Click here for a larger view.
So check it out, it's got my brilliant poem peeking through a plastic window at me, with that little copyright symbol setting my heart all aflutter. And, inside...
Again, click here for a larger image.
As you can see, this is an "artist's proof" of how my poem will appear in their latest anthology: Eternal Portraits. I love the "Excellent poem" note, printed in blue with a font that resembles hand writing. I think they stole that trick from Publishers Clearinghouse. The attached letter reads, in part:
Dear Paul,
After carfully reading and discussing your poem, our Selection Committee has certified your poem as a semi-finalist in our International Open Poetry Contest. Your poem will automatically be entered into the final competition held in February 2005. As a semi-finalist, you now have an excellent chance of winning one of 104 cash or gift prizes--including the $1,000.00 Grand Prize. You may even win the $10,000.00 Annual Grand Prize! We wish you the best of luck as you compete for these prizes in the coming weeks.
And that's not all...
Paul...Imagine Your Poem Featured
on a Page by Itself in a Beautiful Coffee-table Edition!
In celebration of the unique talent that you have displayed, we also wish to publish your poem on its own page in what promises to be one of the most highly regarded collections of poetry we have ever published...
Eternal Portraits
Eternal Portraits, scheduled for publication in Spring 2005, will be a classic, coffee-table quality hardbound volume--printed in two colors on fine-milled paper specifically selected to last for generations. It will make a handsome addition to any library, a treasured family keepsake, or a highly valued personal gift.
NO OBLIGATION WHATSOEVER
Before going any further, Paul, let me make one thing clear...your poem was selected for publication, and as a contest semi-finalist, on the basis of your unique talent and artistic vision. In this regard, you are under no obligation whatsoever to submit any entry fee, any subsidy payment, or to make any purchase of any kind. Of course, many people do wish to acquire a book that features their poetic artistry. If this is the case, we welcome your order--and guarantee your satisfaction. Please see the enclosed material for special discount information if you would like to order or reserve a copy of Eternal Portraits, with a small deposit.
...yada yada yada.
I love this letter. Every paragraph offers up a new delight. First, they say, "after carefully reading and discussing your poem..." Come on! You've read my poem (if you haven't, here it is). Do you really think any live human being at The International Library of Poetry really has, other than in passing as they stuffed the computer generated "artist's proof" page into an envelope? And, I'm sure there is some discussion involved: mainly in the lunch room as the envelope stuffers laugh it up with the stamp lickers over the most recent poetic drivel they've seen go by.
"And that's not all..." If you act now, we'll throw in this fabulous combination slicer/dicer/peeler/corer/masher/paint brush cleaner. "NO OBLIGATION WHATSOEVER." And then the other shoe drops. They're sure I'll want to own one of these delicious books, for only $49.95 American dollars, they reveal on the conveniently enclosed order form. They claim that my poem will be published in the anthology regardless, but if I don't order a copy, how will I know if that's true? Don't be fooled...no payee, no printee. Later in the letter, they offer the "opportunity" to have an artist's bio published on the page facing the poem. Of course, there is a nominal "typesetting fee" for that. Big surprise! The letter ends with this juicy tidbit:
P.P.S. As a poet chosen for publication, you will also be eligible to attend The International Society of Poet's(sic) Spring Convention and Symposium, to be held in Orlando, Florida, February 25-27, 2005. Keep the date, a formal invitaion will be sent to you soon.
They conveniently forget to make any mention of costs involved with attending said Convention and Symposium. For more information on these jokers, click on the Poetry.com link in the sidebar to see a google search results page for "poetry.com +scam." Interesting reading.
Oh yeah, the best part of the whole thing? The enclosed return envelope, in which they hope you send a cheque for potentially a case of 12 books for $369.00, is not postage paid. Nice.
18 comments:
Yea, but the best part is, YOUR POEM IS GETTING PUBLISHED!!!!!!! WTG Paul!! I'd be laughing too.
Yeah....my daughter has written poetry most of her young life, and when we first got one of these, we were initially taken in..yup, ordered the book..a few months later we received a "special" invite to attend a convention where each participant would receive a trophy, a plaque etc. for the AMAZING low price of 900.00 a head...People want to feel special and talented and dream of being recognized for their talent...these vultures feed on that beautifully...great entry...Penny
MzGoohci wrote: "Yea, but the best part is, YOUR POEM IS GETTING PUBLISHED!"
Don't kid yourself. If I don't send them any money, my poem will not appear in that book.
-Paul
Oh well, Their loss, eh?
Paul, you simply enjoy Poetry.Com far too much!
Have a super Day and remember, Carpe Diem
Don
I just recieved this letter I was so excited. So I called my Husband at work. (he is so smart) he suggested that we check it out. I fallowed all the steps of how to tell if something is a scam (like typing in web adddress directly into web bar)but as you can guess it was not a potery sight. I typed in every thing that may have looked like a bussiness name, I even Checked the better business bureau web site and nothing. Finanally i typed in Eternal Portraits and found this sight.
So all in all Thank you for saving me from looking as stupid as I feel.
Tosha Indiana
I got the letter to ,but the heading and feature of the envolope was Diffrent
Yeah. I've recieved the same letter (and many others) from Poetry.com. At first I was kinda shocked that anyone would find my poem good. Well, I entered one poem ("People") and then they sent their letter telling me that it was to be published (if I bought the book) for the low, low price of $49.95 + $11.00 shipping and handling. Can't I just go to Books-A-Million and find it like half price or something? Those other poems must be PRETTY awful since they've chosen mine. Oh, and the convention. Gosh, it takes a lot for them to send me the award I won since I won't be attending the convention. Wow... for the $169, I might as well just go to the convention to meet Tony Orlando. Ummm... who is Tony Orlando? I'm kinda embarrassed by the whole thing.
-Briley-
I recieved a letter this morning regarding a poem I entered "That Girl"... I was cmopletely shocked but of course, I didn't know whether to believe this was genuine so I came online, did some research and found this! Thank you very much, I have decided not to go forth and enter this, it seems a hideous waste of time - Not to mention, ever so expensive! So thank you for your entry, www.poetry.com is a sham, their is barely any information regarding current contests! The site is impossible to use, so, many thanks for this... It helped me make my final decision!
--
* : ~ : * Becky * : ~ : *
i have been receiving those letters since i was twelve from the same five poems i submitted back then. luckily i was and am not naive enough to find this genuine. perhaps they do publish these books, but i've yet to see one.
HEY PAUL!!! Exciting news....well, for me at least!! My name is Lindsay Rae & I'm from Montreal (In Canada) well, this morning I woke up & was in a really bad mood for my own reasons...*cough*...but then I went to my mailbox & was expecting JUST the daily newspaper....buuuttt, I found a letter addressed to me :)! It was from poetry.com and I had a big "OHHH YEAH!" moment!! It was amazing. I opened it up, expecting a "Sorry, try again" type of thing..but it said I was a semi-finalist & that my Racism poem will be featured in the book 'Eternal Portraits'!! I was extatic! Your poem is going to be published too, right? I didn't get to see your poem because it is printed so small on your AOL comment thingy...(I'm new to this, maybe I can click it and make it bigger? Who knows) either way, send your poem to cheerinchick66@hotmail.com I'd LOVE to see it!!
-Lindsay Rae
I see where everyone is going with this... I recently sent in a poem over the Internet, and recieved a letter that was absolutely identical to the one that Paul recieved (with my name and address different, of course.) The poem I sent in was good, but not great.
I had the chance to read your comments when studying up on the company after reading this letter, and it has merit. Not only should they be paying the winners of the contests for writing exceptional poetry, they should not be charging (or overcharging) them for copies of their literature, and definitely not for adding an autobiographical piece (which should be included.)
Also, I could not find any of the poetry compilations from this "big" company listed anywhere for sale (perhaps because they are not?)
However, the company's address and phone number can be verified as correct, and they are actually listed with the Better Business Bureau (http://bbb.com).
Check out the following site for detailed information:
http://www.baltimore.bbb.org/nis/newsearch2.asp?ID=1&ComID=0011000000005437
So, the question is: are these books for sale to anyone, except for the ostensible "reserved" copies for the authors of the poetry?
i have received all of these letters to, only not just for one poem, but amazingly 2 of them! and so has someone else who lives around me. all this is is a big scam to get our money. they constantly send my emails saying they are sorry i cannot attend. and then telling me that i will have to pay money to get my awards and to have a professional poet read my poem at the convention. and i also receiced a letter for that international whos who in poetry thing. its such a scam.
I never recieved anything in the mail, but I did get an email from some guy by the name of Howard. Does everyone in poetry.com get an email saying they're a finalist for a poetry competition? Is this whole thing a scam? Or is it real? I've only ever written one poem on poetry.com because I spend most of my time on allpoetry.com. They have my Mum's credit card info!!!! I didn't realise!!! Are they going to rob my Mum of all our money??? Oh, God!!! Can someone tell me what's going on here??
Hi there,
I will answer your questions in order.
1) "Does everyone in poetry.com get an email saying they're a finalist for a poetry competition?"
Well, yes, and no. They have some kind of monitoring system to weed out poems that are obvious jokes, or are vulgar for no reason but to be vulgar, or are clearly satirical of poetry.com. Other than that, everybody who submits a poem gets invited to send them some money. Always remember: writers get paid for having their work published, not the other way around.
2)Is this whole thing a scam?
Well, yes and no. They are not doing anything illegal. They are simply offering to publish your poem in a book, and to sell you copies for outrageous prices. Oh, and you can also buy plaques, trophies, tickets to big conventions, just about anything they think they can fool people into buying. Telling someone their art has value is a powerful motivator.
3) Are they going to rob my Mum of all our money?
I don't think they will rob your Mom of any money, but they might trick you into giving your consent for them to sell you overpriced books and things. If I were you I would try and contact them and tell them never to charge anything to that credit card. Tell them that if they ever put a charge through on that card you will call the police.
Good luck. Keep writing poetry, just don't send any of it to them.
Paul
You know, it is rather evident that poetry.com don't value talent but what you all seem to be neglecting is that they will publish these books on demand (else the company would be involved in all sorts of legal suits) and other people might read your poetry. For somebody who wants to get their name out to the world - this is a good way. Yeh, you may never see it in that book but other people could.
Of course you're all sent the same thing- do you expect a personal letter telling you how fantastic you are or something? Get real, they pump this stuff out daily and are not going to consume more of their precious time and waste more of their precious money paying extra wages.
poetry.com IS a registered company. They DO have a legitimate address. THEY ARE CRAP.
But hey, you're the people who wanted your poetry in a book.
i just receive the mail from poetry.com and it is exactly the same thing as yours (except for name, address and the poem ==")
i showed to my brother and he told me that it is a lie and they just want my money...so i try to do so research and this is the only site i found talks about it!!
so is this a scam???
ps. to the person who posted this...did u mail ur poem back?
SaSaQ^^
this is danielle alexander and i had 2 poems published in eternal portriats titled "what do you do" and "my love for you" so if anyone casn find them contac me at 9848203
i'd really appreciate it
Post a Comment