A Scam?

I don't think you could call it a scam as such as you will be getting something for your money. More like a marketing/sales ploy. I bet everyone that entered got the same kind of letter.

It's a scam. I have entered those contests and they always want to sell you a book. I have sent in poetry to legitimate offers and they have accepted my poems and sent me a book free, sometimes a couple of books. I've never bought one of those books.

I went through something like this years ago when my daughter was a baby but it just said the photo would appear in a book that will be available at Barnes & Noble. I figured I would just wait until it was there for sale thenI would pick up a copy in person. I am sure you guessed that the book never actually went in print to be bought.

It is screaming SCAM to me, big time.

How dare them scam you! Don't they know you are the most read poet in here? lol

Not sure it's a scam but really only 81 dollars to have it all. Wow yup I think I would pass.

I don't buy into these anthology publishers. So in high school, some company had one for the highest achievers in high school in the nation - and they picked ME . I think we could include our photo and a bio . . . and for a price of course we could have a copy of this "yearbook" with all of us high achievers. Riiiiight - just the fact that they found me as a high achiever in the nation was a red flag!! .

Of course this is a scam and I would immediately inform the local newspaper, or complain if they promoted the submission of the poems. Your garden is lovely.

publish a book of all your poems and tell them to go jump in the lake! What a scam that is - BTW - your garden is BEAUTIFUL!

@jaboUK - Ms Janet - That solicitation was what I call "an honest effort to cheat you and make you enjoy being ripped off." Happens in the poetry business all the time, and in "vanity publishing" most of the time. I once worked as a manuscript reviewer for a small-time publisher. One day this nice lady (although about as dumb as a drain cover) showed up carrying he manuscript - I think the title was something like "My Life Story." The pages were typed, not all that neatly, and were all wrinkled and tattered, coffee-stained, smudged, and there were lots of pen and pencil corrections. She told me that it had be "accepted for publication" by some company - maybe more than one company. I don't really recall how many, but she was proud of her manuscript being that wonderful. Problem. they wanted several thousand dollars to "publish" her book - all 100 copies, too. And, " would your company do it for something less costly?" I read a couple of paragraphs, re-stacked the papers, and handed them back to her. I told her that we would not want to publish her "book" for even double the amount of money for which the others had asked. I suggested that she not take what I was about to tell her as any kind of insult, but that the manuscript would not make any kind of book that anyone would buy - other than her or maybe a member of her family - and that she should find something better to do with her time - maybe knitting sweaters, making dried tree leaves, or whatever. I actually told her that the manuscript was maybe the worst manuscript that I had ever had to review - and if anyone told her how good it was, they were trying to steal from her. She was crying when she left the office, but maybe I saved the nice lady from her vanity. Who knows? I hope so. My then boss once asked me how he might find poets interested in being published. I told him that it was the easiest thing in the world to find them. "What you do is stand on a street corner, Boss, and yell out to the passing crowd, ' All of you who write poems or have ever written any poems, stand over here on my right side.'" Pretty soon you will have hundreds of poets and would-be poets in a mob standing there to your right. "I don't understand what you are telling me, Gus." he said, "and what do I do with them after they collect there?" My reply was as valid then as it is today, "Boss-o, with poets you can do most anything you care to do." So it was. So it is. Suggestion: Save your poems. When you think that you have a sufficiency of them, collect them in an E-book. You can type and format them using the Open Office word processor and, right from that, make a PDF version that will go nicely onto a CD for your own distribution (or solicitations). The word processor is a freebie. The PDF-maker is built-in. CD's cost about 10 or 15 cents each if you buy them in a 100-pack, and CD wraps or plastic holders are low-cost, too. I bought a CD label maker (Called CD Stomper) for a modest price and so could you. If you don't want to do it yourself, someone at a local school might take it on as a project - who knows? Anyway - Your assessment of that book deal was right-on.

NO its to hook you into seeing your work in print. Cute but wicked. Publish to the internet there must be poetry sites Janet and of course here where they are enjoyed by thousands! Tell them where they can put their £61.95 and tell them that you forbid them to use your work in their second rate book!

Scam. I'm in a book about the Who's Who in American Teachers, and have been nominated several times. They wanted me to purchase the book for a hefty fee. If I was interested, I could see if my local library carries it, but I'm not. You can do the same. I love your garden!!!!!!

This is another way of making money. India would definitely copy it soon. I am waiting for it.

@jaboUK I don't know if it was a scam or not but I know I wouldn't take my chances. It just seems way too much to get one poem published. Either a scam or a major rip off!

I seriously think its a scam. They need to pay you for the poetry.. the will be selling the books won't they? How dare they ask you to pay for getting your work published? I wonder how many will fall for such scams.

It's a scam. Here we call them "vanity presses" and many people fall for it. One person (not me) submitted absolute rubbish, just to see what would happen. Of course it was "accepted" and submitted as some kind of "finalist for "best in show."

I don't think it's a scam, but I do think they are trying to get you to pay for something that shouldn't cost you anything as it was part of a competition. I think it was a hustle and hope they can get people to pay for their original free poems. I'm glad you're not taking part in it. I wouldn't either. It would be interesting to get a copy of the book when it comes out to see how many people did pay up to get their poems in the book. Your poems are good and are book worthy. My honest opinion. There are many traditional publishers who pay you to publish your work. Unless you self-publish, then many times you pay for the self-publishing. Amazon has a company called CreateSpace where you can get your poems published free. Won't cost you a dime or farthing. Certainly not what that company wants you to pay them. I have two of my books published through CreateSpace and didn't pay anything for them, though I did do all the work.

This is an oldie. As much as I hate to say it, because your work is so enjoyable—yes, this is a come on.

Two words: Bait and Switch. Okay, that was three.

That is a scam,obviously. But why don't you publish the poems and rhymes that you do. I enjoy them so much...you make it very funny but those are real life human situations . Hubby looks relaxed and who wouldn't be in these surroundings.?Your garden is beautiful. I recognize the salvias and the marigold.Please do a post on your garden too.