poetry scam sites

I, too, have submitted to some poetry sites that I've learned later were "scams" (or, were certainly not what I thought they were when I submitted!--but some of that is likely my own fault, for not reading their "fine print", etc.). A couple of sites took the material, then sent frequent invitations for me to purchase books they're supposedly going to print, which will include my material...and I can get this book for "only" $59.95 or something like that! Such a deal...not! They also send invitations to attend poetry "events" (conventions, etc.) in different places around the world...as long as I pay close to $600 for "registration" and pay my own travel and living expenses while there. Right! Yeah...there are some scams all right! And, I'm sure I've "lost my creative work to cyberspace" too, like so many others. I hope that whoever might benefit from it "illicitly" can sleep at night knowing they've stolen someone else's property. I guess the lesson here is to research these sites before submitting...difficult to tell which ones are legit and which aren't...and I do wish you and your daughter the best of luck. Tell her not to worry...she has the gift to create, so there will be other poetry (or other creative writing?) flowing from her...without a doubt! Hang in there!

As for the "scam" part of it, it really just depends on the fine print. If it was poetry.com, then she still owns the copyright, and she can do whatever she wants with the poem. I posted about ten poems on poetry.com before I realized that I could post a poem along the lines of "The cat sat on a mat, eating a rat while wearing a hat," and still get the notice that I'm a semi-finalist. If the site's contract/submission rules say that the site now owns the copyright, then I'm not sure if you could do anything about it. You could possibly take legal action, but unless it was a big issue (i.e. she used the poem for a scholarship or something of the sort, and it was disqualified for plagiarism), then it's not worth the legal fees, and most attorneys wouldn't take a case like that anyway. There are legit sites, like poetrypoem.com, writing.com, and triond.com (which posts in various venues; I have a few poems on authspot.com). I highly recommend writing.com.

She may want to register those poems with the copyright department of the government. Hopefully she has her own copies still. It's very important to keep copies of your poetry & never to send the one & only copy away to anyone. It's usually a bad sign if you have to *pay* to get published ... or if you have to "buy the book" in order to get published. Good luck! ~ Gwen ********

It's not a scam, it's more like a vanity press thing. She still owns the copyright to anything she's submitted. In fact, I know a lot of people who submit everything they write to poetry.com so that it's copyrighted. Basically the "charge" for the books is a fee to get her poetry published. It won't be published otherwise. But, instead of paying $600+ to a regular vanity press to have a whole book printed/published you pay $50 or so to have 1 poem printed in a book of about 200 pages.

You can write to the site owner or publisher and demand the poems be removed. You can also file a complaint with the Better business Bureau. If that doesn't work, you could try legal action, but that may or may not do any good. If nothing else, make sure she doesn't submit to them anymore, and also that she doesn't submit those poems anywhere else. I'm so sorry this happened! If it was Poetry.com, I know what you mean. They totally try to rip people off and I think they prey on children. There are much more reputable websites people can submit to. One of these, and it's free too--is www.PoetryPoem.com. Your daughter can have her own free poetry page, leave feedback for others, get feedback, and have her poetry read. I highly recommend this site, and I'm a professional poet.

Poetry.com basically comes down to vanity publishing for the author and a huge profit for the company. They don't really publish books that anyone can buy in a bookstore, they sell the copies to people whose poems are in the books. It's sad because many people really believe they are being published. But there are legitimate places you can submit poetry and get published, magazines and poetry contests. For a small fee, you can get a newsletter with listings of poetry contests, how high they rank and how much the prizes are. Even legitimate poetry contests involve a small submission fee, usually. Good luck to your daughter, hope she finds a better venue for her writing.

I think if you read the fine print she actually still owns the copyright on them. I use one of the sites to have a copy printed with the copyright date on it for my records. Saves me time and money. If she is serious she should be submitting them to various magazines who will print and also pay her for them. I have had several in magazines. She might also want to consider self publishing a copy of her poetry. http://totouchaheart.blogspot.com

Does she own the copright of her's poetrys? If so, dont worry. If not... well, then she shold pay more atention about those sites... and maybe look for a lawyer