Back in high school, I convinced myself that I was the second coming of Edgar Allan Poe and so did poetry.com....or so I thought. I wrote a poem in my sophomore year in high school titled Mother Nature's Questions and submitted it to the International Library of Poetry's address. They are affiliated with poetry.com and put an ad in the newspaper requesting poetry submissions from high school students. The incentive? A $10,000 grand prize for the lucky winner and hundreds of other cash prizes. I figured, 'Hey, I have a sure-to-win poem right here!' So I mailed in my poem. A few weeks went by until I received a letter from them declaring my poem to be published in their upcoming anthology. I was ecstatic at this news and not only did they tell me about my publication but also I can purchase this anthology which included my very own poem along with my name, grade and high school.
When you're young and naïve as I was at that age, you'll grab anything that you feel will grant you five minutes of fame. What did I do? I sent them money for the anthology and received the anthology titled Creative Communications: New York 's Young Poets Speak Out! Now, granting the publication was legit as I saw my name, poem, etc. included in the anthology, but that's not how it worked for other people.
Now that I'm a little older and a little bit wiser, I enter literary forums so I can get a sense of what goes on in the writing world and to cue me into the scams lurking in literature. "Writing Contests" was a topic of discussion in one of these forums and as I like to submit my best work with hopes to win a grand prize, I read the thread's posts. As abridged, the topic starter was looking for writing contests that didn't require an entry fee since she wanted to save money for college. I figured I'd help her out and told her my story about poetry.com and that I hadn't won anything. I added that it did give me a publication for my poem. Another forum member came into our discussion and warned both me and her about this website.
He went on to add, 'I hope you haven't paid this outfit anything.' He also included a link to a blog (mommyspace.blogspot.com/2006/10/poetry-contest-scam.html) that warned amateur poets about poetry.com's scam. As you will read or have read in the blog, poetry.com will only publish your work in their anthology if you purchase that anthology. Well, folks, I guess it's true what they say: nothing in life is free. We also know how they make their money, and it's funny because I recently submitted a poem of mine before reading this information. It's all about money, money, money. E-mail after e-mail I am being asked to be a member of their society of poets where I'd have to pay an entry fee. Yes, to be a member of any organization, you do have to pay your fees, but it's almost as if they forgot about the contest. Then their e-mails also ask me to submit photographs. Isn't this a poetry site? I'll leave it up to you, the reader, to decide.
