Pending stories taking a long time to get published

[SmilingLez]

Sounds like good news. Keep us updated.

Ended up deleting two non erotic sci-fi flash fiction stories in pending purgatory and posted them elsewhere.

Waiting for my invitation to post on AO3.

Still have four flash fiction stories in pending purgatory the oldest May 4, 2026.

I don't believe the pending purgatory bug will ever get fixed (I figure only about 10% of stories end up in pending purgatory, and since there's no roi, there's no incentive. Also the bug has been reported as early as 2003). Luckily it's only the story pipeline.

 

[Benbrowne1]

I have published 25 stories that I am proud of bringing into the world, and have some very loyal 381 followers that I am so grateful for. But I am stuck. Purgatory may be the term here but it is an infuriating technical issue that surely can be fixed. I've tried every single bit of advice that I can find in the forums to try and unblock stories but nothing works. It has been months across multiple stories, multiple message to the powers that be, and nothing changes.

I love sharing my little creations on literotica, I was a reader before an author and found the content from all you fellow authors to be inspiring. Now I have series that are part way through that I want to finish and stories in draft that are ready to publish but probably have no option other than to leave. I know I'm not a big fish but it is distressing to think of losing what I have.

Someone please fix this situation. Please.

 

[Stanfield2025]

I have published 25 stories that I am proud of bringing into the world, and have some very loyal 381 followers that I am so grateful for. But I am stuck. Purgatory may be the term here but it is an infuriating technical issue that surely can be fixed. I've tried every single bit of advice that I can find in the forums to try and unblock stories but nothing works. It has been months across multiple stories, multiple message to the powers that be, and nothing changes.

I love sharing my little creations on literotica, I was a reader before an author and found the content from all you fellow authors to be inspiring. Now I have series that are part way through that I want to finish and stories in draft that are ready to publish but probably have no option other than to leave. I know I'm not a big fish but it is distressing to think of losing what I have.

Someone please fix this situation. Please.

Hate to be that guy but I don't think there's any fixing it. At least, no one who cares can fix it.

I've seen authors way better than me get fucked over by the bullshit AI and pending systems. Some of them have made accounts in other places and linked their Literotica followers there. You could do the same if it's fulfilling.

I haven't been fucked over by any of that stuff, so I've never faced that dilemma personally. But the fact that people like yourself do get fucked over is part of the reason I don't publish work on this site anymore.

 

[talemestories]

The rest are still pending despite resubmission on May 13th.

I have just submitted another story to see what happens. AO3 account is up and running but I haven't spent the time to figure out the tagging system there yet.

 

[The_Licentious_Laureate]

So I’ve got my first story stuck in ‘pending purgatory’, chapter 19 of an ongoing series. I’ve uploaded it and deleted it after the 15 days and then uploaded it again. Both times, when the date appeared against the story, it was in the past, or past the publication time for that day. I suspect that the date is then used by the publishing software, so with a past date, this thinks it’s already been published. If the date is before today, I’m assuming that a story will never get published.

When I next delete the one in ‘pending’ and re-upload, I’m going to add a note asking for it to be published 5-7 days after I upload, giving a specific date. Hopefully, this will break the problem. It’s as if two clocks are out of sync, the one flagging a story for publication setting the date in what it believes to be the future, only it is in the past. The publishing routine then not picking the story up for publication, thinking it has been already.

 

[Hidden_Submissive]

I doubt that’ll do anything. Something is very broken.

 

[PublishedEroticaWriter]

So I’ve got my first story stuck in ‘pending purgatory’, chapter 19 of an ongoing series. I’ve uploaded it and deleted it after the 15 days and then uploaded it again. Both times, when the date appeared against the story, it was in the past, or past the publication time for that day. I suspect that the date is then used by the publishing software, so with a past date, this thinks it’s already been published. If the date is before today, I’m assuming that a story will never get published.

When I next delete the one in ‘pending’ and re-upload, I’m going to add a note asking for it to be published 5-7 days after I upload, giving a specific date. Hopefully, this will break the problem. It’s as if two clocks are out of sync, the one flagging a story for publication setting the date in what it believes to be the future, only it is in the past. The publishing routine then not picking the story up for publication, thinking it has been already.

I've left notes as well. I told them to stop listening to their A.I. Overlords, and please publish my story. No reply. So I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[SmilingLez]

I have published 25 stories that I am proud of bringing into the world, and have some very loyal 381 followers that I am so grateful for. But I am stuck. Purgatory may be the term here but it is an infuriating technical issue that surely can be fixed. I've tried every single bit of advice that I can find in the forums to try and unblock stories but nothing works. It has been months across multiple stories, multiple message to the powers that be, and nothing changes.

I love sharing my little creations on literotica, I was a reader before an author and found the content from all you fellow authors to be inspiring. Now I have series that are part way through that I want to finish and stories in draft that are ready to publish but probably have no option other than to leave. I know I'm not a big fish but it is distressing to think of losing what I have.

Someone please fix this situation. Please.

I filled out an on line bug report and wrote a detailed description with a possible fix in the lit tech support thread. So far it looks like it hasn't been acknowledged by the powers that be. There is no financial ROI in fixing it. As always this is my opinion and YMMV

Side note - I have five stories in pending purgatory three of which were originally submitted in early April. I tried every hack suggested but none worked, so they remain in pending purgatory

 

[talemestories]

I have just submitted another story to see what happens. AO3 account is up and running but I haven't spent the time to figure out the tagging system there yet.

My first story since the end of April has published today. I still have other stories sitting in pending despite resubmitting and posting.

 

[The_Licentious_Laureate]

I messaged Laurel and my story was published today. I mentioned that the date against it in Pending was in the past.

 

[lost_in_own_world]

Unable to publish even a single story since January.
Had submitted 2 in Romance, 1 in Sci&Fantasy and 1 in Non-fiction. I even resubmitted one of them with a note to Admin, then tried to put it as a part of series and then rechecked it against possibility it is getting flagged for AI (even though it was never rejected) .
Now I have kind of given up and deleted all but one story

 

[PublishedEroticaWriter]

I messaged Laurel and my story was published today. I mentioned that the date against it in Pending was in the past.

How do I contact Laurel? I sent a direct message to Manu. For all the good it did.

 

[talemestories]

My first story since the end of April has published today. I still have other stories sitting in pending despite resubmitting and posting.

I have all my stories showing published other than the edited one. Things are looking up. I am very glad of this turn of events as the other options for posting were not looking nearly as good as this. I will advise once they make it up.

 

[SmilingLez]

Unable to publish even a single story since January.
Had submitted 2 in Romance, 1 in Sci&Fantasy and 1 in Non-fiction. I even resubmitted one of them with a note to Admin, then tried to put it as a part of series and then rechecked it against possibility it is getting flagged for AI (even though it was never rejected) .
Now I have kind of given up and deleted all but one story

I started a thread in the lit tech support forum and included a screenshot of my five stories in pending purgatory.

You might want to add a screenshot of yours.

Perhaps if enough people show proof that it is indeed a show stopping bug, maybe something might be done.

If you haven't saved any of your stories locally, you might want to do so, in case they mysteriously disappear from the pending queue never to be seen again

As always, this is my opinion and YMMV

Pending Purgatory Bug Report

 

[ElectricBlue]

How do I contact Laurel? I sent a direct message to Manu. For all the good it did.

Envelope top right of this page. PM Laurel. You probably won't get a reply, but your story might move.

 

[talemestories]

I have all my stories showing published other than the edited one. Things are looking up. I am very glad of this turn of events as the other options for posting were not looking nearly as good as this. I will advise once they make it up.

Everything is posted other than an edit. I am glad to be back in the work flow again as well.

For those following, I sent a private message to Laurel, did a bug report, and posted a few times on the forum before I saw any action.

Seeing that the login process changed for me (pop up rather than just a redirect to a page), I think there was a major update that created a number of issues for the software.

 

[WhenPreNut]

I found this thread because I searched for "how do I message Laurel"

Now I see the likely response will be "don't bother"

Im using brave on android phone app.

When I search authors on the ordinary interface and select the profile for laurel (with the Lit avatar), I DONT see any options to message (Can't recall what the actual text of the option that I am supposed to find is, but it's nowhere 20 mins of tapping and navigating turns up)

I'm guessing I'm being really dense! But maybe it's a bug with browser/ app?

Maybe I should try on Windows/chrome?

Ideas?

 

[BeechLeaf]

Laurel will never answer your message these days.

But a message to Laurel can (sometimes) get results. I've had one experience of this, and my problem was fixed within a day.

 

[PublishedEroticaWriter]

I found this thread because I searched for "how do I message Laurel"

Now I see the likely response will be "don't bother"

Im using brave on android phone app.

When I search authors on the ordinary interface and select the profile for laurel (with the Lit avatar), I DONT see any options to message (Can't recall what the actual text of the option that I am supposed to find is, but it's nowhere 20 mins of tapping and navigating turns up)

I'm guessing I'm being really dense! But maybe it's a bug with browser/ app?

Maybe I should try on Windows/chrome?

Ideas?

Just mousing over her name should bring up a pop-up menu. There should be a start conservation option.

 

[EmilyMiller]

How do I contact Laurel? I sent a direct message to Manu. For all the good it did.

Like this:

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/message-the-site-admin-directly.1650398/#post-102411697

 

[WhenPreNut]

Just mousing over her name should bring up a pop-up menu. There should be a start conservation option.

Can't mouse over on a phone.

 

[SmilingLez]

Can't mouse over on a phone.

Add @Laurel or @Manu to any messages and they will get notified. HTH


https://forum.literotica.com/threads/possible-pending-purgatory-fix.1655295/#post-102970634

 

[WhenPreNut]

Like this:

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/message-the-site-admin-directly.1650398/#post-102411697

Thnx
That link gave me what I needed

I've had a series grouping "waiting" for 6 weeks.

Funny that series I don't need are autocreated but one asked for don't get approved.

They seem to assume we are all untrustworthy.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Thnx
That link gave me what I needed

I've had a series grouping "waiting" for 6 weeks.

Funny that series I don't need are autocreated but one asked for don't get approved.

They seem to assume we are all untrustworthy.

Good luck with it

 

[StillStunned]

Thnx
That link gave me what I needed

I've had a series grouping "waiting" for 6 weeks.

Funny that series I don't need are autocreated but one asked for don't get approved.

They seem to assume we are all untrustworthy.

Manual series have always* taken a long time to approve.

* I speak from a vast three years' experience.