Stories not getting published.
- Thread starter jambo6996
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StillStunned
Still Writing
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There's no hard and fast rule. Some stories are approved within hours, some take weeks. Some stay stuck forever.
As a general indicator, wait about 15 days before taking action. Check out the Authors Hangout for quite a few threads on the topic.
Good luck! And don't let the wait get you down.
As a general indicator, wait about 15 days before taking action. Check out the Authors Hangout for quite a few threads on the topic.
Good luck! And don't let the wait get you down.
BeechLeaf
Ridiculous Mouse
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When you say they're in your pending list, what are you looking at? At Works, where you see your published stories and also a number of pending, for example 3 Pending? Or have you clicked into that pending list for more detail? If you do, you might see that some are just pending - they're unmarked, the same as when you first submitted them. These have not yet been approved. But when they do get approved, they are marked NEW and there is a future date on them. That means they have been approved, and will move out of pending and be published on that date.
Normally, if northing goes wrong, it only takes one or two days to get approval, then the publication date is set for another one or two days in the future. So your 3-4 day wait is not yet a problem. But it might be if it goes on longer.
Normally, if northing goes wrong, it only takes one or two days to get approval, then the publication date is set for another one or two days in the future. So your 3-4 day wait is not yet a problem. But it might be if it goes on longer.
Capt_Roger
Captain
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If you've had a story rejected for any reason and it's come back for editing and been resubmitted, then you may be caught up in the pending-purgatory bug.
SmilingLez
Word Arranger
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And if your story doesn't come back at all, and stays in pending status, you may also have caught the pending purgatory bug.
Any update @Manu ?
Capt_Roger
Captain
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Correct. It ALSO impacts everything submitted afterwards.
SmilingLez
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You are 100% wrong, 3 of my stories (tomorrow will be a month in pending purgatory) have never been rejected. The 4th submitted on May 28 has also never been rejected.
@Manu
Last edited:
Britva415
"Alabaster," my ass
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After what?
My point was that it also affects totally new stories sometimes. Ones which have never been reviewed, rejected, edited, resubmitted, anything.
Britva415
"Alabaster," my ass
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We're saying the same thing. The bug does not only affect previously-rejected stories. Capn_Roger's idea that it does, that is the misconception.
SmilingLez
Word Arranger
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My apologies.
My initial experience with pending purgatory started with my first submission almost a year ago. It was immediately rejected because it was too short. Literotica's word count said 747 words. The online counter I used said 752 words. So I edited and resubmitted. It ended up staying in pending status for 2 weeks, so I deleted it, and wrote another using literotica's word counter. It got accepted, but after that, my stories would randomly be stuck in pending status. No rhyme no reason.
Like I said, tomorrow will be one month for two stories and the 8th, one month for the 3rd. The fourth story was my hope that it would clear, because I previously submitted two test stories that I knew would be rejected with the no reason just post the story in the author's forum automated text message. However it did not unfreeze my account and my newest story is in pending purgatory as well
Capt_Roger
Captain
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It can be a random bug. The pattern most likely to generate it though is a rejected story followed by resubmission. After that all of the autho’s story submissions, including all new ones, are stuck in pending, seemingly forever.
I advise you not to test it but if you’re into Russian roulette then submit a story that’s too short and then edit and re-submit.
This seems similar to my case. It started with a resubmission, which I completed on 30-05-2026. However, it is still showing as pending, and all the stories submitted after that have also not moved out of the pending bucket. What should be the best way forward...?
Capt_Roger
Captain
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The bad news is that many authors have been caught in the pending-purgatory trap and nobody has found a way out yet.
It’s on the site owners to fix it but this bug has been around for a long time without movement forward.
So should we delete all pending list submissions and start all over again?
Capt_Roger
Captain
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You can try, we all have. I can give you a technical explanation but in simple terms, the bug creates a block at author level and so 99% of the time even your new submissions will not get through.
Please join others in bug reports, messaging @Manu etc to get this fixed.
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