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

[iwatchus]

And just to be clear...you went to her profile and messaged her there, right? I'm only asking because I've never sent a private message here before.

You can send a PM by clicking on the envelope icon next to your name in the upper right hand corner on this page. That is the recommended to contact Laurel (or Manu).

 

[Illogical]

You can send a PM by clicking on the envelope icon next to your name in the upper right hand corner on this page. That is the recommended to contact Laurel (or Manu).

Thanks

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

"Happy Holidays.

I have a story that has been sitting in my pending folder since November 24th. I certainly don't expect to be rushed ahead of anyone else with pending stories, but could you share with me what the current backlog is so I know what to expect for the story to see the light of day?

As always, thanks for all that you do."

Thanks for sharing

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

Just sharing an update, not to complain just sharing.

As others suggested, at the 15 day mark, yes this time I waited, I sent a nicer PM to Laurel yesterday. I asked if she would consider posting the two chapters submitted on 11/24 and 11/25.

Unlike others who saw movement in their story, some quoting within hours, or the following day, I haven’t seen anything.

Maybe I have hit a blackball list?

 

[tswanabrit]

I have a story that I have submitted 3 times, waiting 15 days between submissions before deleting and resubmitting, with one message to Laurel. I'm starting to wonder if I should try a 4th time tomorrow or just leave it and accept it's never meant to see the light of day.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Just sharing an update, not to complain just sharing.

As others suggested, at the 15 day mark, yes this time I waited, I sent a nicer PM to Laurel yesterday. I asked if she would consider posting the two chapters submitted on 11/24 and 11/25.

Unlike others who saw movement in their story, some quoting within hours, or the following day, I haven’t seen anything.

Maybe I have hit a blackball list?

Maybe there is no consistent experience and single data points about the site being responsive - however well intended - have little meaning.

We keep seeking patterns and meaning - it’s human to do so - and instead find only chaos.

 

[tswanabrit]

What category did both of you submit to?

Romance for me.

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

Romance for me.

Novel / Novella

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

Thanks so much for providing this data. It’s actually very interesting. I’m not real computer savvy so not even certain how to pull this data or I’ve seen some other authors pull data of how their story is rated versus other stories in different contests or challenges, sadly that stuff boggles this old woman’s mind.

Maybe I just stop writing to the Novel/Novella category

 

[iwatchus]

Thanks!

So, I’ve been tracking the number of published stories by category over the past six days. I’m aiming for a full week, just one day left to go, and both of the categories you mentioned, Romance and especially Novels & Novellas, are very clearly being throttled.

For example, Novels & Novellas never gets more than 3 or 4 stories a day, no matter what. So if you're behind 100 other submissions in that category, you're probably going to be waiting a while, even if you submitted a week ago.

I plan to start a new thread sharing the full breakdown and trends once I finish logging the seventh day, but here's what I've got so far:



172 stories published on 12/05

1. Taboo/Incest – 20
2. Gay Male – 20
3. Sci-Fi & Fantasy – 17
4. Erotic Couplings – 13
5. BDSM – 10
6. Lesbian Sex – 9
7. Romance – 9
8. Loving Wives – 9
9. Transgender – 8
10. Mind Control – 8
11. Group Sex – 7
12. Exhibitionist & Voyeur – 7
13. Reluctance/NonConsent – 6
14. Fan Fiction & Celebrities – 5
15. Interracial Love – 4
16. Anal – 3
17. Novels and Novellas – 3
18. Crossdressing – 3
19. Fetish – 3
20. Toys & Masturbation – 2
21. Mature – 2
22. Erotic Horror – 2
23. NonHuman – 1
24. First Time – 1

173 stories published on 12/06

1. Erotic Couplings – 18
2. Taboo/Incest – 18
3. Loving Wives – 15
4. Gay Male – 12
5. Reluctance/NonConsent – 10
6. Exhibitionist & Voyeur – 10
7. Sci-Fi & Fantasy – 9
8. BDSM – 9
9. Fetish – 8
10. Mature – 7
11. Transgender – 7
12. Romance – 6
13. Lesbian Sex – 6
14. Interracial Love – 6
15. Crossdressing – 5
16. NonHuman – 5
17. Fan Fiction & Celebrities – 5
18. Erotic Horror – 4
19. Novels and Novellas – 3
20. Mind Control – 3
21. Group Sex – 2
22. Non-Erotic – 1
23. First Time – 1
24. Toys & Masturbation – 1
25. Anal – 1
26. Letters & Transcripts – 1

216 stories published on 12/07

1. Gay Male – 26
2. Audio – 22
3. Taboo/Incest – 21
4. Loving Wives – 15
5. Erotic Couplings – 15
6. Reluctance/NonConsent – 15
7. BDSM – 14
8. Group Sex – 13
9. Sci-Fi & Fantasy – 10
10. Mature – 9
11. Exhibitionist & Voyeur – 7
12. Romance – 6
13. Fetish – 6
14. Mind Control – 5
15. Transgender – 5
16. Novels and Novellas – 4
17. Interracial Love – 4
18. Crossdressing – 4
19. Fan Fiction & Celebrities – 4
20. Lesbian Sex – 2
21. Erotic Horror – 2
22. Toys & Masturbation – 2
23. Non-Erotic – 1
24. First Time – 1
25. Anal – 1
26. Reviews & Essays – 1
27. NonHuman – 1

193 stories published on 12/08

1. Erotic Couplings – 22
2. Taboo/Incest – 20
3. BDSM – 18
4. Reluctance/NonConsent – 14
5. Gay Male – 12
6. Sci-Fi & Fantasy – 11
7. Audio – 11
8. Group Sex – 9
9. Lesbian Sex – 9
10. Fetish – 8
11. Mature – 8
12. Transgender – 7
13. Exhibitionist & Voyeur – 7
14. Mind Control – 7
15. First Time – 4
16. Interracial Love – 4
17. Novels and Novellas – 4
18. Fan Fiction & Celebrities – 4
19. Romance – 3
20. NonHuman – 3
21. Crossdressing – 3
22. Non-Erotic – 2
23. Letters & Transcripts – 1
24. Toys & Masturbation – 1
25. Chain Stories – 1

146 stories published on 12/09

1. Taboo/Incest – 16
2. Erotic Couplings – 16
3. Gay Male – 15
4. Sci-Fi & Fantasy – 11
5. BDSM – 11
6. Reluctance/NonConsent – 11
7. Group Sex – 10
8. Loving Wives – 8
9. Audio – 8
10. Romance – 7
11. Fetish – 6
12. Mature – 5
13. Novels and Novellas – 4
14. Exhibitionist & Voyeur – 3
15. Lesbian Sex – 3
16. Transgender – 3
17. Letters & Transcripts – 3
18. NonHuman – 2
19. Mind Control – 2
20. Non-Erotic – 1
21. Interracial Love – 1

85 stories published on 12/10

1. Fetish – 12
2. Taboo/Incest – 11
3. Reluctance/NonConsent – 9
4. BDSM – 8
5. Erotic Couplings – 8
6. Gay Male – 6
7. Mind Control – 4
8. Fan Fiction & Celebrities – 4
9. Anal – 3
10. Loving Wives – 3
11. Exhibitionist – 3
12. Group Sex – 2
13. Horror – 2
14. Audio – 2
15. First Time – 1
16. Interracial Love – 1
17. Mature – 1
18. Non-Erotic – 1
19. Sci-Fi/Fantasy – 1
20. Romance – 1
21. Transgender – 1
22. Lesbian Sex – 1

BTW, I don't think there is a daily cap on the low volume categories like N&N. I think that is just how many get submitted then approved.

 

[MindSketch]

Okay, this is insane. I've seen authors publish multiple stories in a matter of days of each other. Why am I having to wait over two months?

 

[iwatchus]

Okay, this is insane. I've seen authors publish multiple stories in a matter of days of each other. Why am I having to wait over two months?

The truthful answer is we don[t have a fucking clue why some stories get hung up and others fly through. We have lots of guesses and lots of superstitions.

It is undeniably true that some authors and some stories are more likely to be caught up in the intermittent pending purgatory. Some stories are not caught consistently (so delete and resubmit works for them). Other stories are caught repeatedly. It sucks when it happens to one of your stories, especially if it's in a series. I've only had one story caught and it was not part of a series. It must really suck to have multiple stories in purgatory. I feel for those authors.

But even some self-reported cases on multiple purgatory story authors have managed to publish other things, bypassing the blockage.

Hang in there and keep writing.

 

[MrCurrie]

After 2 months, my re-edited chapters were sent back for AI. What's funny is that one of them was merely a different length than the original one posted. I had to adjust the length due to the added text in one of the chapters.

Mind you, this is a story that was already posted on Literotica as one large story. The rejections have only happened once I broke it up into multiple chapters.

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

After 2 months, my re-edited chapters were sent back for AI. What's funny is that one of them was merely a different length than the original one posted. I had to adjust the length due to the added text in one of the chapters.

Mind you, this is a story that was already posted on Literotica as one large story. The rejections have only happened once I broke it up into multiple chapters.

Another example of “no rhyme or reason”

I am submit other stories as I have two still in “Pending Purgatory”. Both have been there over fifteen days. PM sent, nada in reply.

I am writing and have stories lining up from the challenges and contests. We shall see what happens in the short and long term.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I’m not going to leap to conclusions, but at least some of the lengthy delays appear to have ended in AI-related rejections, so I suspect that is at least part of the problem (maybe compounding the known glitch, and what seems to have been womanpower issues).

 

[iwatchus]

I'm going to purely speculate here (and I await @AwkwardMD letting me know I'm wrong). I am guessing that sometime in the not too distant past, Laurel decided too much AI authored material was getting through and decided to tighten the filter. Without a major technological advance, fewer false negatives means more false positives, leading to more manual reviews and some longer waits. Over the early summer, enough of the purgatory complaints turned into AI rejections that I assumed that was the explanation for almost all of them. Then something (unknowable to us mere mortals) happened to reduce Laurel's interactions with us at the same time the rate of purgatory rose considerably, at least among AH regulars (bringing about the discussions of white lists). When Laurel started reacting to messages again, even occasionally replying) the rate of purgatory for AH regulars returns to a very low level. I'm still surprised @Aoife_from_Ulster got caught in purgatory recently. (Does Laurel have something against Ulster? I don't know if she has feelings about Irish politics.)

Hopefully over time they can find a level of detection that does not let too much AI through while not hanging up too many 100% human authors. And maybe the backlash against AI will reach a sufficient level that fewer people will be using it, which I think is the real underlying problem right now.

 

[SmilingLez]

Thanks!

So, I’ve been tracking the number of published stories by category over the past six days. I’m aiming for a full week, just one day left to go, and both of the categories you mentioned, Romance and especially Novels & Novellas, are very clearly being throttled.

For example, Novels & Novellas never gets more than 3 or 4 stories a day, no matter what. So if you're behind 100 other submissions in that category, you're probably going to be waiting a while, even if you submitted a week ago.

I plan to start a new thread sharing the full breakdown and trends once I finish logging the seventh day, but here's what I've got so far:



172 stories published on 12/05

1. Taboo/Incest – 20
2. Gay Male – 20
3. Sci-Fi & Fantasy – 17
4. Erotic Couplings – 13
5. BDSM – 10
6. Lesbian Sex – 9
7. Romance – 9
8. Loving Wives – 9
9. Transgender – 8
10. Mind Control – 8
11. Group Sex – 7
12. Exhibitionist & Voyeur – 7
13. Reluctance/NonConsent – 6
14. Fan Fiction & Celebrities – 5
15. Interracial Love – 4
16. Anal – 3
17. Novels and Novellas – 3
18. Crossdressing – 3
19. Fetish – 3
20. Toys & Masturbation – 2
21. Mature – 2
22. Erotic Horror – 2
23. NonHuman – 1
24. First Time – 1

173 stories published on 12/06

1. Erotic Couplings – 18
2. Taboo/Incest – 18
3. Loving Wives – 15
4. Gay Male – 12
5. Reluctance/NonConsent – 10
6. Exhibitionist & Voyeur – 10
7. Sci-Fi & Fantasy – 9
8. BDSM – 9
9. Fetish – 8
10. Mature – 7
11. Transgender – 7
12. Romance – 6
13. Lesbian Sex – 6
14. Interracial Love – 6
15. Crossdressing – 5
16. NonHuman – 5
17. Fan Fiction & Celebrities – 5
18. Erotic Horror – 4
19. Novels and Novellas – 3
20. Mind Control – 3
21. Group Sex – 2
22. Non-Erotic – 1
23. First Time – 1
24. Toys & Masturbation – 1
25. Anal – 1
26. Letters & Transcripts – 1

216 stories published on 12/07

1. Gay Male – 26
2. Audio – 22
3. Taboo/Incest – 21
4. Loving Wives – 15
5. Erotic Couplings – 15
6. Reluctance/NonConsent – 15
7. BDSM – 14
8. Group Sex – 13
9. Sci-Fi & Fantasy – 10
10. Mature – 9
11. Exhibitionist & Voyeur – 7
12. Romance – 6
13. Fetish – 6
14. Mind Control – 5
15. Transgender – 5
16. Novels and Novellas – 4
17. Interracial Love – 4
18. Crossdressing – 4
19. Fan Fiction & Celebrities – 4
20. Lesbian Sex – 2
21. Erotic Horror – 2
22. Toys & Masturbation – 2
23. Non-Erotic – 1
24. First Time – 1
25. Anal – 1
26. Reviews & Essays – 1
27. NonHuman – 1

193 stories published on 12/08

1. Erotic Couplings – 22
2. Taboo/Incest – 20
3. BDSM – 18
4. Reluctance/NonConsent – 14
5. Gay Male – 12
6. Sci-Fi & Fantasy – 11
7. Audio – 11
8. Group Sex – 9
9. Lesbian Sex – 9
10. Fetish – 8
11. Mature – 8
12. Transgender – 7
13. Exhibitionist & Voyeur – 7
14. Mind Control – 7
15. First Time – 4
16. Interracial Love – 4
17. Novels and Novellas – 4
18. Fan Fiction & Celebrities – 4
19. Romance – 3
20. NonHuman – 3
21. Crossdressing – 3
22. Non-Erotic – 2
23. Letters & Transcripts – 1
24. Toys & Masturbation – 1
25. Chain Stories – 1

146 stories published on 12/09

1. Taboo/Incest – 16
2. Erotic Couplings – 16
3. Gay Male – 15
4. Sci-Fi & Fantasy – 11
5. BDSM – 11
6. Reluctance/NonConsent – 11
7. Group Sex – 10
8. Loving Wives – 8
9. Audio – 8
10. Romance – 7
11. Fetish – 6
12. Mature – 5
13. Novels and Novellas – 4
14. Exhibitionist & Voyeur – 3
15. Lesbian Sex – 3
16. Transgender – 3
17. Letters & Transcripts – 3
18. NonHuman – 2
19. Mind Control – 2
20. Non-Erotic – 1
21. Interracial Love – 1

85 stories published on 12/10

1. Fetish – 12
2. Taboo/Incest – 11
3. Reluctance/NonConsent – 9
4. BDSM – 8
5. Erotic Couplings – 8
6. Gay Male – 6
7. Mind Control – 4
8. Fan Fiction & Celebrities – 4
9. Anal – 3
10. Loving Wives – 3
11. Exhibitionist – 3
12. Group Sex – 2
13. Horror – 2
14. Audio – 2
15. First Time – 1
16. Interracial Love – 1
17. Mature – 1
18. Non-Erotic – 1
19. Sci-Fi/Fantasy – 1
20. Romance – 1
21. Transgender – 1
22. Lesbian Sex – 1

I'm in a similar boat and my story is non-erotic fiction

 

[PreppyBoots]

YES!

Haunting of Elizabeth White Pt. 01
Published on the 11/07/2025

 

[SmilingLez]

Check out my thread: https://forum.literotica.com/thread...en-post-on-why-your-story-is-screwed.1646090/

I believe your logic is flawed. I contacted (texted) several non-erotic authors and asked how long it took them to get their story posted. All said between 5 and 7 business days

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

I'm going to purely speculate here (and I await @AwkwardMD letting me know I'm wrong). I am guessing that sometime in the not too distant past, Laurel decided too much AI authored material was getting through and decided to tighten the filter. Without a major technological advance, fewer false negatives means more false positives, leading to more manual reviews and some longer waits. Over the early summer, enough of the purgatory complaints turned into AI rejections that I assumed that was the explanation for almost all of them. Then something (unknowable to us mere mortals) happened to reduce Laurel's interactions with us at the same time the rate of purgatory rose considerably, at least among AH regulars (bringing about the discussions of white lists). When Laurel started reacting to messages again, even occasionally replying) the rate of purgatory for AH regulars returns to a very low level. I'm still surprised @Aoife_from_Ulster got caught in purgatory recently. (Does Laurel have something against Ulster? I don't know if she has feelings about Irish politics.)

Hopefully over time they can find a level of detection that does not let too much AI through while not hanging up too many 100% human authors. And maybe the backlash against AI will reach a sufficient level that fewer people will be using it, which I think is the real underlying problem right now.

Thanks @iwatchus i hope I haven’t been blackballed, I hope it is just a glitch. maybe I can send a case of Guinness or a good bottle of Redbreast.

All joking aside, with innovation comes strain. I remember OMG years ago when electronic charting hit the ICU, we all damn near died ourselves.

We shall see I hope things get iron out. More importantly, I hope Laurel and Manu are okay. I will say she was quick to reach out to me after the Halloween contest awards were announced.

It’s weird not hearing of or seeing of interactions with them

 

[SmilingLez]

What are you saying then? You still think it's a glitch?

I definitely believe it is a glitch (aka bugs) in the 20+ year old CMS. Literotica makes its money on affiliate marketing. As much as your ego wants to believe that Literotica makes money on your stories, it's sadly does not. There's no ROI in upgrading their CMS. I wouldn't be surprised if the biggest money makers on Literotica are the videos and toys.

 

[cw5523729]

What are you saying then? You still think it's a glitch?

What are you saying? That the only two possibilities are "a glitch" or the conspiracy theory that you devised that only funny gay trope satires like yours get approved?

 

[cw5523729]

I definitely believe it is a glitch (aka bugs) in the 20+ year old CMS. Literotica makes its money on affiliate marketing. As much as your ego wants to believe that Literotica makes money on your stories, it's sadly does not. There's no ROI in upgrading their CMS. I wouldn't be surprised if the biggest money makers on Literotica are the videos and toys.

So are you saying that we all need to buy some dildos to get things upgraded? Like, how many do we need per person? Does anyone know if bigger ones have a better or worse ROI for Laurel?

 

[YmaOHyd]

So are you saying that we all need to buy some dildos to get things upgraded? Like, how many do we need per person? Does anyone know if bigger ones have a better or worse ROI for Laurel?

This looks like a job for Sir John Phallustiff!

 

[SmilingLez]

This looks like a job for Sir John Phallustiff!

Could not help myself

Sir John Phallustiff was bold,
With tales of his conquests retold.
With a wink and a grin,
He’d always dive in,
Naughty adventures would always unfold!