How long does pending usually take?

crimson_hellion

Experienced
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Jul 21, 2017
Posts
33
Hi guys!
Submitted the first chapter of my very first story yesterday (then edited it 10 more times).
Now I'm reeeally on the edge of my seat since then, but don't know how long it generally takes for pending stories to be authorized and published.
Any rough estimates?

Also I feel like I want to change a few minor things (again), will I always have to resubmit the entire story again? Seems ineffective and tedious for the poor souls that have to read all that stuff.

I'm also afraid that when I edit the story now it will be shown as being submitted only now and the responsible reader will read it after having read stories that have been submitted earlier.
 
If you keep editing, it may be the 12th of Never. Edits restart the process.
 
Yeah, I feared that much. What I meant though that I handed in my final draft yesterday evening, not having touched it since.

So does it take days or even more until my story will be potentially published?

Also how will the responsible admin reach out to me? Will get an email or simply get an updated status under my works folder?
 
In my experience, a normally submitted story (i.e., not for a competition) takes about three days, though I did have one that took six days.
 
Once you've submitted it, every time you edit it and submit with the edits, it goes to the back of the queue all over again.

Generally, the wait time is around three days from when you last edited it and hit submit again.
 
I have a story that was rejected do to, "spelling." I did miss it. I corrected it and re-submitted it with the tag, "edited." It's been in pending now 7 days. I would like to see it go forward because I have a lots of other chapters I'd like to see published

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Rejections (of which I've had many) take longer to kick out than accepted submissions as a means or preventing people from making quick, superficial changes to flawed work and wasted the site owners time.
 
Now I'm reeeally on the edge of my seat since then, but don't know how long it generally takes for pending stories to be authorized and published.
Any rough estimates?

I completely feel you on this one. I posted my first story, An Artificial Life Ch. 01 on 9/28/2018. It was published on 10/01/2018, so on the third day.

On 10/3/2018, I submitted the second chapter, edited it once on the same day (I caught a couple of stupid errors I had missed), and I am still waiting for it to be published (five days later).

Today, I submitted chapter 3. I hope the chapters publish in order, otherwise I may have a few confused readers.

In any event, Literotica is an amazing forum to publish works, so I am not upset. I'm just being an obsessive author. Looks like you can relate to that as well. :)

Cheers.
 
Yes seems like the 'norm' is three days.
My quickest though was less than 24 hours and that was my Halloween contest submission.
 
Ok, I guess I'll have to wait then. Thx for the quick reply!
A newbie will probably take a few days longer, as new writers allegedly get read a little more closely to make sure their material complies with site content rules.

Also, the Halloween Day contest is running, and those entries get priority.

The only notice you'll get that your story has been accepted is the pending status changes. It then takes 24 hours or so for the file to go live.

Every time you pull your story to edit, it goes to the back of the queue. The site editor won't care - it won't be vetted until Laurel gets to it. It's up to authors to get the quality of copy as good as possible before submitting.

We all find typos and stupid mistakes a micro-second after a story goes live. Unless it's spectacularly silly, don't worry about it.
 
I’m on my 4th day... I’m hoping I hear something positive soon. Also waiting for my profile info to pass moderation.
 
I’m on my 4th day... I’m hoping I hear something positive soon. Also waiting for my profile info to pass moderation.

Huh? Didn't know there was a wait. I updated my bio a month ago, saved it, and there it was, new profile. Story side only, though - Forum side bio updates seems to be broken (but I'm not fussed about that).
 
Approval times seem to vary depending on what the administrators can handle - I can't imagine how they deal with the volume.

Right now my new submission is taking about a week. In August and September it was more like three days. Edits of posted stories get lower priority it seems; those almost always take about a week.
 
The only notice you'll get that your story has been accepted is the pending status changes. It then takes 24 hours or so for the file to go live.

New stories upload at Midnight, PST. So if pending switches to new, that's when you can expect to see it.
 
3 days to 12 days

When I used to post only text, it would take 3 to 4 days. I think it topped out at 5, maybe once. That was for all 50+ posts of Talla's Temple.

But since I started posting as .rtf (I really, really needed italics for Two Hundred Dollars) it's been taking upwards of 10 days. I can't tell if they're just busy for the Hallowe'en contest, or if it's just the .rtf, but it does seem to make a difference.

Xav.
 
I just had one go up 4 days after I submitted it, for what that's worth. (Not a contest story, Exh and Voyeur.)

But since I started posting as .rtf (I really, really needed italics for Two Hundred Dollars) it's been taking upwards of 10 days. I can't tell if they're just busy for the Hallowe'en contest, or if it's just the .rtf, but it does seem to make a difference.

If it's bothering you, you can just <i>tag the italics</i> yourself and submit it through the text box instead of as RTF.
 
When I used to post only text, it would take 3 to 4 days. I think it topped out at 5, maybe once. That was for all 50+ posts of Talla's Temple.

But since I started posting as .rtf (I really, really needed italics for Two Hundred Dollars) it's been taking upwards of 10 days. I can't tell if they're just busy for the Hallowe'en contest, or if it's just the .rtf, but it does seem to make a difference.

Xav.
.rtf does not cause delays, from what I've seen. I submitted twelve separate chapters of a 103k story at the same time, all in .rtf; the first chapter went live in about 60 hours, the others were released every 24 hours in the midnight server update. This was a week or so before the Halloween contest.
 
I submitted the second chapter to my story on 10/04/21 - 18 days ago and it still hasn't reached the pending stage. The first chapter took only a few days to be published.
 
I submitted the second chapter to my story on 10/04/21 - 18 days ago and it still hasn't reached the pending stage. The first chapter took only a few days to be published.

In that case, you need to check and make sure you actually submitted it -- filled in the form, reviewed the text, and hit the "submit" button at the bottom of the text. The step from "Draft" to "Pending" should be automatic. It's the step from "Pending" to published that can take some time.
 
If you're sure you got it submitted, that's a long enough delay to justify a "status, please" query to the submission's editor, Laurel (that name) via Private Message.
 
I've consistently have had stories pending for 2 days, almost exactly, every time I submit. Once I had a story sent back. After I sent it back: 2 days. It's one of the reasons I like this site, the review process has been very consistent for me. My stories are usually 7k-10k words, and I post in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy section. It might be different for other genres.
 
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