Are Free Poetry Contests Scams?

Original Post: 6 June 2012
Posted Here: 4 December 2017

I read magazines like The Writer, Writer’s Digest, and Poets & Writers because they sometimes have useful suggestions and information. An article in a recent Writer’s Digest suggested that entering contests was a good way to get your prose or poetry out there where an editor might see it and be encouraged to publish your work. I’ve always hesitated to enter contests because of the entry fees required. But perhaps I need to spend a little to get a little. So I was intrigued when I saw a link to a poetry contest with no entry fee but with the promise of big prizes. And the possibility that , even if I didn’t win, my poetry might get published in their book. What could I lose?

I checked out the FAQs and other parts of the contest’s web site. Yes, there was no fee required for the contest and, although they made no payment for the use of my poem in their book, I was not required to pay a fee for my poem, if selected, to be published. I could purchase a copy of the book, but absolutely nothing was said about its price. Or how much the bio fee was if I wanted to toot my horn in addition to becoming a published author.

So, just like when I get one of those e-mails from the sister of the cousin of the next-door neighbor of the former president of Nigeria seeking my help, I was a bit suspicious. I did a Google search looking for reviews of this organization. I got a lot of hits when I included “scam” in the search criteria. Many people were saying, “No, this is not a scam. I’m becoming a published author and I want that book so that all my friends and relatives will know that I’ve been published – no matter how much it costs. After all, if it’s available from Amazon.com, it must be legit.” Many thought the price of the book was a bit much, but the fact that their poem was in it was enough for them to disregard this red flag. It broke my heart to see that many of these were teenagers. I went to Amazon and found that the retail price was “only” about seventy bucks for any of a plethora of their books on various poetry topics. For comparison, I suggest that you check out the prices for books by a poet like Robert Frost.

A few reviewers pointed out that although this was not illegal, and so perhaps not a true scam, a rose by any other name is still a rose. Today, print-on-demand publishers can easily create a book that anyone can put up for sale at on-line venues. If you won’t find it on the shelf at your nearest Books-a-Million, beware. True, you’ll consider yourself a “published author,” but so what? Your friends or your grandmother may not know the difference, but real editors and publishers know that such books mean nothing in the publishing world. You should too. For one site that lists places to avoid, click here.

Likewise, watch out for sites that want to publish your prize-winning photographs, then sell you the beautiful book that they appear in – so that you’ll become a “published” photographer. I don’t know if any “publishers” that do this for short stories, since you can’t get many short stories into a single volume, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find them out there looking for the unwary.

Be suspicious of anyone who wants to publish your work but isn’t willing to pay you for your efforts. True – reputable magazines exist which don’t pay money for your work, but at least they pay you in free copies. Remember, if you pay more just to see your work in print than you would for a similar book from a well known publisher, you might as well be throwing the difference in price down the toilet! Be careful!

Keep reading/keep writing – Jack