I'm curious as to everyone's opinions of this site/organization. I've mixed feelings myself.

Has anyone ever submitted a poem or poems to their contests? Was there any outcome?

Just curious...

if you've any opinion, please share...

they suck!

death to anyone affiliated with the poetry.com whore machine!

they suck!


this public service anouncment was brought to you courtesy of cowboy inc, striving to make the future a better place.

lol... so am I to understand ya don't like 'em? hehe might I ask why?

(and might I add a gigantic to that fact that I am even seeing you here... ('tis niceto see ya by the way) )

basically anyone, and i mean anyone can get published with poetry.com.

they'll hype you up with lots of sweet talk, while unashamedly swiping money from behind your back... scratch that, swiping money blatantly from you full stop.

first it's the anthology, then it's the personalised collection, then it's the friends & family edition, inviting you to their conventions, a plaque to commemorate the occasion...

and all that's after the actual competition.

i submitted once about 2 years back, and still get letters to this day saying they want to celebrate my poem in this or that collection.

the fuckers that came up with this idea are most probably livin' large right now...

damn you poetry.com, damn you all to hell!

That's along the lines of what I'm feelin', but not quite so passionately...

but do you think many people would actually buy the anthology...? Too rich for my blood, the idea had not even crossed my mind.

but thanks for sayin' what you think I value that. I wonder if everyone's felt this way about them...

i guess they play on giving false hope to young poets, and lead them into thinking that being published with them is some how an achievement.

i don't see anything to be gained by it, and pretty much realised this fact when the letter for the anthology arrived in the post.

i remember a member here once (i forget his name) posted a poem that he'd submitted to 'em, and it clearly slated the entire organization, completely taking the piss.
and still it managed to (supposedly) reach the semi finals in their competition, which just goes to show how much care they take in reading their submissions.

i despise 'em to my inner core, mainly cause they're ripping off young/oblivious writers.

SCAM!

I have always heard that they were a scam also, I myself have never submitted anything, but I will never ever do it, I'm too poor to waste money on stupid things like my writing that only mean something to me, so I don't have my OWN opinion, I just always hear negative things about them.

guys it is only a scam if you let it be. It costs nothing to submit your poem and just ignore the crap they sent you. I have been published with them a few times. why? because they passed a new law that unless you have been published somewhere before, then it is almost impossible to get an agent to look at your work here in Canada without paying tonnes of money. It's a baby step, but if you ever want to look into seriously writing, you should at least think about it.

I have mixed emotions about them, and long history. I allowed the publishing of about twenty of my pieces to them, won a couple of awards and made it to tenthousand dollar final cut 3years but each year I had to go to the convention to be eligable to win. WELL HELL NO, infact I have never bought a single book of theirs with my poem in it, lol they are useful for encouraging young writers but then they rip them off, I think

yes guys, I tell you the same, I got a couple of poems posted in poetry.com (two years ago or so). A letter (remember I live in Spain) appeared in my house, telling me I may win the contest and earn some money, and telliung me for sure I was one of the best and my cock was the biggest etc etc- I have never bought any of their books with my poems in them either, because, fuck!! motherfuckers, at least you could give me a single damned book for free if I'm a good talented writer as you love to say to us all.
So... Poetry.com, though maybe it is spreading out poetry and whatever, I think they play with illusions to have material and make money, and that's (for me) a very very cruel and serious crime.

Alas, I too have had the same experience. A couple of my poems were accepted,(this was when they were known as the National Library of Poetry) I received correspondence that they were exceptional, I was offered the opportunity to buy a special edition, yada yada. A friend of mine had already been accepted and went ahead and bought the $60 anthology and a plaque bearing her poem. She was very enthusiastic until she read through the book and noticed the less than worthy poetry alongside her own. This is an actual poem published in one of their "esteemed" anthologies. It was written by a skeptic that was trying to prove the theory that they will publish anything:

My cat is chewing on her butt;
It makes me think she is a nut.
I try to drown the fleas in spray;
They jump and shout and just yell "Hey!"
I try to drown the fleas in powder;
they eat it like it's fine clam chowder.
I try to drown the fleas in gas;
that really burned my kitty's ass.

Poetry.com's tactics of using false hope to make money off of unsuspecting poets is immoral and downright sickening, but they are a business, and if a "contestant" isn't able to see that they are obviously being scammed, it is only because they are that egotistic and vain that they want to see their work published,displayed,etc. I don't neccesarily mean that in a bad way, since all poets wish to be recognized and have a secret desire to be seen in print.

I don't approve of this company whatsoever, but if a writer wants to see themselves published at any cost, anyplace without discretion, then this is the way to go.

trust me on this, they are a scam!! stay away, they take your poems and put them in anthologie's without paying you! also, they invite you to all these places that cost thousands of dollars to get to, then they make you buy the book full price! i never did anything with them, but i know some deperate writer's who have.

I entered one of those online poetry contests just to see what would happen. I paid for a stamp, sent it off, then recieved something in the mail months later telling me my poem was going to be published in some book and wanted to know if i wanted to buy one, which I didn't.

They are a rip off and a gigantic SCAM!!!!!!!! You will have to jump through hoops to get your poetry published and they will charge you an arm and a leg for a copy of the book with it in it... mainly because they will rush to publish the piece of crap upon ordering it.... 10 years ago I entered and won one of thier contests.... they wanted 65$ for the book.... they said I was #30 out of 10,000 contestants and blah blah blah.... now if you look online you will not find a copy of said book nor was it ever registered with the Library Of Congress.... to put it plainly it does not exist....

THEY ARE A SCAM!!!!!

Pure and simple.... do not let them take you for a ride....

Seems we all learn from similar experiences. I too have a piece in their "estemed library"

I was thinking of ordering their book until I read through a copy purchased by a friend of mine. It was the last time I entered anything with them. I was apalled at what I saw accepted.

it's still not all bad though, I got a letter from a different publishing company in europe who had read my poem in the poetry.com book and contacted me, i never sent them anything. Plus I got my poem on a CD of poetry for the blind. It is still a neat thing, just don't by the book and you don't get scammed. And it does open you up to more serious publishers.

Ah i too had one in one of thier "anthologies" a few years back...about three years i think. Still get insulting letters to this day. Some poetry sites have news on scam companies and poetry.com was one of em. i can't remember what the site was but they said "a truly evil organization".
It is very sad. That one poem will haunt me for a long time...

It's fitting..they have a newsletter called 'Poet's Corner'. An apt title, since it was named after a cemetery for poets. It's almost too fitting.

Did i say fitting? I meant...chilling.

DITTO!!!