Poetry.com

Does anyone here participate in the www.poetry.com contests?

There are cash prizes and poems are sometimes published in anthologies. You retain the right to publish in other publications, however. One does not have to purchase an anthology when her poem is published by Poetry.com

Regards,
BB

BB
It could be a different site, but I believe that is the one that sort of plays with the heart of writers by telling them their poem will be published in an anthology that they don't 'have' to buy, but some how wind up buying. And the anthology turns out to be an inferior publication with their poems on pages that have been merely inserted.

I believe it is them that has a contest that everyone wins, but they make each author feel as if they are the only winners. Then they say the prizes are being awarded at a convention somewhere with a lot of buyers for poems, etc. (the one I heard of was in Washington, D.C.) and the cost of attending turns out to be several hundred dollars and the convention turns out to be a farce.

A friend of mine fell for it all. Spent more than a thousand dollars before she came to her senses. She's no chump, but it kind of sneaked up on her a little at a time.

It could be a different site, but I definitely remember he saying it was poetry.com. My advice would be to search preditors and editors and go into anything with your eyes wide open.
smile

I've read different experiences and most of them say poetry.com is misleading! They offer you an award, the chance to present your poem in public at the convention which is very costly, etc. They offer to frame ypur poem in a beautiful keepsake frame, etc, but you have to pay for it all. I sent a few poems to them, but have been unable to get any of the books in which they were printed. Then, the only ones who basically know and request the anthologies are ogher poets whose work appears in it. And they are costly.

I thank God I didn't get to spend no money on them! But they do get your hopes very high!!
So be very careful and do your homework before you put your trust in them!

I got interested in poetry.com a couple of years ago. I just wanted to get a sense of whether or not my poems were any good, so submitted a few to get the feedback. They really wanted to publish one of the poems I had submitted and became extremely aggressive and, well, predatorial is a word that comes to mind. It kind of scared me. I had to send them a registered letter insisting that they were NOT allowed to publish my poem.

They had made it quite clear in all correspondence to me that if they published my poem in one of their anthologies, I would not be allowed to publish it anywhere again, which is why I initially declined. Later, it was because they frightened me with their aggressive tactics.

I never heard from them after I sent them my letter. I have no idea if they went ahead and published my poem, but wouldn't be surprised to find out that they did.

I would highly recommend not getting sucked into anything to do with poetry.com.

[ July 25, 2005, 01:39 PM: Message edited by: Eagle Heart ]

They are the absolute worst!!!!! Stay away!!!!
They make inexperienced poets feel great by publishing anything and everything. then they try to sell you a very expensive anthology with yur poem in it. Then they tell you you are invited to attend a conference where you will get an award and do a reading. the conference is very expensive. Everyone gets the same treatment. (Can you tell I've been through this personally?) There are law suits trying to be filed against them.
Can't think of the name of the site, but there is a site where they have a different kind of contest, one where you write your worst poem and then submit it to places like Poetry.com. The worst poem accepted, wins!

Thanks for the warning. I know several people who have submitted poems to that site, but they had no complaints about it. I did wonder about one poem which was written in English by a person whose primary language was not English. The poem did not make sense to me, but he said it was published. He did receive the book he ordered. I do like to go out there and read some of the poetry, however.

There have been more warnings issued about Poetry.com than ANY OTHER comparable entity. One of the biggest and best known scams around. When in doubt about a particular publisher or agent or contract issues, check it out with one of the "watchdog" entities - best ones I know of is (as you all know!!) Preditors & Editors AND Writers Beware. There are lots of others.

http://sfwa.org/beware/general.html#Poetry

If you scroll down this page from the Writers Beware website until you get to the paragraph on Poetry.com you can get the "scoop" !

Thank you, Pam. I did read the warning site. Poetry.com does have some good information and interesting reading there, however.

I did notice that not all the poetry is good quality. But I had the impression that only the really good stuff got published by them.

Well, maybe my post along with all your replies can serve as a warning to others to be cautious. I will pass the info along.

Poetry.com is a scam. It is run by some other names also. It doesn't matter whether a poem is good or bad. Anyone who sends one in gets something in the mail that says their poem was chosen for their anthology. The anthology is printed on cheap flimsy paper. They do send you a book if you buy it at around $80. This is so you can get it "before it goes in the bookstores." It NEVER goes in any bookstores. They play on people who want to see their work printed so badly they will jump at it. It's terrible.
Louisa

I, too, fell for it when I was just beginning to look into publishing my work. The book was about $60 on flimsy paper with microscopic font so they could cram as many poems as possible on the page. They print EVERYONE who sends ANYTHING. There are even contests (Wergle Flomp) to see who can submit the worst poem that gets published by poetry.com.

My poem was submitted 5 years ago, and then I wised up. Just last month I got a letter saying it was selected as Poem Of The Year, eligible to win great prizes if only I attend their $600 convention. Something I submitted 5 years ago (and which has since gotten a major and much needed rewrite) was selected as the poem for 2005??? Puh-leez!

TVC - this is the contest you were talking about.
http://www.winningwriters.com/contestflomp.htm

If that link breaks, it's called WergleFlomp & you can find it through a Google search.

You all are so knowledgable. You go girls! Thanks for helping Boom Boom!

Dave Barry wrote a widely distributed column about how he was told that his poem of complete nonsense was a "literary gem" deserving of publication by poetry.com. Well loving Dave's work as I do, I have to say, a poet he ain't, and if he says stay away from these people, that's good enough for me!

I have several poems on poetry.com, and I did buy the first book that published one of my poems. I gave it to my mom, who is my biggest fan. I have never submitted a poem to the site without them wanting to publish it in one of their anthologies. I throw away the offers in the trash. I do get a kick out of their poetry in motion contest, however, where you can possibly win $100 by taking several word tiles and making a 25 word poem. They pick one poem every 24 hours at random times, and send them $100. I play it just for fun occasionally. I have never ordered the mugs with my poems on them, mainly because they are costly. But they do have some neat gift ideas, which anyone into crafts can do much cheaper.
You can publish your poetry on poetry.com, but I don't particularly recommend it.

I fell for the anthology scam when I first started writing again. Sorry I did it, they play on our egos I'm afraid. I look at that poem now and know it was inferior. AHhhh but what I've learned in the last five years!

Sherri