View Full Version : Is poetry.com a scam?
SpiderGal
10-14-2006, 07:21 PM
Someone told me that it is. There's website that suggests "
Poetry Ezines and Magazines fall into several categories, and featuring in one category will not help your chances of being accepted in another. Most particularly is this the case with poetry.com and the other 'popular' internet poetry magazines. Don't mention them in your covering letter when submitting to a 'serious' poetry outlet, or your poems will go straight into the wastebin."
What's with this? Just curious.
Poetry.com is the biggest scam in the history of scams. Stay away from them!
Dawno
10-14-2006, 07:59 PM
If you go to the "Bewares" forum and do a search (I recommend you use the advanced search and make sure you get the responses returned as posts to make it easier) there are some posts in various threads discussing poetry.com. There are a few here in the Poetry forum as well - again do an advanced search from the "Search this Forum" tool at the top of the page.
Also the blog Making Light refers to them a number of times. One of the more comprehensive posts was in June of 2003 (http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/002693.html) don't forget to read the comments as well.
Wikipedia has an entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry.com) that has some links you can check.
I'm sure someone better acquainted with this will come along - but the best advice about any .com group or poet's market is to do a lot of research - don't stop with one site.
veinglory
10-14-2006, 09:25 PM
Yes, it is. Poerty.com is not 'popular', it is not read by people other than the poets and their immediate friends and family--it is not even a magazine because it does not refuse any poetry. Sometihing that would accept random words or your shopping list as poetry is not a clip to brag about. And yes, many years ago I fell for them too.
Bravo
10-19-2006, 09:57 AM
Why do these guys (http://www.winningwriters.com/contests/avoid/av_avoid.php) have poetry.com listed as a scam? any horror stories here?
thank you
poetinahat
10-19-2006, 10:03 AM
Bravo, there's already a thread on this topic (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43775). If it's all right with you, I'll either close this thread or merge it with the other one.
Glad to see you over this side of the Iron Curtain again. Do you need your parking ticket validated? ;)
Bravo
10-19-2006, 10:11 AM
please merge this.
but bloody hell!
i submitted to them.
what do i do now?
hmmmmmph
Angelinity
10-19-2006, 11:08 AM
just dawned on me that it is a scam... i was notified that 'due to my poetic achievements' i was chosen to be included in the international anthology blah-blah...
all i had to do was send the poem and pay
had a good laugh after i came to.
please merge this.
but bloody hell!
i submitted to them.
what do i do now?
hmmmmmph
What do you do? Ignore their pleas to buy the tome in which your work will appear. Put them on email block. Toss out all of the snail mail they send you. They create these hefty books filled with poem after poem...sell them for $50ish dollars to the poets themselves. I know three people who entered to these guys. They are still getting mail today and it was years ago. Just ignore everything they ever send you and consider it part of the learning experience.
just dawned on me that it is a scam... i was notified that 'due to my poetic achievements' i was chosen to be included in the international anthology blah-blah...
all i had to do was send the poem and pay
had a good laugh after i came to.
Exactly. Makes a lot of sense, eh!
I know of tests done on this outfit where something like the following was sent in and accepted:
the glare found
sister strewn
eggshells crack
and sunshine
eat cold smile
every talk talk
sad eyes
early morning rain
car stalled back
tongue tied
Just a random thrown together jumble of words submitted by someone testing this organization and it was accepted. That's how bad of a scam it is.
Bravo
10-19-2006, 03:46 PM
the glare found
sister strewn
eggshells crack
and sunshine
eat cold smile
every talk talk
sad eyes
early morning rain
car stalled back
tongue tied
that was brilliant ktc.
youre a real genius.
please PM me and i would love to show you how you can become rich off of your talent!
alleycat
10-19-2006, 03:47 PM
poetry.com uses several different names. Many people have been taken in.
Thank you ever so much. I will be sending you my banking information post haste! I can't wait for the coffee table book to arrive! And may I say you're a wonderful editor who knows talent when he sees it!
I see, Alley, that you are reading one of their books now!
alleycat
10-19-2006, 03:50 PM
I see, Alley, that you are reading one of their books now!
Nah. That's a PA book. See the look of confusion on my face. I'm just about to start ripping pages out.
I remember submitting a poem to them a few years ago, and when they wrote it would be included in their next book I was like "wow, cool!" and I was telling my mom about it and she kept insisting it was a scam.
Of course it was, and I was really peeved.
I recently saw an old episode of Leave it to Beaver that revolved around the Beav getting scammed in a similar manner (except his was being accepted by a modelling agency so long as he paid a whole bunch of money for 'training'), so I guess this isn't anything new.
poetinahat
10-19-2006, 04:49 PM
I'm so glad you all are giving this treatment the gravity it deserves. Really.
(Except, Kevin, what in the name of Malcolm McDowell is your avatar? It makes me think of Dead or Alive, performing in Cirque du Soleil. Which is a weird, but good, thing.)
My God...but that is just what I had in mind!
I can't believe what Pete Burns has done to himself. He should have stopped enhancing in 1984...he was at the top of his game then. Now...sadly, he is just a Cirque du Soleil chorus girl.
louisgodwin
10-20-2006, 09:09 AM
Poetry.com, aka The International Library of Poetry, operates by making everyone a "semi-finalist" in a poetry contest. They send you a nice letter praising your talent and then want you to pay $50 or so to get a copy of a book which contains literally hundreds of other poems. I remember in their letter to me, they were also offering a CD in which your poem is read out loud by somebody. The cost for that was somewhere around $20-$30 I think. And then there was some kind of commemorative plaque you could have a copy of your poem framed on for some freakin' ungodly amount of money. They claim this is real publication, but just try to find an I.L.P. book in a library or bookstore. You won't.
Declan
10-20-2006, 09:41 AM
I have entered one of their comps in the past. One day I was sent a bronze medal in the post...(last year)...very strange. There was a list saying I had come third, along with about two hundred others that had come third also. I've never bought one of their anthologies, and never will. My opinion is that they are a scam. Just look at the cost of the books, absolutely insane.
Dec.
Gunpowder Nash
10-20-2006, 06:02 PM
They are in an office building only half a mile from where I work. The sign also says picture.com or something similar. I imagine they use the same scheme to get people to submit photos and try to sell them similar books.
Angelinity
10-20-2006, 08:48 PM
Quote from the submissions guidelines of a poetry journal:
"...Please keep in mind: competition is keen. You won't find work in any issue of ********* that Poetry.Com might publish.
Hint: Don't use Poetry.Com as a publication credit when submitting work, nor any other joke of a publisher. Yes, we have seen this happen. If you do, we will laugh, laugh again, then delete your submission...."
...this says it all: STAY AWAY from poetry.com!
Jongfan
10-20-2006, 09:25 PM
I just happen to have a letter on my desk they sent my naive daughter. During the summer she submitted a poem to them. They replied with the following:
Dear Hxxxxx,
Every so often our editores review poems that have been presented for our Editor's Choice Award, they personlly select a few poems they believe would have a wonderfully expressive quality if read by a professional reader. Your poem was one of th very few chosen for this highly sought after award, for this we congratulate you.
We are writing to get your permission to include your poem in our highly acclaimed and internationally distributed three album collection, scheduled for release in four weeks. We would like to offer you the opportunity to purchase this collection at a fraction of the cost to others.
BLAH BLAH BLAH
Quote from the submissions guidelines of a poetry journal:
"...Please keep in mind: competition is keen. You won't find work in any issue of ********* that Poetry.Com might publish.
Hint: Don't use Poetry.Com as a publication credit when submitting work, nor any other joke of a publisher. Yes, we have seen this happen. If you do, we will laugh, laugh again, then delete your submission...."
...this says it all: STAY AWAY from poetry.com!
As much as I agree with what this journal says, it really bites my whiteass when guidelines are flip like that. It's so unprofessional. They should have said it in a more classier tone.
Quote from the submissions guidelines of a poetry journal:
"...Please keep in mind: competition is keen. You won't find work in any issue of ********* that Poetry.Com might publish.
Hint: Don't use Poetry.Com as a publication credit when submitting work, nor any other joke of a publisher. Yes, we have seen this happen. If you do, we will laugh, laugh again, then delete your submission...."
...this says it all: STAY AWAY from poetry.com!
As much as I agree with what this journal says, it really bites my whiteass when guidelines are flip like that. It's so unprofessional. They should have said it in a more classier tone.
Quote from the submissions guidelines of a poetry journal:
"...Please keep in mind: competition is keen. You won't find work in any issue of ********* that Poetry.Com might publish.
Hint: Don't use Poetry.Com as a publication credit when submitting work, nor any other joke of a publisher. Yes, we have seen this happen. If you do, we will laugh, laugh again, then delete your submission...."
...this says it all: STAY AWAY from poetry.com!
As much as I agree with what this journal says, it really bites my whiteass when guidelines are flip like that. It's so unprofessional. They should have said it in a more classier tone.
Quote from the submissions guidelines of a poetry journal:
"...Please keep in mind: competition is keen. You won't find work in any issue of ********* that Poetry.Com might publish.
Hint: Don't use Poetry.Com as a publication credit when submitting work, nor any other joke of a publisher. Yes, we have seen this happen. If you do, we will laugh, laugh again, then delete your submission...."
...this says it all: STAY AWAY from poetry.com!
As much as I agree with what this journal says, it really bites my whiteass when guidelines are flip like that. It's so unprofessional. They should have said it in a more classier tone.
Quote from the submissions guidelines of a poetry journal:
"...Please keep in mind: competition is keen. You won't find work in any issue of ********* that Poetry.Com might publish.
Hint: Don't use Poetry.Com as a publication credit when submitting work, nor any other joke of a publisher. Yes, we have seen this happen. If you do, we will laugh, laugh again, then delete your submission...."
...this says it all: STAY AWAY from poetry.com!
As much as I agree with what this journal says, it really bites my whiteass when guidelines are flip like that. It's so unprofessional. They should have said it in a more classier tone.
Quote from the submissions guidelines of a poetry journal:
"...Please keep in mind: competition is keen. You won't find work in any issue of ********* that Poetry.Com might publish.
Hint: Don't use Poetry.Com as a publication credit when submitting work, nor any other joke of a publisher. Yes, we have seen this happen. If you do, we will laugh, laugh again, then delete your submission...."
...this says it all: STAY AWAY from poetry.com!
As much as I agree with what this journal says, it really bites my whiteass when guidelines are flip like that. It's so unprofessional. They should have said it in a more classier tone.
Quote from the submissions guidelines of a poetry journal:
"...Please keep in mind: competition is keen. You won't find work in any issue of ********* that Poetry.Com might publish.
Hint: Don't use Poetry.Com as a publication credit when submitting work, nor any other joke of a publisher. Yes, we have seen this happen. If you do, we will laugh, laugh again, then delete your submission...."
...this says it all: STAY AWAY from poetry.com!
As much as I agree with what this journal says, it really bites my whiteass when guidelines are flip like that. It's so unprofessional. They should have said it in a more classier tone.
Quote from the submissions guidelines of a poetry journal:
"...Please keep in mind: competition is keen. You won't find work in any issue of ********* that Poetry.Com might publish.
Hint: Don't use Poetry.Com as a publication credit when submitting work, nor any other joke of a publisher. Yes, we have seen this happen. If you do, we will laugh, laugh again, then delete your submission...."
...this says it all: STAY AWAY from poetry.com!
As much as I agree with what this journal says, it really bites my whiteass when guidelines are flip like that. It's so unprofessional. They should have said it in a more classier tone.
Angelinity
10-21-2006, 01:59 PM
As much as I agree with what this journal says, it really bites my whiteass when guidelines are flip like that. It's so unprofessional. They should have said it in a more classier tone.
i agree (which is why i didn't include the pub name in the quote) -- however, can't beat that for driving the point home, can ya :D if this is how 'serious' pubs feel, then knowing about it can only help us in the long run...
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