Rejected submissions for seemingly trivial reasons.

[ElectricBlue]

The second response literally just says "Please use ending puntuation with your sentences. Thanks!" That is a direct copy and paste from the "Important Message About Your Submission" window and is also, ironically enough, incorrectly spelled. lol And yes I did miss a couple of fully stops (periods) in a few conversational lines, but I have seem dead-tree-edition published novels that write in that manner too, so I cant believe that's all it was?

If the knock-back reason given was punctuation, don't go looking for other reasons. Fix your punctuation and resubmit the chapter.

The site uses a set of generic rejection notices, so if a rejection was content based, the rejection notice will reflect that.

It's irrelevant what other stories/publishers might get away with - your story got bounced, the others didn't, but so what? You're not being asked to fix any story but your own.

 

[WritingwhatIlike]

I got rejected multiple times the first time I submitted a story, and they were all punctuation issues. Each one was outlined in the author information and once I ironed them all out, my story was published. It taught me two things: one, pay attention to quotes. two, someone cares.

I don't care to know the hell Laurel goes through every day in reviewing the submitted stories, but since that first submission my other stories have always gone through in a timely manner.

Except. Now and then one doesn't go through for a bit. I'm always left wondering what other metrics she uses. Is she holding my story back for a reason? Does she think it'll do better if it waits a while longer, for a better release period? Who can plumb the mysteries of why and when all-knowing Laurel chooses to hold back her publish-hammer? Not I.

Thousand yard stare even though I'm Canadian

 

[Bramblethorn]

Possibly the desire to avoid having to interact on a forum like this is a good reason to not have a staff.
I suppose they may not have anticipated how big and popular their site would become when they started in 25 years ago. Given the longevity of most websites (excluding those devoted to businesses that don't entirely exist online), however, perhaps they're wise to avoid doing what "any other site" would do.

Also, delegating work is work in itself. In the long run, it increases capacity. But in the short term, it reduces capacity because now one person is trying to do all the work and train up the people who don't yet know how to do it. If the system and process weren't originally designed for multiple moderators that might be a big obstacle to get past.

FWIW, I chatted with Laurel about a year back, regarding a moderation issue on about half a dozen stories that had recently been published. From her reply, she'd been the one to approve all those stories, which left me with the impression that she's still doing most if not all of the moderation personally.

 

[KeithD]

I see that now, but I still think that the idea of a single person reviewing all that content is insane. She has a super power if that really is the case. Any other site would have a team of staff or trusted volunteers doing it, which would then give them more individual time to be able to interact on a forum like this.

I'll hold off further until you "get" that the submission's editor, Laurel, owns the site and is the only one with a vote on what's going to be posted and what isn't.

 

[StillStunned]

I'll hold off further until you "get" that the submission's editor, Laurel, owns the site and is the only one with a vote on what's going to be posted and what isn't.

It's a Pratchettian democracy: one person, one vote. She's the person, she has the vote.

 

[tenyari]

It seems like there are hundreds of new stories per day.

How does one person manage to do approval on that. It's burnout insanity.

That said - one person, many, or anything other than scripted and review would not always be consistent.

Obviously if you read a story published a decade or two ago the review was different than it is now - even if it was the same person doing the review.

 

[alohadave]

It seems like there are hundreds of new stories per day.

How does one person manage to do approval on that. It's burnout insanity.

That said - one person, many, or anything other than scripted and review would not always be consistent.

Obviously if you read a story published a decade or two ago the review was different than it is now - even if it was the same person doing the review.

It can change from day to day, because people have good days, bad days, vigilant days, and fuck it days, in all kinds of combinations.

I've modded a large and active group, and there were plenty of decisions that I made a various times that were not the best, but I was worn down and just wanted the situation to go away.

Other times were smooth sailing where everything seemed to go right.

It'd be awesome if she could take some real time off (I've heard speculation that she takes Sundays off) and have a breaks. Shut down submissions for a week or so and relax for a bit.

 

[SomeoneWhoWritesThings]

If the knock-back reason given was punctuation, don't go looking for other reasons. Fix your punctuation and resubmit the chapter.

The site uses a set of generic rejection notices, so if a rejection was content based, the rejection notice will reflect that.

It's irrelevant what other stories/publishers might get away with - your story got bounced, the others didn't, but so what? You're not being asked to fix any story but your own.

As I implied in a previous post, this isn't a "woe is me, why did I get singled out" thread. I was just confused that if there is a standard that is being applied then it seems its not consistent and I was curious as to why, and if there was a problem somewhere. I had (wrongfully it seems) assumed there was either a fully automated system, or more likely a team, behind this rather than a single person. That point is just crazy tbh. But honestly that does still raise the question of why whatever generic automations Laurel uses as a first pass don't seem to be applying to every story. If it is a 100% manual process then that's more than fair, but I do fear for her sanity... lol.

I'll hold off further until you "get" that the submission's editor, Laurel, owns the site and is the only one with a vote on what's going to be posted and what isn't.

Your ire is a touch misplaced. While I have been a casual reader of this site for more than a decade, I have only been part of the "author" side for a few weeks, and until this thread I had no knowledge that the site was only run by 2 people, let alone reviewed by only one. My assumption that this site was run by a number of people, sharing the load, with automations, and such may have been incorrect, but I don't think it was misplaced. A site this size being run by so few people is almost unheard of these days and its it is not a point that is made obvious at any stage that I am aware of unless its hidden in a FAQ somewhere. So getting snooty about me not "getting" that point initially without someone actually telling me is just pointless. Personally if I were running a site like this single (or even double) handed that would be something worth making a point of, even if its only on the submission page. "Reviews are handled by one person who is only human, so bear with me if things are a little slow or inconsistent." or something like that.

I have every respect for someone willing to go through that amount of work voluntarily. So for the Nth time, I am NOT complaining about the site, the person, or the fact that my story DOES have a few errors in it. I was simply trying to establish why things didn't seem as consistent as I would have expected from a site of this size, and now that is a lot more obvious. I am curious about what her actual process is though. If she has posted this somewhere a link to it would be appreciated.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

It's a Pratchettian democracy: one person, one vote. She's the person, she has the vote.

Lord Vetenari approves.