, they have their own room, and their spilling out onto the stairs. Read, read, read is the best advice. I have a whole book that's just top-performing sales letters. I've read it many times; great for the copywriting skills.

There is a third group.

Marketers who understand that caring for their prospects/customers and providing well-written, quality materials actually improves the bottom line.

I'm not a neat freak and I'm certainly not the kind of person who "loves rules".

I'm someone who writes well and knows that skill has a measurable value.

If you're a marketer and you're not a quality checker, you might want to consider hiring one. That "technically polished stuff" can make the difference between serious money and a trickle of change.

I do understand your point and I'm not trying to be argumentative for the sake of being argumentative. I just feel like you're setting up a false dichotomy. One can (and should) be marketing-oriented AND committed to providing the best possible user experience.

I'm not talking about sweating over the fact that a 50-page ebook has two sentences that end in prepositions or a spelling error on page 33. There is room for the occasional error.