Poetry.com? Anyone know of these people?

Question

My daughter received a letter today saying a poem of hers has been shortlisted as a semi-finalist, possibly to be published in a book 'Immortal verses', by The Interntional Library of Poetry. Although entry is free, to add some personal notes is $25, a lot of money for us. How can we ensure this is not a scam? Does anyone know these people? I would dearly love to give my daughter the chance to send in her personal notes alongside the poem, but only if we can be sure it is genuine!

Answer 1

I believe it is genuine, but I submitted a poem and then they sent me a certificate on cheap paper that mine was chosen as editor's pick. Then they solicit you into buying theor poem book for $50 or $75. I forget. Try the better business bureau and investigate.

Answer 2

Poetry.com is not a good place...I don't know that anyone in the publishing industry looks on it as a legitimate publisher. I've purposely posted bad poetry on their site before--it went up on the website, and I was chosen as a semi-finalist.

It might seem like it's free now but you have to pay $50 to buy the book that the poetry gets published in, or else, I believe, it doesn't get published. Their end goal is to get people to buy a book so they can see their poetry in published form, but there are cheaper, more respected ways of accomplishing that.

There are a lot of stories on the Internet about people who've been burned by poetry.com...people who dreamed of having their poetry published and realized too late that they'd been taken in. Check out this site for information-- http://www.eliteskills.com/writing_scams/poetry.com.scam.php --if you scroll down to the bottom there are some links that will take you to a couple of accounts of people who got scammed into going to the poetry.com conventions before they realized what was going on. This one in particular is important to read: http://www.windpub.com/literary.scams/bigmoney.htm . http://poetrynotcom.tripod.com/ also has information. You can Google "poetry.com" and "scam" for more sites of this nature.

Poetry.com is not genuine; they're out to get people's money and they don't care if they crush a few dreams in the process.

Answer 3

im familiar with them. They are a legitemate company and publishing company, athough the personal notes are not necessary. They are a nice touch but not necessary. Generally when they send you a flier like that there is a chance to get you poem published for free in their seasonal poetry anthology. Copies of it start at around fifty dollars with tax. So you may want to hold out for that. I've used poetry.com to publish quite a few poems and brought there anthologies before so I know what they generally cost. Still, it is a great investment and congratulations to your daughter.

Answer 4

These are ALL scams. unscrupulous people run these sites and ask for money. DO NOT FALL for their line of patter! It is NOT genuine. Only reputable publishing houses publish poetry and let me fill you in there is NOT a large market for poetry today. These books (anthologies) are filled with awful poems (these people publish any and everything). This IS A SCAM to be sure. All of these places (inluding Int'l Library of Poetry) have been investigated by Sixty minutes and the governement. Many have been charged with mail fraud. Please, please do not fall for this! Legitimate publishers PAY YOU for your work, NOT the other way around.

Answer 5

It is a scam. Read the reasons why on this website:

http://poetrynotcom.tripod.com/

I did submit several poems, everyone was a so-called master-piece. They accept everyone in the hopes that enough people will pay $70 for books and even more to add in notes and biographical sketches and whatnot. And paying to go to conferences to read your poems aloud and whatnot.

While they will publish your poem. I've heard that it's not done very nicely--horrible layout and setting--I've also heard that even though they supposedly publish your poem regardless of whether you buy a copy or not--I've heard that if you don't pay...your poem won't appear in the volume they said it would.

Answer 6

They publish everything, but the only people who see the book are other people who submit poems. You will never see the book in a store. My daughter did the same thing.
I'd suggest getting a book called Writer's Market and finding a legitimate publisher.

Answer 7

I think its a scam. I get letters from them all the time. I think they do publish it in a book but you have to pay them.

The Children's Book Council has a good online members list of credible publishers and what types of things they publish. She should try looking through that and sending in some samples. Its hard work but it would be worth it!

http://www.cbcbooks.org/about/memberslistA-G.html

Answer 8

That site is pretty close to a scam, they send those letters to everyone. I tried submitting poetry through there a few years ago and you had to buy the book they supposedly put your poem in...I wouldn't recomment publishing poetry this way.

Answer 9

They always tell you your poem is accepted,but if you want a couple of the book,instead of paying you,they charge you $50.
Then they send you letter and emails claiming there is a poetry reading and a prize and wanting you to pay over a thousand dollars to attend.
It's fine to send in her poems to see them published online,as long as you understand they will make money from them and not you.
And I'd never send them a penny.

Answer 10

Yeah, you're going to have to buy the book, too. It ends up being more embarrassing than anything else. Your daughter deserves better! Keep her writing and reading! Look at a good writer's market book (usually at the library) and submit to paying markets. She will get rejections (probably lots of them) but it's wonderful when something is finally published (and you get money instead of paying money).