poetry.com > Reviews (18)

Recently someone on a newsgroup said that they had been chosen to be a semi-finalist in one of Poetry.com's contests. This is a well known scam, and many people told this person to run as fast as he could the other direction. But then, someone said "Just to be fair: [they hope] one will buy the book, but [do] not require it." This is what I ansered to that.

Let me tell you about that, just to be fair, OK?

Way back when I first got internet, someone innocently told me about this wonderful place that would publish my poetry. Not knowing better, I entered their monthly "contest". Several weeks later I received notification that unfortunately, I hadn't won anything in their monthly contest, but that they wanted to enter it into their yearly contest and publish it in their book "A Quiet Storm" which was due to be published in May 1997. And all I had to do to get a copy of this lovely publication was to send them $49.95 plus shipping and handling. If I wanted the deluxe version, that was only $20 more. I think they also wanted a certain amount for putting my biography in the book as well as even more for my photograph.

This sounded pretty fishy to me, so I started to investigate. I first looked at some of the other poetry on the site, including some of the "winners", and I immediately knew that something was afoot. I then decided to see if I could contact any of the "winners". No luck. Out of the 60 or so people listed as "previous winners" I could find what seemed like viable addresses (through internet address search engines) for about a dozen of them. Of those I was able to find only about 8 with email addresses. I wrote all of them and those that didn't bounce, all replied the same way - they didn't know where I got their name or address from but they had never entered any internet poetry contests. Aha!

Based on this, I decided not to reply to them and forget the whole thing. However...

A few months later I received a packet in the mail telling me that I was a semi-finalist in their yearly contest which was being judged in October, 1997 and I could win up to $10,000 in prizes. They then informed me that even if I didn't win anything, they still wanted to publish my poem in their book. But this time, it was in their book "A Whispering Silence" which was due to be published in December, 1997. I threw it away, along with the one I received a two weeks later which told me that the book they wanted to publish my poem in would be called "Chambers of Time".

By then I had found all the links and information regarding how this was a scam. So, I decided to do an experiment. First, I tracked my poem on their pages. Every so often my poem was slotted into new anthology, with a new publication date. This continued for 18 months or more. My poem kept being relegated to the next anthology and the next, and the next. This might have gone on ad infinitum, but...

Then, I went into my poem and revised it to read as a warning to others along the lines of "this place is a scam/ they only want your money/ they will never pay anyone a penny in prizes/ don't give them anything/ run away quick".

A few weeks later my when I did a search for my name, found my poem, but when I clicked on the link, the poem was gone and I saw this:

"Please note that this poem has been archived. If you are the author, you may release this poem for viewing by anyone who visits this site. If you have an email account, this should take less than one minute. Simply provide your email address below and click on "Submit". You will receive an email message from poetry.com. Please follow the instructions in the message. If you do not have an email account, please send a letter to poetry.com Archive Director, One Poetry Plaza, Owings Mills MD 21117, stating your request to have this poem released for viewing. Include your name, address, VIP (if known), and the title of the poem to be released."

"After release, your poem will be published on the Internet by poetry.com as your original work and under your copyright. The community of poets who use this forum for self-expression will be able to view and share your poem, always as your original work and under your copyright in the various ways described on this website."

About a month after that, when I searched for my name, even that had been obliterated.

So, yes, to be "fair" they *don't* require that you buy the book. But if you don't, it doesn't get into the book - at all, ever.

No pay, no publication.

(But its fun to play with their "Poetry in Motion" magnets. Don't bother to submit anything, just play with them.)

*****
The ratings below have to do with the site itself, not their scam.

I chose "Ideas" in the "Facilities" because of their "Poetry in Motion" magnets. Unless you want to play with that, don't even bother to go to Poetry.com - EVER!
*****