Stories not getting published.

[jambo6996]

Hi,

I have stories in my pending list since last 3-4 days which are not getting published.

What is the approximate timeline from submission of stories to them getting published?

Thanks

 

[StillStunned]

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.

 

[jambo6996]

Thanks a lot!

 

[BeechLeaf]

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.

 

[jambo6996]

Thanks

 

[Capt_Roger]

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.

 

[jambo6996]

Thanks a lot!

 

[SmilingLez]

Thanks a lot!

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 ?

 

[Britva415]

Yeah, let's not reinforce the misconception that "permanently pending" only ever affects previously-rejected stories.

 

[Capt_Roger]

Yeah, let's not reinforce the misconception that "permanently pending" only ever affects previously-rejected stories.

Correct. It ALSO impacts everything submitted afterwards.

 

[SmilingLez]

Yeah, let's not reinforce the misconception that "permanently pending" only ever affects previously-rejected stories.

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

 

[Britva415]

Correct. It ALSO impacts everything submitted afterwards.

After what?

My point was that it also affects totally new stories sometimes. Ones which have never been reviewed, rejected, edited, resubmitted, anything.

 

[Britva415]

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

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]

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.

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]

After what?

My point was that it also affects totally new stories sometimes. Ones which have never been reviewed, rejected, edited, resubmitted, anything.

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.

 

[jambo6996]

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]

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...?

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.

 

[jambo6996]

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]

So should we delete all pending list submissions and start all over again?

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.

 

[jambo6996]

Hi,
Since my stories were not getting published, and based on advice from other members on this forum, I created a new account under the name "Indian_Jambo."
I then submitted the same story through this new account after changing the character names, intending to delete my old account once all my stories were published from the new one.
However, the same story has now been rejected again.
Name - The Forbidden Jamaai – Ch.1. (Account: Indian_Jambo)
Link - https://www.literotica.com/my/#/works/edit/4427224
The same story has been published from this account of mine.
Name - Meera - The MILF. (Account: Jambo6996)
Link - https://www.literotica.com/s/meera-the-mil
For this story "Meera - The MILF" three more chapters have been published.
I am unable to understand what the actual issue is or how I should proceed from here.
I would be grateful if experienced members could suggest a way forward and advise me on what steps I should take to resolve this issue.
Tagging @Manu @Laurel - Pls help out.
Thanks

 

[SmilingLez]

Hi,
Since my stories were not getting published, and based on advice from other members on this forum, I created a new account under the name "Indian_Jambo."
I then submitted the same story through this new account after changing the character names, intending to delete my old account once all my stories were published from the new one.
However, the same story has now been rejected again.
Name - The Forbidden Jamaai – Ch.1. (Account: Indian_Jambo)
Link - https://www.literotica.com/my/#/works/edit/4427224
The same story has been published from this account of mine.
Name - Meera - The MILF. (Account: Jambo6996)
Link - https://www.literotica.com/s/meera-the-mil
For this story "Meera - The MILF" three more chapters have been published.
I am unable to understand what the actual issue is or how I should proceed from here.
I would be grateful if experienced members could suggest a way forward and advise me on what steps I should take to resolve this issue.
Tagging @Manu @Laurel - Pls help out.
Thanks

Known backend issue. Nothing you or any other member can do

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/systemic-backend-failure-–-multiple-symptoms.1656323/

 

[Britva415]

many authors have been caught in the pending-purgatory trap and nobody has found a way out yet

Nobody? That just isn't true.

the bug creates a block at author level and so 99% of the time even your new submissions will not get through

This isn't based in data, it's your personal estimation.

I'm not defending this bug or the site operators who ignore it, but discouraging authors from even trying at all is bogus, and so is not informing them about the known workarounds which do work sometimes.

@jambo6996
At least one author insists that all you have to do is PM @Laurel to get a "permanently pending" story unblocked. That isn't based on the author's experience, because they've never personally been caught in permanently pending, but, I'm sharing it anyway because that person insists that they have evidence that it can work.

I'd say that it can't hurt to try that, but, the "delete and resubmit" procedure also is known to work a significant portion of the time. I'm not going to estimate what % portion that is, because I don't have access to any real data, but it's nowhere near as little as 1%.

Also: There is no advantage in changing your story, if you're going to try "delete and resubmit." It isn't about the story content.

 

[Capt_Roger]

Nobody? That just isn't true.


This isn't based in data, it's your personal estimation.

I'm not defending this bug or the site operators who ignore it, but discouraging authors from even trying at all is bogus, and so is not informing them about the known workarounds which do work sometimes.

@jambo6996
At least one author insists that all you have to do is PM @Laurel to get a "permanently pending" story unblocked. That isn't based on the author's experience, because they've never personally been caught in permanently pending, but, I'm sharing it anyway because that person insists that they have evidence that it can work.

I'd say that it can't hurt to try that, but, the "delete and resubmit" procedure also is known to work a significant portion of the time. I'm not going to estimate what % portion that is, because I don't have access to any real data, but it's nowhere near as little as 1%.

Also: There is no advantage in changing your story, if you're going to try "delete and resubmit." It isn't about the story content.

Well, if you know anybody who's found a permanent solution then please post it. I'd love to be wrong.

My opinion is based on all the data and hundreds of posts going back over time.

Yep. I got one story through by asking @Laurel and she obliged. BUT, everything else remains in pending-purgatory and I figure that Laurel isn't going to go through releasing each story one at a time; apart from the tedium of having to ask every time.

It's a bug. It needs to be fixed.

 

[Claire_RA]

I would like to share an observation here that might or mght not help with the bug.

I submitted a story around 1 am on Friday May 29th. Sometime in the afternoon, I checked on the story again as the previous two chapters of the same series were approved in roughly 12 hours or so. I noticed that the status of the story said something like "2 hours ago, pending" instead of the 14 or 15 hours it should have been. I didn't think much of it at the time, but if there truly is a bug, maybe somebody did look at the story at the time and approved it, the approval didn't get through, but the update of the time stamp did? That wouuld make sense to me as the previous two entries of the series were approved in roughly that 12 hour time window.

Anyway, I don't know whether this is possible. I have no background in mysql or whatever might cause these issues. But I thought I'd share the observation in case it is helpful to someone working on the issue.

The story has btw in pending limbo since May 29th. I resubmitted it a few days ago because I read that might help (edited the story and added one tag), but it looks stuck again.

 

[SmilingLez]

I would like to share an observation here that might or mght not help with the bug.

I submitted a story around 1 am on Friday May 29th. Sometime in the afternoon, I checked on the story again as the previous two chapters of the same series were approved in roughly 12 hours or so. I noticed that the status of the story said something like "2 hours ago, pending" instead of the 14 or 15 hours it should have been. I didn't think much of it at the time, but if there truly is a bug, maybe somebody did look at the story at the time and approved it, the approval didn't get through, but the update of the time stamp did? That wouuld make sense to me as the previous two entries of the series were approved in roughly that 12 hour time window.

Anyway, I don't know whether this is possible. I have no background in mysql or whatever might cause these issues. But I thought I'd share the observation in case it is helpful to someone working on the issue.

The story has btw in pending limbo since May 29th. I resubmitted it a few days ago because I read that might help (edited the story and added one tag), but it looks stuck again.

This bug has already been reported.

When the submission date on your story updates but the status never changes, it usually means the system has automatically re‑queued your story without actually moving it forward in the review pipeline.

The date refresh makes it look like something happened, but the story remains in the same stalled state, which is why it stays in pending purgatory instead of progressing to approval or rejection.

This behavior is a known issue in the site’s backend logic, not anything you did wrong, and it affects multiple authors in the same way.


Nothing you can do about it.