Story Rejection Due To Spurious Reasons (IMHO)

[AlectaShadow]

Hi everyone,

I find myself in a really weird situation, and I would like some advice.

I've been writing erotic stories for about 15 months. I post my stories across many websites, one of them being Literotica. Something really bizarre has happened to me lately.

A few days after being approved and posted, chapter three of my ongoing serial "A Leashed Tiger" was struck down by mods, under the pretext that Literotica does not allow incomplete teasers (for example, stories that are only published in preview form at 50% length, or stories where only a handful of chapters are available and the rest are paywalled).

Now, I have to unequivocally state here that this is blatantly not my case. I do have a Patreon where subscribers get early access to new chapters, but everything is put out in public with an extremely regular schedule. For my web serials, this means I post them in monthly installments. You can see this with long web serials I've finished, like The Thrill Of Defeat or Malignity Of Stone, which have been completed in monthly installments here on Lit with no problems. A Leashed Tiger is planned for eight chapters, of which five are written, and three have been posted in public (across many sites), with the fourth en route later this month. All eight will be shared in public as always. That was my intention, anyway.

As a final note of clarification, no, the story text itself did not include anything redirecting people towards third party sites. It was just the text of the chapter.

Naturally, I resubmitted the story, adding a note where I explained that this was a misunderstanding. That of course the whole story would reach Lit in monthly installments, as always. The chapter was stuck in limbo for a week. Then, it was rejected again, for the same reason.

At this point, I was completely befuddled. I resubmitted the chapter for a third time, with a more unequivocal explanation, I contacted support, and I sent a DM to Laurel. However, in the meantime, chapters 1 and 2 of the story have been struck down too, over the same (false) reason that they are an incomplete teaser.

I have no idea what to say, and I'm at wit's end about what's going on, or even who to talk to about it.

I would greatly appreciate advice.

Thanks.

 

[KeithD]

Can't unravel this based on what you've posted, but a couple of points. There are no "mods" reviewing story submissions here. Just Laurel, the site submissions editor. Second, your bio profile publicizes a Phaeton account and mentions "bonus content" there. I surmise you probably are too closely connecting Literotica stories with Phaeton entries, with unique material connected with Literotica entries appearing first on Phaeton for pay and you telling Lit. readers so. I don't know how Literotica decides its material can be used as a stepping stone to what you put on Phaeton, but it apparently has decided you go too far in that.

 

[AlectaShadow]

Bonus content is a very, very, very minor offering on my Patreon that does not in any way relate to story progression. Calling an eight-chapter story a teaser to a 2k-word bonus sex scene that in no way includes any story progression is like calling the entirety of "Friends" a teaser to "The Reunion".

If Literotica is not okay with authors promoting their Patreons, why did they roll out a new button function specifically to do that? Nowhere in there is written that you can only promote your Patreon if you... offer no benefits, I guess? So if the issue is the existence of Patreon-related bonuses in general, they might as well roll back the function. If the issue instead is, as the rejection notes claim, that the story is a teaser, then again I question how can many thousands of words (probably close to 40k once all eight chapters are finished) be called a teaser to a single smut scene.

But anyway, thanks. I didn't know it was just Laurel. I was simply going by the "a moderator has..." notification, making me assume that there were multiple mods.

That does change things in terms of hopes that this could be resolved in any way. I'll have to make my own determination.

 

[KeithD]

Your discussion on this is directly with Laurel, not with others on the discussion board. I have no idea why Lit. is launching this new button and no claim that this is a coherent policy.

 

[AlectaShadow]

I understand, Keith, I wasn't trying to lambast you. You raised the points, I addressed them, but it wasn't meant confrontationally.

Thanks for the information, anyway. I think I know how to proceed now.