Could use some help convincing the mods that my story isn't AI

[DavidMichaelStories]

Update: Still haven't had any luck uploading to this site. However, I have tried several others that people had suggested. I'm having a terrific response so far, even sold some books, and not one accusation or worry about it being AI.

See the title. I recently self-published my first book, a fantasy/romance set in the modern day, about a young man who needs a Genie's help to end a mysterious curse. I'd like to publish it on Lit as well, primarily for feedback and to build a readership. However, the first chapter keeps being flagged as AI and hence rejected.

To be 100% clear on this, I didn't use AI to write the book in any capacity. I don't even use grammar checkers because I have a human for that. Spellcheck only. It took me 2 years to develop the story, write it, rewrite it, edit it, and rewrite it again before I was happy enough to publish it, and I think anyone who actually reads it would agree. After being rejected twice, I went back and made some changes with advice from other forums, and then got rejected another 3 times.

I'm reaching out to anyone on this forum who would be willing to go through the first chapter and help me to convince whatever moderating process there is to allow me to start publishing the book here. I'm pretty desperate at this point, and I'm willing to entertain any suggestion if it would help. I'd be willing to beta read for or collaborate with anyone who would take up the challenge.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

The thing is, no one here knows what triggers the AI rejections. @Laurel, the one and only decider, hasn't explained.

Have you tried running your stuff through gptzero or scribbr or one of the other AI detectors and seeing if it gets flagged?

-Annie

 

[DavidMichaelStories]

That's the thing, I have, and it comes back as above 95% human on both of those. Others I've tried come out above 90%. And no one who has bought the book has thrown any accusations about AI usage. I'm really stumped.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Those detectors are rubbish. Don't listen to them.

I'm sorry you got caught up in a much larger problem the site is having. Unfortunately the site's detection system is a black box and answers are not likely to be forthcoming. Any explanation of how it worked, what its looking for, would immediately lead to workarounds bypassing it. It makes the whole conversation very fraught to discuss because those of us still submitting, still getting through, are counting on it still working to keep the site from being flooded with garbage submissions.

If I were you, I would shelf this story for a little while and write something else. Try to establish some credit with the website, if you will.

 

[DavidMichaelStories]

Those detectors are rubbish. Don't listen to them.

I'm sorry you got caught up in a much larger problem the site is having. Unfortunately the site's detection system is a black box and answers are not likely to be forthcoming. Any explanation of how it worked, what its looking for, would immediately lead to workarounds bypassing it. It makes the whole conversation very fraught to discuss because those of us still submitting, still getting through, are counting on it still working to keep the site from being flooded with garbage submissions.

If I were you, I would shelf this story for a little while and write something else. Try to establish some credit with the website, if you will.

I'll definitely keep writing. Not gonna let Lit's poor screening stop me. I'm just unsure what to pour energy into now since I have no clue what's happening to get my last story flagged. If I write another story and that gets flagged too, I'll be right back where I started.

Ironically, I had an account on this site back around 2007 that is still here, but I don't have access to it anymore. Such a bummer.

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

I have no experience with AI detection algorithms, so I can’t help with diagnosing your text for AI ‘tells.’

However, if you are able to send Laurel a copy of your word processor document with full change tracking – or a series of version backups proving the iterative development of your story – then that might add weight to your argument.

I save multiple stages of my stories just in case I ever need to make own authorship case.

 

[Bamagan]

If anyone here in the Hangout had the secret of how to avoid rejection, you can be sure they'd have bragged about it by now. There would probably even be some strutting.
Have you included any notes to the editor along with the submission explaining what you said here? We presume that stories get assessed by one or more scripts before Laurel spends any real amount of time reading them, to weed out AI as well as unpublishable things like underage or snuff. Adding a note may help get human eyes on the submission before it is kicked back.

 

[DavidMichaelStories]

If anyone here in the Hangout had the secret of how to avoid rejection, you can be sure they'd have bragged about it by now. There would probably even be some strutting.
Have you included any notes to the editor along with the submission explaining what you said here? We presume that stories get assessed by one or more scripts before Laurel spends any real amount of time reading them, to weed out AI as well as unpublishable things like underage or snuff. Adding a note may help get human eyes on the submission before it is kicked back.

I have tried to explain myself in the notes and I reached out to Laural directly. But I didn't recieve any feedback or communication other than automated messages advising that I find an editor. Which I did do, but that didn't seem to help at all.

To be clear, my story doesn't contain anything as terrible as the things you listed. The first chapter doesn't even have sex in it. And that was tagged accordingly.

 

[DavidMichaelStories]

I have no experience with AI detection algorithms, so I can’t help with diagnosing your text for AI ‘tells.’

However, if you are able to send Laurel a copy of your word processor document with full change tracking – or a series of version backups proving the iterative development of your story – then that might add weight to your argument.

I save multiple stages of my stories just in case I ever need to make own authorship case.

If I went to all that trouble, would Laurel even look at it? Either way, all I have is the finished copy, and maybe a rough draft or two floating around. would that be enough?

 

[Bamagan]

I have tried to explain myself in the notes and I reached out to Laural directly. But I didn't recieve any feedback or communication other than automated messages advising that I find an editor. Which I did do, but that didn't seem to help at all.

To be clear, my story doesn't contain anything as terrible as the things you listed. The first chapter doesn't even have sex in it. And that was tagged accordingly.

I wasn't suggesting you had prohibited content, just mentioning some of the other things that we believe get screened for prior to a formal (human) review of the story.
Every other piece of advice as far as writing style adjustments, unfortunately, is pretty much a shot in the dark. Grammar checkers often hate things like passive voice and adverbs, and they tend to want sentences to be short and concise, all of which is fine advice for business or academic settings, but they may not be out of place in fiction. That may or may not be relevant to your writing style, and it's even more iffy whether or not sprinkling in more adverbs and convoluted sentences would help regardless. Like I said, though: a shot in the dark.
If it's been rejected even after a direct dispute regarding your putative use of AI, though, that's probably the end of the road, unfortunately. At least until such a time as detection gets more reliable (if ever).

 

[DavidMichaelStories]

I wasn't suggesting you had prohibited content, just mentioning some of the other things that we believe get screened for prior to a formal (human) review of the story.
Every other piece of advice as far as writing style adjustments, unfortunately, is pretty much a shot in the dark. Grammar checkers often hate things like passive voice and adverbs, and they tend to want sentences to be short and concise, all of which is fine advice for business or academic settings, but they may not be out of place in fiction. That may or may not be relevant to your writing style, and it's even more iffy whether or not sprinkling in more adverbs and convoluted sentences would help regardless. Like I said, though: a shot in the dark.
If it's been rejected even after a direct dispute regarding your putative use of AI, though, that's probably the end of the road, unfortunately. At least until such a time as detection gets more reliable (if ever).

So... I'm probably boned then? Damn, what a gut punch. To work so hard on something for so long and get rejected from a free website... It really hurts more than it should.

 

[AwkwardMD]

So... I'm probably boned then? Damn, what a gut punch. To work so hard on something for so long and get rejected from a free website... It really hurts more than it should.

Just shelf it for now.

 

[Bamagan]

So... I'm probably boned then? Damn, what a gut punch. To work so hard on something for so long and get rejected from a free website... It really hurts more than it should.

The only other thing I can think of to suggest is to simply submit the entire thing at once, instead of going piecemeal chapter-by-chapter. AI stuff tends to be short (to my limited experience), and although a person with the right combination of laziness and industriousness could stitch a bunch of small pieces of AI junk together, most such users are probably looking for the least possible amount of effort on their part, so anything like a novella or longer may be considered somewhat safer from machine mockery. It's a hail Mary throw, though.

 

[AwkwardMD]

However, if you are able to send Laurel a copy of your word processor document with full change tracking – or a series of version backups proving the iterative development of your story – then that might add weight to your argument.

This suggestion sounds solid, doable, and easy.

 

[DavidMichaelStories]

Just shelf it for now.

Nothing else to do, I guess.

 

[RejectReality]

Until the AI shitstorm dies down, you're most likely trapped in an inescapable black hole after several rejections for AI on the same submission. The odds of it getting through in the near future are poor even if you go through it fucking with what you were already happy with in an attempt to appease some hallucinating AI detector. Even if it does somehow slip through, you could end up having the same fight with every single chapter.

Cultivate multiple venues. Most of them are just accepting at face value that there's no AI involved unless someone says they're using it, and at least one actively doesn't give a shit, citing statistics showing that the readership more or less ignores AI stuff. Beyond that, there are different rules and readerships on the various sites, so a couple of other options means that virtually anything you dream up can find a home. You can get yourself locked in a creative box if you're vetting all your musing based upon whether you can post it on Lit or not.

None of the other erotica sites have even close to Lit's reach, but any number of readers is greater than zero if you can't get it published here.

 

[DavidMichaelStories]

Until the AI shitstorm dies down, you're most likely trapped in an inescapable black hole after several rejections for AI on the same submission. The odds of it getting through in the near future are poor even if you go through it fucking with what you were already happy with in an attempt to appease some hallucinating AI detector. Even if it does somehow slip through, you could end up having the same fight with every single chapter.

Cultivate multiple venues. Most of them are just accepting at face value that there's no AI involved unless someone says they're using it, and at least one actively doesn't give a shit, citing statistics showing that the readership more or less ignores AI stuff. Beyond that, there are different rules and readerships on the various sites, so a couple of other options means that virtually anything you dream up can find a home. You can get yourself locked in a creative box if you're vetting all your musing based upon whether you can post it on Lit or not.

None of the other erotica sites have even close to Lit's reach, but any number of readers is greater than zero if you can't get it published here.

Out of curiosity, what are some of your favorite alternatives? Or is mentioning them against TOS?

 

[RejectReality]

Definitely somewhere between highly frowned upon and verboten. LOL I'll drop you a private message if you have them enabled.

 

[DavidMichaelStories]

Definitely somewhere between highly frowned upon and verboten. LOL I'll drop you a private message if you have them enabled.

I appreciate you and everyone else in this thread for answering my questions.

 

[StillStunned]

If your book is already available online somewhere else, it's possible that it's been mined to feed AI generators. That could possibly lead to it being flagged.

Have you checked here? https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/

 

[TheWritingGroup]

None of the other erotica sites have even close to Lit's reach, but any number of readers is greater than zero if you can't get it published here.

Out of curiosity: including AO3? They seem to be enormous. Not dedicated to erotica, but open to it, was my understanding.

-Annie

 

[DavidMichaelStories]

Out of curiosity: including AO3? They seem to be enormous. Not dedicated to erotica, but open to it, was my understanding.

-Annie

It's my understanding that A03 is more for fan-fiction than anything else. But I could try there too.

 

[gunhilltrain]

So... I'm probably boned then? Damn, what a gut punch. To work so hard on something for so long and get rejected from a free website... It really hurts more than it should.

You can go to other sites. They are smaller, but that may be an advantage in some ways. I'll PM the addresses to you if you wish.

P.S.: I see people have suggested that already, but I'm on a couple of others and I can tell you the pros and cons of each.

 

[DavidMichaelStories]

You can go to other sites. They are smaller, but that may be an advantage in some ways. I'll PM the addresses to you if you wish.

P.S.: I see people have suggested that already, but I'm on a couple of others and I can tell you the pros and cons of each.

By all means. Always willing to learn more.

 

[ICantLeafYou]

It's my understanding that A03 is more for fan-fiction than anything else. But I could try there too.

I read erotica on AO3 and do come across original work when I'm browsing for reading material. Though I'll read most anything dedicated to a certain fetish, whether original or fandom, even series I've never seen/read/consumed.