JMW Publishing Co.

Note that the poetry contest is from the JMW Publishing in Missouri, which is not affiliated with the JMW Group in New York (a book packager). This is a good example of why people asking (and answering) questions in this industry need to specify locations, not just names: For an industry that works with intellectual property, the various firms in it are remarkably cavalier about trademarks and trade names.

LOVELYPOETRYGAL said:

NOPE! I GOT MY BOOKS TODAY FROM 'EM!!! I HAD A POEM PUBLISHED IN "Timepieces, Vol.2"!!!

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And how much did they pay you for it?

Legitimate poetry markets pay for the poems you send them, even if it's only in free copies.

LOVELYPOETRYGAL said:

NOPE! I GOT MY BOOKS TODAY FROM 'EM!!! I HAD A POEM PUBLISHED IN "Timepieces, Vol.2"!!!

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It depends on how you define a "scam." When people on this board say that a publisher or a contest is a scammer, they usually don't mean that the publisher never sends copies to their authors. What they mean is that the publisher charges the authors for those copies and doesn't sell the books to the reading public. That makes them a printer, not a real publisher.

Sadly, some of the best known poetry contests are like this. They don't care about poets, just about selling anthologies to the poets. JMW is just one example -- avoid Poetry.com, too. Do yourself a favor and don't send them any more money. Send your poetry to markets that care about your poems and don't try to gouge you.

Once these "contests" have your name, they won't stop asking your for money. I know this out of personal experience. I once submitted a poem to Poetry.com to show a class that the contest was a scam. The poem was about spam, and it sucked. But the poem was accepted! It was a finalist! And for months afterwards, they kept sending me brochures about that horrid thing. For a fee, I could get it recorded and set to music! For another fee, I could get it framed. On top of that, I could pay several hundred dollars to go to a poetry seminar. Uhm, no thanks. I read about that seminar on-line, and it's not worth five cents. )


If you want to find legitimate poetry contests (and better markets for your poetry), check about the Absolute Write Poetry forum. There is even a poetry critique board. (It's password-protected to protect your publication rights to the poem.)

Elsewhere on AW, you can also find a board for paying markets and one for nonpaying markets. In most cases, even the nonpaying markets will give you free copies of the issue or volume your work appears in!

LOVELYPOETRYGAL said:

NOPE! I GOT MY BOOKS TODAY FROM 'EM!!! I HAD A POEM PUBLISHED IN "Timepieces, Vol.2"!!!

Click to expand...

How much did it cost you?