Is "Poetry.com" rip off?

Question

I wrote a poetry, and was selected as some kind of "Ambassador" Is that a rip off?

Answer 1

Yes and no. As long as you don't send them any money you at least can brag about it to your friends, family and any of the other millions of people in the USA that don't know or even care to know anything about poetry.

It's not a "legitimate" contest in the sense that it doesn't really make much effort to eliminate anyone. Everyone wins, which is of course very democratic, esteem building, etc, but all the cogniscenti (academics, "real" poets -- by their own definitions, and other discriminating authorities) will pat you on the head and say, "dear, anyone can win that. I know someone who had their shopping list published by them. They just want your money."

I have twice won silver medals and had them sent to me and never paid a penny to them, so somewhere deep in the bowels of their org there are people who really do try to reward what they see as good poetry. But the big prizes have to be won by buying in to their program, and it's much like buying an expensive lottery ticket. You could win, but...

So enjoy the praise, even though it may be too democratic to mean much. I for one applaud the fact that you even wrote a poem. That puts in you in the pretty small group of people who have even tried to do something creative.

Stephen Morse
http://www.juice-press.com/

Answer 2

YES!!!!! They send everyone an acceptance letter and tell you that you could win some kind of prize. This is bull. If you look up the company's name that runs Poetry.com you will see that they have like 10 other contests like these (I did photo.com). They then tell you they are going to publish you and offer you an opportunity to buy the book. Here's the catch, they only publish you if you pay for the book (your poetry won't show up in any of the published books if you do not buy the book). Basically you are paying them to put your poetry in a book. Don't pay any attention to anything they tell you. They are what is known as "VANITY" publishers. They will print anything in a book as long as you pay for it.

Answer 3

Yes trust me, I've submitted two poems in the past (one quite recently) and it's nothing but a money grubbing scam. May I suggest going to www.writersbeat.com or publishing your own book of poetry. I know it's not a promising ticket to $10,000 or more but at least your more likely to make money that way than have to spend unneccessary money.

Answer 4

I respectfully disagree. in spite of the very incontrovertible fact that there are some subjects in the movie "The Matrix" that are by some ability well-known to me, possibly in the Jungian experience, i think of that the movie became into extremely incredible and novel. not something like that movie has ever been made in the previous. the completed Matrix sequence explores a spectrum of deep philosophical questions. i think of the movie is dazzling. To validate your point of view, there is a few analogues with faith and spiritual texts, yet that would have been coincidental. in case you seek for those forms of similarities, you will bump into them in different movies. "the golf green Mile"- yet another incredible image. yet such as the tale of Jesus. John Coffey- J.C. additionally, there are some reasonable similarities in the Terminator movies. John Connor, the salvation of the international, et cetera.

Answer 5

Yes, sad to say, any site that makes you pay to publish your poetry, is not valid...they did the same thing to me. I would really like some imput from someone here who legitimately won something from them, and I doubt you'll find it...They try to get you to buy their books with your poems in them,...think about it, if you really won, you would NOT have to pay for anything.

Answer 6

yep, i was made an "Ambassador" too. they suck! here's a site that talks about them being a fake. http://poetrynotcom.tripod.com/
i have a poem 'published' with them but my poem isn't even in other people's books. if you want to find some real contests go to http://www.winningwriters.com/index.php
peace

Answer 7

If it was the Ambassador to Thesaurus,and you paid $ 1,499.00 for the privelge, then yes it was a rip-off.

Answer 8

problematic thing. research on a search engine. just that can help!

Answer 9

problematic factor. browse in a search engine. it can assist!