Story submission issues

[optimizer888]

The first couple stories I submitted, there were problems with the format. I was using RTF, and had some honest issues, but I fixed those.

Then I submitted something in RTF, and it was rejected for using "font changes" - which I very definitely did not use. I did a couple rounds of back and forth, but under no tools - three different RTF viewers - did I see what the editors were complaining about. I eventually found out you could submit in HTML, and I was happy. That's how I write to begin with. I finally got the thing published, and was sure that my troubles were behind me on that score.

But I submitted a new story a couple days ago, in HTML. It contained no tags whatsoever that I hadn't used in the previous, accepted HTML entry - italics & center, that's about it. This morning, to my complete surprise, I found a "rejected" attached to the story, complaining about "font changes".

What the hell am I doing wrong? Is it just 'how it works' that the first time you submit, it's always rejected, or what? I figured RTF was the problem before, and whatever tool the editors were using to view RTF was borked. But I am just totally unable to account for this most recent rejection. If I knew what I was doing wrong, I'd fix it, I swear. But so far as I can tell, I'm not doing anything wrong, and getting rejections anyway.

 

[rgraham666]

I found I had a lot of trouble uploading files as well. Try doing what I do.

Set up your story for submission in a separate document. Make sure you have an extra line between paragraphs for better readability. You'll have to use the <i> and <b> markers for italics and bolding.

Then copy the document and paste it into the 'Story Text' box on the story submission page. Press the 'Preview' button and check to make sure the story appears as you wish it. Then press the 'Submit Now' link.

Your story will be submitted. And it's a lot more likely to be accepted.

Hope that helps.

 

[michchick98]

I found I had a lot of trouble uploading files as well. Try doing what I do.

Set up your story for submission in a separate document. Make sure you have an extra line between paragraphs for better readability. You'll have to use the <i> and <b> markers for italics and bolding.

Then copy the document and paste it into the 'Story Text' box on the story submission page. Press the 'Preview' button and check to make sure the story appears as you wish it. Then press the 'Submit Now' link.

Your story will be submitted. And it's a lot more likely to be accepted.

Hope that helps.

Yeah, what he said, but also, if you hit Preview, whatever you paste into the Story Text box will show you what it will look like on the site. If you made no font changes, then resubmit the story again and include in the Notes field that no font changes were made. This will tag it for the editors to read it more closely.

 

[optimizer888]

Yeah, what he said, but also, if you hit Preview, whatever you paste into the Story Text box will show you what it will look like on the site. If you made no font changes, then resubmit the story again and include in the Notes field that no font changes were made. This will tag it for the editors to read it more closely.

Well, that's what I did. I pasted HTML from another editor and previewed it when I submitted it the first time. And then when it was rejected I resubmitted it with a note that there were no font changes and that they needed to tell me where they heck they saw font changes.

Maybe I'll have to add "no font changes, honest and true, I pinky swear" to the notes of all my submissions.

 

[cloudy]

Well, that's what I did. I pasted HTML from another editor

This may be exactly your problem. You need to paste text, not HTML.

 

[glynndah]

This may be exactly your problem. You need to paste text, not HTML.

Although that "pinky swear" stuff couldn't hurt, either.

 

[cloudy]

Although that "pinky swear" stuff couldn't hurt, either.

You gotta hold your mouth just right when you click "submit." *nods*

 

[TxRad]

You gotta hold your mouth just right when you click "submit." *nods*

You big tease you.

 

[cloudy]

You big tease you.

. .

 

[glynndah]

You gotta hold your mouth just right when you click "submit." *nods*

You big tease you.

It's been a while for me. Just which part "clicks" when you submit?

 

[optimizer888]

This may be exactly your problem. You need to paste text, not HTML.

Well, according to this:

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=45432

"We can help Laurel and ourselves by incorporating the relevant HTML tags that we need in a plain text submission which we can paste into the box provided. This saves Laurel work and means our work reaches our readers more quickly."

...which is what I did, using only the bold and italics HTML tags. That's how I write originally, in plain ASCII text with just those few tags. And, I noted in my remarks to the editor that the entry needed italics, and noted that it was already in HTML.

Plus, it worked last time, for my Halloween contest entry, so I expected no trouble this time. Most confusing.

 

[cloudy]

Well, according to this:

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=45432

"We can help Laurel and ourselves by incorporating the relevant HTML tags that we need in a plain text submission which we can paste into the box provided. This saves Laurel work and means our work reaches our readers more quickly."

...which is what I did, using only the bold and italics HTML tags. That's how I write originally, in plain ASCII text with just those few tags. And, I noted in my remarks to the editor that the entry needed italics, and noted that it was already in HTML.

Plus, it worked last time, for my Halloween contest entry, so I expected no trouble this time. Most confusing.

Yeah, if you just used the <b> and <i> tags, it shouldn't have been a problem. I've never had any trouble.

It's been a while for me. Just which part "clicks" when you submit?

My knees.

 

[glynndah]

My knees.

Whew! Me, too.

 

[optimizer888]

Yeah, if you just used the <b> and <i> tags, it shouldn't have been a problem. I've never had any trouble.

Think I figured it out. Some extra "<p>" tags between paragraphs. That's not "indentation" or "font changes", though, which is what it was ostensibly rejected for - hence my confusion.