Poetry Scams

As some of you might or might not know, I enjoy dabbling in a bit of poetry. Nothing serious. Just some amateur stuff. A while back I found a website where I could submit my poetry, possibly win prizes and / or get published. I was pretty excited and impressed with myself when I received a letter from UK saying that I was a semi-finalist in their poetry competition and I stood to win a couple of bob in pounds. This sounded great but I never did see any of that money. They asked me to proofread and initial my work and send it back. They mentioned that I could purchase a copy of the book for about $27 excluding shipping and handling. I thought that it was a bit of a cheek to expect me to pay $27 plus to obtain a book containing a poem that I wrote. So I opted the cheap way out and didn’t bother purchasing the book. They gave me a reference for the book, which they said you could quote at any bookstore worldwide, and you would be able to order the book. I phoned countless times after the said date of publishing and was continuously told that the book in question did not exist. Now, two days ago, I received another letter from a “publishing” company. I researched the name and no website came up for that name. There was, however, an article where countless people stated that they had received identical letters stating that they should proofread their poem and return it at their earliest convenience. They all had the following complaints:

- There is no way of contacting anyone regarding cancellation of orders or payments.
- One poet sent two poems under two different names and two different addresses (poems both submitted by same person though). Purchased the book linked to one poem and not the other. - Book contained poem of the one which was paid for and other poem was not in the book. This is despite specific notification that all poems will be published whether or not you purchase the books.
- Only 24 lines of their poem were allowed. If the poem was longer, it was simply cut short.
- There were countless errors in their poetry despite them submitting a proofread poem.
- Even after payment, some readers never receive the book supposedly containing their poetry.

So my warning to you all is that if you do write poetry and want to receive recognition or even have it published, be very careful whom you hand your poetry over to. Research the correct ways to get published in your country and preserve and protect your work as best you can. When things look too good to be true, they probably are!!