Story publishing time

[CheatingHot]

Hey loves,

I’ve been waiting for nearly three weeks now for three of my stories to be published—just because I made some small visibility tweaks to them.

It’s honestly frustrating. We pour time and effort into creating high-quality content here, sharing it for free, and then we’re stuck waiting while our readers start to lose interest, thinking we’ve stopped writing all together.

What’s even sadder is seeing how some authors get their stories published in just a couple of days while others are left waiting for weeks. It feels unfair, and honestly, it’s disheartening.


Just wanted to share that because I know I’m not the only one feeling this way.

Love, Moni.

 

[Quip]

Hi Moni,
I appreciate that you would be frustrated! Making small visibility tweaks indicates to me your appreciation for attention to detail.
This is the Literotica Chat Support Forum. It looks as if you've posted in the Story Feedback Forum before. This would probably be a more helplful place to pose such a concern
Regarding posted information about story submission,I hope this is helpful: https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/publication-delays
I have moved this thread to the Story Feedback page on your behalf.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Hey loves,

I’ve been waiting for nearly three weeks now for three of my stories to be published—just because I made some small visibility tweaks to them.

Every time you do "small visibility tweaks" to a story, you go back to the end of the queue. That's on you, not the site.

Once you've submitted a story, don't touch it, be patient. When its status is Pending it means no-one has looked at it yet, it's still on the conveyor belt moving slowly along.

 

[Lifestyle66]

Hey loves,

...just because I made some small visibility tweaks to them. ...


Love, Moni.

Depending on WHEN you made those "small tweaks', you might have wasted the moderator's time and done more damage than just sending it back to the end of the queue.

If yours was the next story being reviewed when you made a change, they'd be far less enthusiastic about opening it again to review! It's not just at the end of the queue if they already reviewed the pre-tweak version, it could be on a shitlist to review when it hasn't again been touched for DAYS.

I learned long ago to that the worst thing to do is click "Publish", then open it to read.

Put the story online in draft, read it, and make changes, then read it again and again. But once you click "Publish" do NOT touch it, and resist the urge to make even minor tweaks, even if you see something like a misspelled word! Let it go!

 

[CheatingHot]

Oh no, what do I do now? I guess I fell out of grace with the moderators.

 

[filthytrancendence]

Oh no, what do I do now? I guess I fell out of grace with the moderators.

I'm not seeing a reason to think that, but I might be missing something.

Anyway, I haven't submitted anything in a hot minute, so I can't speak from personal experience about what the queue looks like right now. But there sure seems like a lot more folks than usual saying approval times are long right now. It sucks, but you aren't alone. And I'm not sure there's much to do but wait it out.

 

[Lifestyle66]

Oh no, what do I do now? I guess I fell out of grace with the moderators.

The waiting game is your penance for tossing out several stories and making the "tweaks". Accept your punishment and learn from it.

I recommend focusing on one story at a time and finish it. Then post it in draft to review and tweak for the online formatting. Once you click "publish", don't touch it, and wait for it to at least be approved with a publication date before posting the next one.

When authors get in too much of a rush, they'll either irritate the moderators with those "tweaks", or they'll allow unedited misspellings and grammar errors to irritate their readers. In either case, it comes from impatience.

Slow down and take a deep breath.

 

[CheatingHot]

The waiting game is your penance for tossing out several stories and making the "tweaks". Accept your punishment and learn from it.

I recommend focusing on one story at a time and finish it. Then post it in draft to review and tweak for the online formatting. Once you click "publish", don't touch it, and wait for it to at least be approved with a publication date before posting the next one.

When authors get in too much of a rush, they'll either irritate the moderators with those "tweaks", or they'll allow unedited misspellings and grammar errors to irritate their readers. In either case, it comes from impatience.

Slow down and take a deep breath.

I’ll make sure to do that from now on. I really hope at least one of my stories will be published soon, and that the moderators will understand my inexperience and forgive any mistakes I made.

Love, Moni.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Oh no, what do I do now? I guess I fell out of grace with the moderators.

That doesn't happen, they don't care who you are, it's not personal. From what you've said, it's not three weeks, it's whatever the period is from the last time you submitted your last "small visibility tweak," whatever that actually means.

 

[Tiber1978]

I posted some updates to a story series, after requesting to have the old versions deleted. So basically, I posted a brand new version of parts 1-3 and asked they delete the parts from the old series it was replacing. I must not have been clear because they deleted EVERYTHING. I tried to republish everything right away and now it's been 10 days without any movement.
I feel the same scare of "I hope I didn't piss off the moderators"

 

[ElectricBlue]

I posted some updates to a story series, after requesting to have the old versions deleted. So basically, I posted a brand new version of parts 1-3 and asked they delete the parts from the old series it was replacing. I must not have been clear because they deleted EVERYTHING. I tried to republish everything right away and now it's been 10 days without any movement.
I feel the same scare of "I hope I didn't piss off the moderators"

To do updates (in future), "edit", don't ask for "deletions". Deletions purge the content from the data base, edits merely change the old content with new, but all your metadata remains as it was.

You didn't so much piss off the moderators but made them spend twice as much time. Whatever you do now, don't touch the latest versions. Wait another few days, and if they haven't moved, send a PM to Laurel explaining what you did, asking if they've fallen between the cracks.

Next time, submit the best possible copy you can and resist the urge to "update" stories. Are they really that brilliant they warrant more time? You're far better off writing new stories, leaving the old ones alone.

 

[FrancesScott]

Depending on WHEN you made those "small tweaks', you might have wasted the moderator's time and done more damage than just sending it back to the end of the queue.

If yours was the next story being reviewed when you made a change, they'd be far less enthusiastic about opening it again to review! It's not just at the end of the queue if they already reviewed the pre-tweak version, it could be on a shitlist to review when it hasn't again been touched for DAYS.

I learned long ago to that the worst thing to do is click "Publish", then open it to read.

Put the story online in draft, read it, and make changes, then read it again and again. But once you click "Publish" do NOT touch it, and resist the urge to make even minor tweaks, even if you see something like a misspelled word! Let it go!

Yes and no.

I’ve noticed a typo even after a story got a publish date and gone fixed it - maybe I need therapy, IDK. But…

I’ve also then written a fulsome apology to both Laurel and Manu and explained what I had done and why. I even got a reply one time. The stories were reapproved pretty much immediately.

Politeness goes a long way in my experience.

 

[FrancesScott]

I think an obvious truism is that while venting about delays here might make someone feel better about life, it won’t achieve anything practical. I’ve been told Laurel reads threads sometimes, so such venting may even be counterproductive.

I’ve never had any delays and I’m not an established Literotica author - and certainly not a widely read one. I don’t think I’m doing anything special beyond adhering to basic grammar / punctuation and not trying to push against any red lines with age or related matters.

Having put a few of my stories through the - frankly crappy - AI checkers, I always get “written by a human,” so I guess that might be a factor too. I don’t use any grammar checking tools either.

 

[LilyBright]

Every time you do "small visibility tweaks" to a story, you go back to the end of the queue. That's on you, not the site.

Once you've submitted a story, don't touch it, be patient. When its status is Pending it means no-one has looked at it yet, it's still on the conveyor belt moving slowly along.

Thanks. It's hard to wait. Mine's been the queue for an about 3 weeks. Just chillin' in the meantime.