How long should my story be 'pending' before I contact somebody?

[RichardPercival]

Every time I submit a story I have to ask this question eventually, so for future reference, what's a good benchmark for when I should contact somebody regarding my story?

Should I wait 10 days before contacting someone? 2 weeks? 20 days? A month?

It says on the FAQ that the review process should take 3-7 days, and another part on the FAQ says: 'If it's been more than a week and your story still has not been posted, you may want to check the following:' I checked what it says and everything on my end is in order.

However, another part of the FAQ says: 'If we receive a lot of submissions, it may take slightly longer than usual.'

That in mind, I don't want to be a jerk and pester people about my story... but this is ridiculous. My current story has been pending for 14 days, my last story was pending for around 22 days before I contacted someone, my story before that was pending for about 17 days before I contacted someone, and so on and so on.

 

[KeithD]

My stories almost always go up in two days. When it gets to be five days, I query Laurel. It then almost always posts the next day. I rarely get an explanation but I don't pursue the point either.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Every time I submit a story I have to ask this question eventually, so for future reference, what's a good benchmark for when I should contact somebody regarding my story?

Should I wait 10 days before contacting someone? 2 weeks? 20 days? A month?

It says on the FAQ that the review process should take 3-7 days, and another part on the FAQ says: 'If it's been more than a week and your story still has not been posted, you may want to check the following:' I checked what it says and everything on my end is in order.

However, another part of the FAQ says: 'If we receive a lot of submissions, it may take slightly longer than usual.'

That in mind, I don't want to be a jerk and pester people about my story... but this is ridiculous. My current story has been pending for 14 days, my last story was pending for around 22 days before I contacted someone, my story before that was pending for about 17 days before I contacted someone, and so on and so on.

Unless you have a history of having stories rejected (eg for underage or shockingly bad grammar) that seems rather long. If it continues, you might want to PM Laurel and ask.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My stories almost always go up in two days. When it gets to be five days, I query Laurel. It then almost always posts the next day. I rarely get an explanation but I don't pursue the point either.

Likewise, two or three days for mine. My longest delay was seven maybe eight days, and went live after a PM to Laurel. The shortest was 24 hours, once.

 

[RejectReality]

Alternately, you can reset the position of the story in the queue, which has proved to be effective in escaping the crack some stories fall into.

Click the link for the story, Preview it with the button at the bottom, then submit from the bottom of the preview screen. That puts you to the back of the queue, but with the average around 2-3 days, it's not a huge difference.

Doesn't require Laurel to do anything more than her normal processing of the queue, and the odds of you rolling craps twice in a row to fall into the crack are pretty slim. Everyone who has tried it so far ( and reported back ) saw their story go live on the second attempt without a hitch.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

OK, Just speculation here.

Looking at your story list, you have one published in August of this year, one in December 2018 and a dozen or so put up in 2016, three years ago.

It’s pretty clear that ‘known’ writers get pushed through fairly quickly. KD, EB and I all seem to get ours through in a couple of days, but we’re regular and recent contributors, known quantities, so to speak. It might be that you are seen as new(ish), somehow tripping a more detailed examination of your submissions. More frequent submissions might change that.

Again, if it’s an issue, talk to Laurel.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've published 25 stories in the last three years, and my stories on average take 4-5 days from submission to publication. I had one, during a contest, take only two hours, and another took perhaps 6 days. I wouldn't give it any thought until 7 days had passed. At that point you should consider sending a PM to Laurel.

 

[RichardPercival]

OK, Just speculation here.

Looking at your story list, you have one published in August of this year, one in December 2018 and a dozen or so put up in 2016, three years ago.

It’s pretty clear that ‘known’ writers get pushed through fairly quickly. KD, EB and I all seem to get ours through in a couple of days, but we’re regular and recent contributors, known quantities, so to speak. It might be that you are seen as new(ish), somehow tripping a more detailed examination of your submissions. More frequent submissions might change that.

Again, if it’s an issue, talk to Laurel.

Ooooh, if my stories are rejected a lot it might take longer?

That might be what the problem is. My stories focus on ballbusting and that "Literotica doesn't allow stories where the 'victim' get's nothing out of it" has been the reason for a lot of my stories being rejected this past year.

I tried publishing a story where a futa tried raping a priestess, but got her nuts kicked in, and that was rejected cause the futa didn't like getting her nuts hit. I also tried publishing another story where a girl had pads on her crotch that simulate nut pain so she can empathize with the futas she kicks, and they get stuck, but since she can't help herself and keeps kicking futas down there, she keeps putting herself in agony, which is why that one was rejected too.

So I should just deal with the long wait times and try really hard to stress that everybody loves everything that happens. Thanks a lot!

 

[KeithD]

Ooooh, if my stories are rejected a lot it might take longer?

That might be what the problem is. My stories focus on ballbusting and that "Literotica doesn't allow stories where the 'victim' get's nothing out of it" has been the reason for a lot of my stories being rejected this past year.

I tried publishing a story where a futa tried raping a priestess, but got her nuts kicked in, and that was rejected cause the futa didn't like getting her nuts hit. I also tried publishing another story where a girl had pads on her crotch that simulate nut pain so she can empathize with the futas she kicks, and they get stuck, but since she can't help herself and keeps kicking futas down there, she keeps putting herself in agony, which is why that one was rejected too.

So I should just deal with the long wait times and try really hard to stress that everybody loves everything that happens. Thanks a lot!

Only Laurel knows whether she spends extra time/attention/suspicion with stories by an author with frequent "sent backs," but I could see why that might be the case.

It's more than a bit irritating to have the flip side--a full portfolio without problems and then a story sent back for a problem that isn't there--that the send back is on a false assumption when there's no record of problem works. And then using the word "rejection" in the send-back message is additionally galling.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

Ooooh, if my stories are rejected a lot it might take longer?

That might be what the problem is. My stories focus on ballbusting and that "Literotica doesn't allow stories where the 'victim' get's nothing out of it" has been the reason for a lot of my stories being rejected this past year.

Like Keith said, no one really knows it Laurel gives more scrutiny to authors who've been rejected before, but it does stand to reason. I've only been submitting since the spring of this year, and my first couple of stories took a week-ish before they posted. After that, it's been more in the ballpark that SD, EB and TP mentioned, a couple of days. But, I haven't had anything sent back so far.

It might be worth your trouble to try to round up an editor or beta reader (if you don't have one already) to see if there's content in your stories that reads harsher than you intend.

 

[oggbashan]

Mine usually take two to three days but I'm a known quantity who never goes near the 18 rule. But I have had a couple rejected for reasons that were easily corrected; Use of a trade named product as the main basis for the story; and quoting too much with not enough of Og's words to compensate.