My Response from Poetry.com

Minister of Truth

Minister of Truth

Practically Perfect
I wound up submitting my great sonnet to poetry.com when I was signing up for something. Mind you, it was late in June of this year (a couple weeks ago or so now). Here's an odd response I just got:

Dear Drew,

Recently, I was delighted to inform you that your poetry merited an invitation to participate in The Best Poems and Poets of 2007. Because your work displayed an original perspective and unique creativity, judged to be the qualities found most in exceptional poetry, we wanted to include you in this select group of poets. Congratulations on your achievement!

Commemorate Your Inclusion In This Exclusive Collection!

To be selected as one of the Best Poets of 2007 is a truly remarkable achievement. Your work is included in the same discussion as the greatest poets of our time, and you should be extremely proud of this accomplishment. We are offering a limited edition certificate plaque that commemorates your poetic milestone. This exclusive certificate is beautifully typeset on archive quality vellum and mounted on a walnut-finish plaque under Lucite. These 10 1/2-inch by 13-inch plaques are truly impressive ways to exhibit your poetic achievement.


The Best Poems and Poets of 2007


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



We hope that you will take advantage of this limited-time opportunity. Act now and commemorate your achievement with a beautiful plaque that you can proudly display for all to see! Again, congratulations on being named one of the Best Poets of 2007!

Sincerely,

Howard Ely
Managing Editor


2007? WTF Poetry.com!!!!
 
Poetry.com is a vanity publisher Three. Please don't be taken in by the scam.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry.com

There have been a number of complaints to organizations in the United States, such as the Better Business Bureau, by those who feel they have been misled by poetry.com. Poetry.com's promotional materials lead participating writers to believe that their poems were selected for the website's monthly contest because of their quality, when in fact virtually all submissions "advance" to the semi-finals. At that point, the would-be authors are encouraged to spend money on copies of the compilation books and/or visits to the poetry conventions. See Consumer Reports, June 1998.

Additionally, although Poetry.com's website claims that these books are available at "major bookstores",[3] attempts to purchase these books from major retailers such as Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com generally fail.[citation needed]

As of November 2006, there is no verifiable report of any successful legal action being taken against the company for alleged fraud. According to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Writer Beware web site, however, the Maryland Attorney General's Office is interested in hearing from writers who have had dealings with the International Library of Poetry.
 
What you'll get is a book that you pay for with your poem in it.

I've some experience with this place.
 
Whenever the first thing they do is ask you to buy a "commemorative plaque" you can pretty much assume it's a scam.
 
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To be selected as one of the Best Poets of 2007 is a truly remarkable achievement. Your work is included in the same discussion as the greatest poets of our time, and you should be extremely proud of this accomplishment


Just incredible. If I'm one of the greatest poets of our time I should at least expect a free fucking plaque.
 
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To be fair, he was mostly shocked at how long it took them to say he'd get in the 2007 book. It is 2008 now...
 
Threedee said:
I wound up submitting my great sonnet to poetry.com when I was signing up for something. Mind you, it was late in June of this year (a couple weeks ago or so now). Here's an odd response I just got:

Dear Drew,

Recently, I was delighted to inform you that your poetry merited an invitation to participate in The Best Poems and Poets of 2007. Because your work displayed an original perspective and unique creativity, judged to be the qualities found most in exceptional poetry, we wanted to include you in this select group of poets. Congratulations on your achievement!

Commemorate Your Inclusion In This Exclusive Collection!

To be selected as one of the Best Poets of 2007 is a truly remarkable achievement. Your work is included in the same discussion as the greatest poets of our time, and you should be extremely proud of this accomplishment. We are offering a limited edition certificate plaque that commemorates your poetic milestone. This exclusive certificate is beautifully typeset on archive quality vellum and mounted on a walnut-finish plaque under Lucite. These 10 1/2-inch by 13-inch plaques are truly impressive ways to exhibit your poetic achievement.


The Best Poems and Poets of 2007


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



We hope that you will take advantage of this limited-time opportunity. Act now and commemorate your achievement with a beautiful plaque that you can proudly display for all to see! Again, congratulations on being named one of the Best Poets of 2007!

Sincerely,

Howard Ely
Managing Editor


2007? WTF Poetry.com!!!!
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LOL, how much do they want to sell you the plaque for ?
 
Three, that free gift card stuff is just a scam to get your personal information so they can send you spam. They are paid to list other oppurtunities, and all of those are scams also. Poetry.com 's place on a list of one of those 'free gift card' sites lists just confirms my suspicion that they are a scam.
 
Watermark said:
Three, that free gift card stuff is just a scam to get your personal information so they can send you spam. They are paid to list other oppurtunities, and all of those are scams also. Poetry.com 's place on a list of one of those 'free gift card' sites lists just confirms my suspicion that they are a scam.
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Yeah, I know. At the time, I had lost my debit card and didn't have my replacement yet, so I couldn't really qualify for the gift card anyway.
 
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