If you are having a lengthy delay in publishing, please add the name of your story and when submitted here.

[cw5523729]

No.

A sensible publishing strategy if you have a long story that is complete, is to submit all chapters at the same time, with a Note to the Editor what you've done. Laurel will review all at once, and set a release clock running for each chapter (usually 24 hours apart, unless you explicitly ask for longer).

That is exactly what I did, though with no note to the editor. 28 parts total, 169k words. The first part was published within 2 days, all the rest have been consistently released 1 per day since though without fail. No begging, no notes, no nothing. And it's the first story I've submitted on here in 6 or 7 years so I'm sure I'm not on any white list.

 

[ElectricBlue]

That is exactly what I did, though with no note to the editor. 28 parts total, 169k words. The first part was published within 2 days, all the rest have been consistently released 1 per day since though without fail. No begging, no notes, no nothing. And it's the first story I've submitted on here in 6 or 7 years so I'm sure I'm not on any white list.

Your content clearly met the "Go" criteria, whatever that might be, and didn't set off any warnings. I'd say this is evidence of a normal speed lane, business as usual, regardless of the drama in the crash lane.

 

[cw5523729]

Your content clearly met the "Go" criteria, whatever that might be, and didn't set off any warnings. I'd say this is evidence of a normal speed lane, business as usual, regardless of the drama in the crash lane.

Since I enjoy wild-ass speculation as much as the next guy or gal, I'm firmly of the belief that it's shit luck/random chance.

I'm sure there are some things that get flagged automatically - i notice a lot of talk of AI grammar checkers and electronic translators getting automatically rejected. Side note- we use Google translate all the time at work to communicate with non-english speakers. Seeing how much it butchers a 2 sentence text message, I can't imagine wtf it does to a 25k word novel. Anyway.

But as I've also mentioned, over 100 stories are consistently being approved every day. And yet none of those people are on here saying "hey, my story got approved without issue" - well, except for me because I like to hear myself talk.

Are there issues with the system? Absolutely. Do I think its a case where only approved, white listed, favorited authors are getting let through the turnstile? Clearly not.

 

[DEFCOM5]

You obviously are. Thank you for reporting it. It can help us figure out how it works, since it's unlikely Laurel will ever say a word about it.

The most logical assumption is that it has something to do with how many approved submissions you've had lately.

I do not believe it for 1 second. I have 13 stories to my name. Highest score is 4.69 with 252 votes.
Highest number of views in 1 story is 33k+
I am not Chloe or EM or Silkstocking or the other proven writers on this site.

How long did it take to your first story to be published? I'm just asking because I have both my first stories in the pending hell since august now.

My first story took 2 or 3 days. I cannot remenber

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I do not believe it for 1 second. I have 13 stories to my name. Highest score is 4.69 with 252 votes.
Highest number of views in 1 story is 33k+
I am not Chloe or EM or Silkstocking or the other proven writers on this site.

My first story took 2 or 3 days. I cannot remenber

As far as I know, nobody is a "proven" writer here, whatever that means.
What I meant is that you have several recently published stories. Maybe Laurel initiated the whitelist only recently, and everyone whose stories passed her inspection more than once deserved to be whitelisted in her eyes? That's the only explanation I see, even if it's all speculation.

 

[SoCalAshley]

I have another theory, and if you are a longtime writer, hear me out before you debunk it. What if Literotica changed the way stories are approved without telling us? What if 100% of the stories are never read by anyone, and they are sorted through a program that checks the story for AI, plagiarism, and other factors predetermined by the owners of the website? If the story passes, it can be published in a matter of hours (unless a backlog exists). If the story fails for whatever reason, it goes into a pending status. What happens next is pure speculation, but I suspect that these stories need to be read and approved by an actual human, and the backlog of pending stories has gotten to the point where it now takes weeks to get a flagged story approved.

This theory explains why some stories are published so quickly (no matter how long the story is or who the author is) and some stories (written by longtime authors who never had a story rejected) are left pending for weeks.

 

[DEFCOM5]

As far as I know, nobody is a "proven" writer here, whatever that means.

I respectfully disagree. When you published over 100 stories and have followers in the 4 digits and an insane amount of views, you are a proven writer.

 

[Nynah]

I respectfully disagree. When you published over 100 stories and have followers in the 4 digits and an insane amount of views, you are a proven writer.

But all the shlubs who have only 50 stories, 500 followers and a "sane" amount of views aren't proven writers yet, right?

 

[Robeth123]

I haven't been able to publish this calendar year but didn't begin the attempt until summer.
I currently have 10 stories pending with the longest going 50 days before pulling it and reloading.
I joined another site and they are all published and being appreciated by a different audience. It's sad to see what's going on here.

 

[DEFCOM5]

But all the shlubs who have only 50 stories, 500 followers and a "sane" amount of views aren't proven writers yet, right?

Did you feel insulted as my description did not include your stats? If so, i apologize. I did not mean to insult anyone.

I was trying to (poorly as your message indicates) make the point that if there are more and more submitted stories, I might be way more lenient towards authors who have submitted triple digits stories over someone with a couple (Assuming I am running the site). The chance of an experience author running afoul of Lit rules is less that a newbie.

That was all I was trying to say and again, sorry if it rubbed you the wrong way!

 

[JSWamp]

I haven't been able to publish this calendar year but didn't begin the attempt until summer.
I currently have 10 stories pending with the longest going 50 days before pulling it and reloading.
I joined another site and they are all published and being appreciated by a different audience. It's sad to see what's going on here.

I have two stories here pending since mid august. I also submitted them on another site. The first one has already been published. I expect the second one to be published next week.

 

[DonaldBelle]

How are peoples experiences with Removal requests? I have some old stuff I want to completely rework, and those requests have been pending for some time. I am happy to wait, just curious if Removals are in the exact same boat as new stories.

 

[Brightsun7]

Tried removing story, editing it, resubmitting, but still just pending. Been a good while know.

 

[ThomasPain]

Glad I'm not alone. I have an edit submitted Sept 14 that's still waiting.

Last time I submitted an edit (in late July), it took 14 days. That's about average for edits, in my experience.

Yep. I have an EDIT in pending now about 6 weeks. It seemed to have been stuck in purgatory before that so I resubmitted it 6 weeks ago, but that did not work. In the grand scheme of things, I recognize this is a free / volunteer site and I appreciate all that. But there seems to be a problem with no solution here. I just wanted to edit and resubmit a story and it seems that is not an option anymore.

 

[Nynah]

Did you feel insulted as my description did not include your stats? If so, i apologize. I did not mean to insult anyone.

I was trying to (poorly as your message indicates) make the point that if there are more and more submitted stories, I might be way more lenient towards authors who have submitted triple digits stories over someone with a couple (Assuming I am running the site). The chance of an experience author running afoul of Lit rules is less that a newbie.

That was all I was trying to say and again, sorry if it rubbed you the wrong way!

Not insulted at all, you're fine. I wasn't remarking on my own stats in your example; just more amused that the numbers you used were clearly based on certain author(s) whom you decided were "proven".

 

[DEFCOM5]

Not insulted at all, you're fine. I wasn't remarking on my own stats in your example; just more amused that the numbers you used were clearly based on certain author(s) whom you decided were "proven".

In an alternate reality where I have published 100+ stories, have 1000+ followers, stories viewed by hundred of thousands of reader, I would consider myself a proven quantity.
I did not say a good writer, just a proven writer from an website admin point of view.

 

[cw5523729]

As soon as I become one of these proven writers that gets all their works published instantly without review, I plan to start selling publication slots to other authors who are getting stuck in purgatory. I haven't decided if I'll have a fixed price for this service or if I'll do an ebay-style auction to the highest bidder. Follow me to find out more as details become available.

Full disclosure - you'll have to agree to minor modifications being made to your story in order to insert paid product advertisements which I'll also be offering. Sponsors like Trojan, Astro-glide, and obviously Budweiser are already on board.

 

[Mezu]

My chapter "Hunter's Rise Ch. 44 - Pupil 44" has currently pending since October 28. But it was just a resubmission. The very first try was on the last day of August, and I waited for a month and a half before trying the resubmit. Currently, all the other sites I'm using besides Literotica are five chapters ahead.

 

[JSWamp]

My chapter "Hunter's Rise Ch. 44 - Pupil 44" has currently pending since October 28. But it was just a resubmission. The very first try was on the last day of August, and I waited for a month and a half before trying the resubmit. Currently, all the other sites I'm using besides Literotica are five chapters ahead.

May I ask what websites you are using besides Literotica? I'm having the same issue here.

 

[DonaldBelle]

I too would like to know about some alternatives, pls DM if it’s against the rules to talk about them.

 

[SoCalAshley]

I too would like to know about some alternatives, pls DM if it’s against the rules to talk about them.

You need to allow conversations.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Entering day 15 of total pending time. God only knows whether my story has been sucked in by the black hole, or the queue for non-whitelisted is just that long. Will likely wait another week before considering other options.

I suppose it's pointless to say how much all of this is killing the excitement one always feels when publishing a story.

 

[DonaldBelle]

You need to allow conversations.

It might have something to do with the number of posts that I have, which is quite low. Don’t sweat it. Thanks anyway!

 

[ChloeTzang]

My story "Debt - Scene 4: Reckoning" was submitted on October 16, 2025 and was still pending as of today. I deleted it and resubmitted it with the simple title "Reckoning". I hope this will help.

I also had submitted edited versions of my first 3 stories, titled "The Negotiation," "The Conspiracy," and "Perseverance," using all the guidelines found on Literotica's FAQ pages. I submitted those back on September 29th, 2025 and were also still pending as of today. I have simply deleted those and will attempt to re-submit those one at a time after "Reckoning" is published.

I had also submitted a bug report per the instructions in this thread. I received no response.

Maybe I stuffed the queue with too many stories at once?

It's not possibke to stuff the queue with too many stories at once - you've always been able to submit multiple chapters or mutliple stories

 

[ChloeTzang]

Since I enjoy wild-ass speculation as much as the next guy or gal, I'm firmly of the belief that it's shit luck/random chance.

I'm with you on this - having had one story go into the pending forever bucket - I don't use AI, I don't use ANY writing or editing tools - it's manual from start to finish - no reason for it to just sit there way longer than normal - I deleted, resubmitted and thru it went.

I have no clues as to why some stories just sit sit and sit. And Laurel ain't talking.

At this stage I'd say submit it for the next competition with the usual Note to Admin for the comp, and then just add a note saying its not for the comp but seeing as it was sitting in pending for x months you figure this is the only way to get it through unless Admin can explain a better process.

The comp stories do get identified and flagged for fast thruput so seeing as there has been no response to the pending stories issue, this may be a way to Red Flag things. It's creating an isue for Laurel - but leaving stories sitting in pending for weeks and months and not telling us a thing about the issue or what to do is creating a issue for all of us who are impacted.

I wouldn't say do this for every story after a few days, but if your story has been sitting for weeks or since August, it might be worth a try. I haven't done this myself and over to you if you want to risk it. Just occurred to me this morning that this would be one way to get it in front of Laurel blatantly