The reason why articles don't get published (apart from not following posting guidelines) is because they're full of spelling mistakes.
Although I did say that you needn't worry to much about correct grammar, that doesn't mean you can skip on proof reading and spell checking your article. Even the most basic word processor has a spell check function. If you are looking for the perfect alternative to Microsoft Office (Infact I use this program in preference to MS Word as it allows me save my files in pdf
format which I can't do with my version of MS Word) go and download this free office suite - It's a serious piece of software ... It's also a big download but it's FREE.
If you need a handy desktop theasaurus with a built in dictionary then go and download this free program. You can also use it to check spellings
You can also go on the net and use the web based spell-checkers and dictionary.
http://www.spellcheck.net
http://www.jspell.com/jspell.html
http://www.dictionary.com
How to Submit Your Articles
Before you submit your articles to any of the publishers, you must read their guidelines fully! Failure to follow the set guidelines for posting/submitting your article usually ends with a straightforward rejection.
Most publishers will want the following.
1) Article 500 to 700 words in length - Always include a word count in your email to the ezine publisher/article announcement list.
2) No spelling errors - This is as simple as doing a spell check
3) Full contact details, a brief introduction about yourself and a short synopsis of your article
This information is only for the ezine editor/ article announcement publisher and no-one else.
4) Word wrap your article
You will want to word wrap your article to 65 characters for each line. This means that each line of your article will contain not more than 65 characters, it may contain less characters but never more than 65. This is important for margins in email.
A useful tool I use to set character width is Notetab. You can download the free version here.
5) Place your article in the body of your email
Never send your article as an attachment to an email. Most people don't open attachments for the fear of viruses. Paste your article into the body of your email and then send it.
The best advice I can offer here is that you should always follow any set of given guidelines fully and to the "T". If you're unsure, ask someone.
Submitting Your Article To Hundreds Of Publishers
If you are going to be doing this by hand then just below is a list of article directories you can submit your articles to:
http://www.articlecentral.com
http://www.articlecity.com
http://www.article-emporium.com
http://www.articlehub.com
http://www.articlewarehouse.com
http://www.authorconnection.com
http://www.ezinearticles.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.ideamarketers.com
http://www.isnare.com
http://www.marketing-seek.com
http://www.reprintarticles.com
