Is there a long delay in stories getting reviewed for publication?

[PrivateFirstClass]

I've submitted to help tickets for this, but my story has been languishing for two weeks and with two help tickets without getting reviewed for publication. It's around 5k words, so not excessively long. Should I delete it and submit with a new title? Something else?

 

[RejectReality]

View the submission from your pending queue, hit the preview button, and then hit submit on the preview. It will reset your story in the queue. There's some bug that keeps work from appearing in Laurel's dashboard. If it's been longer than a week, you've almost certainly fallen into that hole. The odds of it happening twice are pretty slim, so it should go up in typical review time of a couple of days if you resubmit.

 

[AlinaX]

A few people have reported delays of 2 weeks or more recently.

 

[Azuldrgon]

The one time it happened to me, I did what @RejectReality said.

 

[lovecraft68]

Worth noting that while Manu is bragging about his new choose your story crap this bug has been going on for months and if people didn't come here to ask, they may just figure the site is broken and not bother publishing here.

But you know, priorities.

 

[StillStunned]

I once had a story pending for days before I realised that it was still in Drafts.

I've also had series waiting for approval for weeks before I realised that I hadn't actually submitted them.

 

[RejectReality]

I once had a story pending for days before I realised that it was still in Drafts.

I've also had series waiting for approval for weeks before I realised that I hadn't actually submitted them.

This too. A lot of the delayed publishing complaints have turned out to be stories that were never actually submitted and were in the drafts folder. I usually say that first thing, but it slipped my mind this time.

 

[PrivateFirstClass]

My story was definitely in the pending folder. I resubmitted. I hope that doesn't put me another two+ weeks from publication.

 

[Privates1stClass]

Follow RejectReality's advice.

 

[PrivateFirstClass]

Already did

 

[RejectReality]

You would have to be extremely unlucky to slip through the cracks twice in a row. The glitch, while annoying, isn't all that common. That makes it difficult to isolate, and probably not worth bothering with when the dashboard is very likely being updated to roll out with point-n-click editing anyway. ( or versions as they're calling it )

 

[Devinter]

My story was definitely in the pending folder. I resubmitted. I hope that doesn't put me another two+ weeks from publication.

Also worth asking: What category is your story in? I've been told that if it includes any sort of images, it takes significantly longer before it gets published, with waiting times over a month not being unheard of. I assume the images must be looked at with great scrutiny so nothing problematic gets uploaded to the site.

 

[PrivateFirstClass]

Story only. One of my series has a cover image, which might explain why the series took a while to get released as a series (after all 8 parts were released as stories).

 

[KachinaDoll]

My latest five page story was submitted four days ago and appeared two days ago.

 

[baffling8929]

I've had one pending review for 10 days (this is the second time I attempted submission, the first one was ~7 days with nothing). I tried to preview/resubmit and it tells me the story cannot be published, and to send the story name and URL to support. Any ideas?

 

[Britva415]

it tells me the story cannot be published, and to send the story name and URL to support. Any ideas?

Consider following those instructions?

Or are you asking how to send the story name and URL to support?

 

[baffling8929]

Consider following those instructions?

Or are you asking how to send the story name and URL to support?

I DMed Laurel with the URL from the browser bar in the edit window, but I'm not necessarily expecting a response. I wasn't sure if anyone had encountered that particular chain of events before.

 

[qhml1]

It appears I've fallen from grace with lit. I've had 21 stories rejected in the last year, for grammatical errors or underage sex. I've never written a story with underage sex, ever, and I've seen a lot worse mistakes than I make go by without notice. A side effect is every story that gets rejected ends up on my Patreon page, so I get the last laugh.

 

[ElectricBlue]

It appears I've fallen from grace with lit. I've had 21 stories rejected in the last year, for grammatical errors or underage sex. I've never written a story with underage sex, ever, and I've seen a lot worse mistakes than I make go by without notice. A side effect is every story that gets rejected ends up on my Patreon page, so I get the last laugh.

Twenty-one rejections though, that's a pretty high number. I'd be lookin at the words you're using more closely, because you're repeatedly triggering something.

 

[happyyy_]

Is it also category dependent? One of my stories I edited and resubmitted a few different times, but as of last time (26th of july I believe) it is showing in the pending folder with the "new" icon with a date of july 30th. I think that means its going to be released on the 30th? Its for the fantasy cat. so I understand delaying the release since its a busier category ... but I have seen a few people submit their chapters for other categories (non con, which also seems busy) and they are released next day or within 1-2 days which makes me nervous my pending request is broken.

I have a chapter edit that was submitted on the 21st as well that is still pending. I did sent a PM to laurel since its just purely cleaning up grammar/spelling of my already published chapter, so I am not sure why it would be taking so long. I have no issues waiting but it would really suck to wait 2+ weeks and then find out it was never submitted.

 

[RejectReality]

Is it also category dependent? One of my stories I edited and resubmitted a few different times, but as of last time (26th of july I believe) it is showing in the pending folder with the "new" icon with a date of july 30th. I think that means its going to be released on the 30th? Its for the fantasy cat. so I understand delaying the release since its a busier category ... but I have seen a few people submit their chapters for other categories (non con, which also seems busy) and they are released next day or within 1-2 days which makes me nervous my pending request is broken.

I have a chapter edit that was submitted on the 21st as well that is still pending. I did sent a PM to laurel since its just purely cleaning up grammar/spelling of my already published chapter, so I am not sure why it would be taking so long. I have no issues waiting but it would really suck to wait 2+ weeks and then find out it was never submitted.

Edits are a whole different ball of wax. Laurel gets to those when she has time. You more or less just have to wait until they go through. 2 weeks is nothing out of the ordinary there.

If it's dated, it will come out on that day. I've never seen one pushed that many days in the future, but I've also never seen them not go live when they say they will.

 

[happyyy_]

Edits are a whole different ball of wax. Laurel gets to those when she has time. You more or less just have to wait until they go through. 2 weeks is nothing out of the ordinary there.

If it's dated, it will come out on that day. I've never seen one pushed that many days in the future, but I've also never seen them not go live when they say they will.

Thank you for the reassurance! I stupidly did not edit my first draft very carefully. Lesson learned! Hopefully I will not need to request an edit again

 

[KachinaDoll]

I have no idea how the approval system operates but I assume that it starts with some sort of automated scanning process, looking for key words and phrases. If it passes that, it gets approved. If it fails then it would go to human review which obviously takes longer. This week, my story was approved in two days.

I would also expect there to be a system that monitors author's records on quality and adherence to the site rules. A history of previous rejections may well prompt a much closer look at a new submission, which will again cause a delay.

 

[dirtyfkr]

I've no idea what's going on? Have a story pending since the 22nd, and a second since the 26th. Sent Laurel a PM yesterday and still "pending." Nope, it's not in drafts either - checked that.

Strange, as my first two stories were approved within 36 hours.

ETA: I find it crazy that the whole site relies on one person. Would make more sense to have 2-3 other trusted people that could do reviews also.

 

[baffling8929]

I've had one pending review for 10 days (this is the second time I attempted submission, the first one was ~7 days with nothing). I tried to preview/resubmit and it tells me the story cannot be published, and to send the story name and URL to support. Any ideas?

FWIW, no movement on this (12 days under pending status), and no response yet to my message. Should I consider deleting the submission and starting over?