Long Publishing Lag Time

[JackChandler]

I'm frustrated and assume I must be doing something wrong here. I published 2 stories over a week ago. I got 5,000 readers, 14 followers, decent ratings. I realize those numbers are small for you big-time writers, but they aren't completely small potatoes. The point is that I'd like to keep the momentum going. I've had 2 items pending publication for a week now! I messaged Laurel. No response, no action. This can't just be an issue that I have to wait my turn in line; other works are clearly being published daily. So, again, I'll assume the fault is mine. How do I fix this if no one will answer my inquiry or give me guidance?

 

[TheLobster]

A week is not out of the ordinary. My second or third story has been stuck in queue for over ten days. But then I also saw a turnover time that was shorter that 48 hours.

So it's really pretty random. You can PM Laurel bit don't expect it's gonna change much.

 

[Bamagan]

I don't think anyone knows for sure how the approval process goes, but there's ample evidence to suggest that there's an automated first step or steps. That probably does something like create a series of 'flags' for Laurel when she's ready to review stories with her own eyes, which could be based on certain keywords for prohibited content, among other things. Stories with few such flags can be approved quickly, while others may require close reading or a judgment call, and might not get any attention until the low-hanging fruit is plucked each day.
Again, that's mostly speculation on my part, but if I was trying to do her job, that's one of things I'd attempt to ease my workload.
Until or unless there's a rejection notice, there's nothing to fix. It's probably unsatisfying advice, but waiting patiently is all I think you can do. There's probably not anything to consider for future submissions, either, although if you're writing stories that come close to the boundaries of what the site is willing to publish, you might be using words or phrases that would get flagged by the hypothetical automated process. I expect you'll know whether or not that seems likely to pertain to your submissions.

 

[KeithD]

I'm frustrated and assume I must be doing something wrong here. I published 2 stories over a week ago. I got 5,000 readers, 14 followers, decent ratings. I realize those numbers are small for you big-time writers, but they aren't completely small potatoes. The point is that I'd like to keep the momentum going. I've had 2 items pending publication for a week now! I messaged Laurel. No response, no action. This can't just be an issue that I have to wait my turn in line; other works are clearly being published daily. So, again, I'll assume the fault is mine. How do I fix this if no one will answer my inquiry or give me guidance?

All I can recommend is to hang in there and build up to posting frequently and posting stories that are trustworthy according to the selection rules. I can't--and won't--justify the differences in posting delay treatments here, but these are the existing conditions.

 

[ElectricBlue]

This can't just be an issue that I have to wait my turn in line; other works are clearly being published daily. So, again, I'll assume the fault is mine. How do I fix this if no one will answer my inquiry or give me guidance?

Of course you have to wait in line. A typical wait period even for established authors is 1 - 3 days, for new writers, 4 - 7 days is not uncommon. Whatever you do, don't keep pulling it back to Draft. Every time you do that, you go back to the end of the queue.

 

[Melon_Morph]

Thats just the nature of it. It seems to take around 10 days.
I would like it to happen faster too, but I cant begin to imagine the process the site owners go though. It must be very time consuming.