Poetry.com - Too Good To Be True

Poet's beware, Poetry.com is not the way to get published. They offer large amounts of cash, a chance to win awards, but in the end all they want is your money.

I, like thousands of poet's sent in a poem hoping to win something. (This was eight years ago). To my amazement I was lucky enough to be a semi-finalist and received a letter of praise for my beautiful, stunning, most impressively creative, etc, etc, etc, poem.

It turns out that anyone who sends in a poem, no matter how horrible, or hey, even if it's plagiarized by a famous poet, wins semi finalist. Which means that you have the honor of seeing your prized poem placed in a book with a whole bunch of other poems (spelling mistakes included) and you can buy this book for only $50.00 dollars or so.
Poetry.com scams innocent poet's, sure someone gets the cash prize, but are they judged by quality? Why would they be, when no one else is?

Even worse they will then try to con you into going to their awards ceremony where they can suck even more money out of you. Since poet's aren't generally known for being rich, they've sure picked an interesting target group.

I didn't buy the book, I realized right away that I'd been duped, and it was embarrassing. Now that I've had poetry published I realize that no true editor will ever ask you for any money to publish your poems. No legitimate poetry publication would ask its contributors to pay anything. If the magazine or journal can afford to pay you for the poem they will, otherwise they usually provide a free copy (or a few copies) of the magazine you've been published in.

Now that I know more about the poetry world I realize that editors never go on and on about how wonderful you are, they're too busy. They just publish you, reject you, and maybe give you a line or two of critique once in a blue moon.

Be cautious when it comes to reading fees and vanity presses (publications that only publish your poems so you will pay for an expensive book). Sometimes it's better to be legitimately published in a small literary magazine then to have a chance to win $10,000. You will have the satisfaction of knowing that your poetry has been accepted because it's good and for no other reason.

Here's a few links that you may find helpful and good luck get published the old fashioned way, with hard work and dedication!


Poetry Scams

Seven Deadly Signs Of Poetry Scams

Getting The Scoop on Poetry Contest Scams