Poetry.com / International Library of Poetry / Watermark Press

[Hopcus]

Swindlers. (Shakes head.)

 

[jamiehall]

Rachel Vater recently blogged:

"Okay, don’t mention it if you’ve been published with poetry.com because that’s not really a publication credit, but you know… put any writing experience in there that you want to."

(Scroll down to the last "A" of the "Q" & "A" parts.)

 

[AnneMarble]

Lest anyone forget Poetry.com...

The BBB has changed the way they rate businesses -- finally. First, companies can't just pay a fee to get accreditation. Also, companies get lettered ratings. Watermark Press (Poetry.com) gets a rating of F. They get that rating not only from the numerous complaints and number of serious complaints filed against them but from the failure to respond to complaints and failure to resolve complaints, among other issues.

This might help typical consumers because they don't know how to research a publisher, but they might think of checking the company on the BBB website. At least the listings are now worth something.

 

[victoriastrauss]

Thanks for the info Anne--I wasn't aware of the change. Look who gets a C-.

- Victoria

 

[veinglory]

By contrast, Lulu has an A+ http://www.bbb.org/easternnc/business-reviews/internet-shopping/Lulu-Enterprises-Inc-90003737

 

[AnneMarble]

Thanks for the info Anne--I wasn't aware of the change. Look who gets a C-.

- Victoria

Wayyyy too generous.

I also have issues with the A- rating of the tire place I used last week. (Hint: New tires aren't supposed to go flat on the day they are installed. And don't get me started on the estimate of additional work they suggested. )

 

[veinglory]

Poetry.com out of business, site passed to Lulu?

 

[CaoPaux]

Wow. I had to keep checking the dates of posts to make sure this wasn't an April Fool's joke.

We are pleased to bring you a new poetry site: Lulu Poetry, www.poetry.com. Lulu Poetry is about winning prizes and recognition for your poems, creating and selling beautiful books of your poetry, and learning tips and tricks from other enthusiastic poets just like you.

Whether you write poems for your own enjoyment or to entertain and educate others, Lulu Poetry is for you. We'll be handing out prizes to poems selected as winners by the hundreds and thousands of poets who are part of the poetry community. When you win we'll send you a certificate for you to print and hang on your wall to remind everyone of your accomplishment - along with a cash prize.

So whether you are quietly writing poems in the northern woods, or are part of a English class studying and learning poetry, you can use Lulu to compile your works for your audience. You may want to sell your poetry to the world, or just create a poetry book as a class fundraiser for the parents of your students. Lulu makes publishing your poetry easy and inexpensive.

Keep in mind this is only version 1.0 of Lulu Poetry. We will be adding great new features and improvements weekly to better serve Poets and lovers of Poetry everywhere, so bookmark www.poetry.com* and visit often!

Cheers,

Bob Young
Founder & CEO, Lulu.com

*Lulu.com, an award winning Internet company, recently purchased the URL "www.poetry.com" from the previous failed business that owned it.

 

[victoriastrauss]

Yup--Lulu is taking over the vanity anthology business. Interesting.

- Victoria

 

[DaveKuzminski]

We need an icon for companies like this one when their demise is announced. Perhaps an animated image of a writer dancing on a grave?

 

[TheRightEyedDeer]

poetry.com

Anyone else see that poetry.com has been purchased by Lulu?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry.com

According to their press release, Lulu has aggressive plans to completely revamp Poetry.com and bring it under the Lulu brand. The site will be renamed to Lulu Poetry, and will be targeted to poets who want to connect with their peers and have access to resources to receive reviews and feedback on their poetry as well as recognition, contest prizes and helping them publish their work.

http://www.poetry.com/

I've been trying for years to get two of my poems removed (submitted back in the dark ages before I knew anything about this kind of stuff). Tonight, I fired off an email to the new owners to see if I can finally get resolution.

 

[CaoPaux]

Just FYI - Here's Writer Beware's take on it: http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2009/04/victoria-strauss-lulu-acquires.html

 

[stormie]

Oh no! Who will I now send my bad poems to for the Wergle Flomp Poetry Contest?!

 

[CaoPaux]

Heh. Looks like Lulu bought the whole Watermark Media package, including poets.com, poem.com, and picture.com. I'll make a note of the latter in that thread, too.

 

[Sarashay]

International Library of Poetry is NO MORE!!!

The domain poetry.com has been bought by LuLu and is now LuLu Poetry.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Lulucom-Launches-Lulu-prnews-14916986.html

http://www.poetry.com/lulupoetryletter.asp

Lulu.com, an award winning Internet company, recently purchased the URL "www.poetry.com" from the previous failed business that owned it.

It's still a for-profit enterprise, but it looks to be a much more honest one. They still have a poetry contest, but apparently they're now using a popular vote to determine the winners instead of a shadowy 'panel of judges' with questionable taste. Yes, they make their living selling your poetry back to you, but only if you decide you want to publish it through them.

The International Library of Poetry was one of the biggest literary scams ever known and I am ELATED to discover that they went under. No telling if they'll try to revive themselves under a different name with a different scam going, but I hope the word gets out that this particular iteration is finally dead.

 

[8thSamurai]

This...is...AWESOME!!!

 

[AnneMarble]

Heh. Looks like Lulu bought the whole Watermark Media package, including poets.com, poem.com, and picture.com. I'll make a note of the latter in that thread, too.

The poems are still available on-line, as long as you know how to search for them. I found my wretched poem about spam that I posted there to get NeoPoints or something.

 

[victoriastrauss]

Writer Beware's discussion of the Lulu acquisition is here.

- Victoria

 

[Seanna Bowman]

Where is our Poetry?

I recently went to the poetry.com website and noticed the changes, then I found out about the problems, which I never fell for the contest thing anyway I just wanted a place to put my poetry so others could read it. But when I searched my my poetry, it wasn't there anymore. I have hard copies, that I have written, but they are put up and I can't remember where I have put them. Does anyone know where in the world our poetry is that was on the site? Please help, In a way I feel robbed that I can't find it. And I want to upload it to another site for my friends to read. I am very sad for those that have been scammed, I myself never bought any of their anthologies, because I felt that contributors should have at the very least received one free copy to view their work in. And I was supposedly in several. If anyone knows where my poetry is, please help. I feel so lost without it right now. Thanks and God Bless, Seanna Bowman

 

[JulieB]

Welcome to AW, Seanna!

Go here: http://www.poetry.com/help/ and scroll down to the second topic. I hope that helps you out.

 

[veinglory]

Just keep in mind that the company you submitted you work to is gone, they don't exist any more. Lulu may be able to recover them because they bought the website as an asset.

 

[S.N.D.]

To make a complaint about Poetry.com

Hello!My name is Sean Neil Dillon and i do have a
complaint about Poetry.com and the I.L.P.!
1.I can not log into Potry.com because i forgot my
pass word and Poetry.com will not send me another Pass word by e-mailing one to me even when i did request one.
2.I can not contact Poetry.com or the I.L.P. either
by e-mail,street address,or by a phone number!!!!
3.What i wanted to do was ask Poetry.com if they
could please send me a copy with my poem on it
on a peice of paper with the copy-right in my name
that was published in one of their poetry books in
the year of 2004 or 2005.The poem was called:
"Fish one"
4.And to give poetry.com my new street address
and cell phone number.

My e-mail address is [removed]
My camera cell phone number is[removed]
My name is [removed]

I live in the state of Florida
THANK-YOU!!!!

 

[JulieB]

Welcome to AW, Sean!

Please go back and edit your post to remove your email address and other personal information. (A mod may come along shortly and edit for you.) Leaving your personal information out in the open is a very bad idea in general as there are bots that scrape email addresses from boards and other sites.

Also, it looks like Poetry.com is now owned by an outfit called Newton Rhymes LLC. Here are their Terms of Service, which includes a street address. It's under #17, about reporting abuse, and #31 regarding communications with the site. Looks like you need to send them snail mail. Good luck.

 

[HapiSofi]

Poetry.com has risen from its grave.

It is with regret that I announce that this morning, a friend of mine received a spam email from Poetry.com. We'd thought the scam was finally dead. Apparently it isn't.

The letter is a nasty thing. They're pretending to be dazzled by some piece of the recipient's poetry, which they say they've rediscovered while getting their site back up and running.

Here it is, more or less as received:

from Poetry.com [email protected] via bluehornet.com
sender-time Sent at 12:34 PM (GMT-07:00). Current time there: 4:39 AM. ✆
reply-to [email protected]
to [my friend's address]
date Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 12:34 PM
subject Congratulations [name]! Your poetry has been found!
mailed-by returnpath.bluehornet.com
signed-by bluehornet.com


Someone wants to read your poems!

[Name],

You wrote some amazing poems that have just been re-discovered!

Can you please confirm that you're the author of the following spectacular poem:


[title of poem]


Congratulations! We would like to feature you and your poems on the NEW poetry.com! This BRAND NEW SITE was just re-launched under new management. To share your poems, click here.

7,000,000 poets from around the world will read and rate your poems. You'll get reviews and feedback in 60 minutes or less, GUARANTEED! It's FAST, it's FREE and it's FUN!!

To share your poems, click here now! It's just that easy! You'll get a whole section of the website dedicated just to you and your poetry. All your poems, old and new, will be beautifully displayed in one place.

Here's your chance to share your message with the world! Click here to claim the poems you wrote.

It's time for you and your poetic accomplishments to be formally recognized. The NEW poetry.com is all about featuring talented poets like yourself. Won't you join us? It's totally FREE!

Poetically yours,

Janet Stevens
Poetry.com

P.S. [Name], you wrote some amazing poems that have just been re-discovered. We would like to feature you and your poetry on the BRAND NEW poetry.com. 7,000,000 poets will read and rate your poems. You'll get feedback and reviews in 60 minutes or less, GUARANTEED. It's FAST, it's FREE and it's FUN! Click here to share your poems now!​

I can forward the full headers if anyone needs them.

For those who've just come in:

Poetry.com is and always has been a scam. They pretend to take submissions, which nobody actually looks at. Then they pretend to be wildly enthusiastic about your poetry. Then they start trying to sell you stuff. When you receive your very expensive copy of the anthology that has your poem in it, you find it's printed in small blurry badly-formatted type, and that it's lost in an ocean of bad poems by other victims of the scam.

Here's a story:

Real poets used to have a competition to try to come up with a poem so bad that Poetry.com wouldn't declare it to be a semifinalist in its latest poetry contest. They came up with some remarkable stinkers, but to no avail -- Poetry.com always gushed about the poems, declared them to be semifinalists, and tried to sell stuff to the authors.

The person who finally succeeded at this game went and poked around on the Poetry.com submission page, and realized that it was a completely automated process -- no human eyes ever saw the submissions. No wonder it treated all poems the same.

The challenge, then, was to come up with a poem that a computerized system would reject. The person reformatted a Nigerian scam letter from "Miriam Abacha" as a poem and submitted it. Sure enough, Poetry.com's automated system identified it as spam and rejected it: the poem was not declared a semifinalist. End of story.

If you're a poet, any time you see a Poetry.com come-on, just remind yourself that it takes real ingenuity to not be declared one of their semifinalists.

 

[AnneMarble]

It is with regret that I announce that this morning, a friend of mine received a spam email from Poetry.com. We'd thought the scam was finally dead, but it's risen from its grave.

Dang. That sucks. I thought the new ownership had changed the site. They seemed to have put a stake through the heart of the old scam.

That is going to be a really nasty vampire to deal with. More Nosferatu than Bela, let alone Edward.