18 days pending for a story

[sweetandeasy]

When (if ever) is it worth reaching out to ask about a delay with a pending story submission? I'm still thinking "never" because I assume there's a queue and it's unlikely anything could ever fall through the cracks.

Some context: it's my first submission on the site, it definitely still says "Pending" and I haven't opened or edited the submission, it was submitted as a Word file with no strange formatting (as far as I can tell), and the view counter still shows zero.

My guess is that things are just a little slow and maybe they have a different queue for first submissions. Any thoughts?

 

[RubenR]

Based on what I've read before, when this question came up, 18 days is way too long, even for a new author. This isn't normal for Lit - 2 weeks isn't normal for Lit, and that would already be an acceptable time to send a PM to Laurel, to ask if something is wrong.

Another option, if you don't want to disturb Laurel, is to go back to the story-submission page and submit the story again. If it has fallen through the cracks, this might get it back on the rails, but at the end of the line.

 

[RejectReality]

Noting that the end of the line is typically 2-3 days. No matter what, a story shouldn't go more than 5 days. Anything that's been in the queue longer than that should be addressed by contacting Laurel or clicking the submission, previewing it, and then saving the changes to reset it's position in the queue.

Everyone who has tried to reset their position in the queue has had success with that method so far.

Just to cover the bases, make sure the story is in the "pending" folder and not the "drafts" folder. Double check, because it's easy to hit the wrong button. In my opinion, the position of the "save as draft" button is in the more natural position that you instinctively go for, but that may just be me.

 

[sweetandeasy]

Based on what I've read before, when this question came up, 18 days is way too long, even for a new author. This isn't normal for Lit - 2 weeks isn't normal for Lit, and that would already be an acceptable time to send a PM to Laurel, to ask if something is wrong.

Another option, if you don't want to disturb Laurel, is to go back to the story-submission page and submit the story again. If it has fallen through the cracks, this might get it back on the rails, but at the end of the line.

Noting that the end of the line is typically 2-3 days. No matter what, a story shouldn't go more than 5 days. Anything that's been in the queue longer than that should be addressed by contacting Laurel or clicking the submission, previewing it, and then saving the changes to reset it's position in the queue.

Everyone who has tried to reset their position in the queue has had success with that method so far.

Just to cover the bases, make sure the story is in the "pending" folder and not the "drafts" folder. Double check, because it's easy to hit the wrong button. In my opinion, the position of the "save as draft" button is in the more natural position that you instinctively go for, but that may just be me.

Thanks for the suggestions. I ended up just pinging Laurel, and she responded right away and said it'll be on the site tomorrow. So if it fell through the cracks, she knows where all the cracks are and pulled it out.

 

[CapnRed]

Glad that worked, I guess I'll try the same. I've got one (not a new author) that's been sitting pending for over a month now.