Poetry.com - What's it All About?
September 28, 2006 by
As an editor, both acquisitions and pre-publication content editing, I receive a lot of questions from aspiring writers, novelists, and poets. One of the most frequent comments I hear is when an excited and newly published poet tells me, “I’ve been published by 
www.Poetry.com and am a semi-finalist in one of their contests!”
One of the most painful moments for me as an editor is when I explain to that poet why bragging about this is not necessarily a good thing in the publishing world.
First, a word about Poetry.com. If you are an amateur poet and have no desire to be a poet or a writer for a living or even as a lucrative hobby, and your only desire is to have a place on the internet where you can have a page and display your poetry, then Poetry.com might be exactly what you are looking for. Poetry.com does indeed publish anthologies of poetry, and if you submit to them, your poem will indeed be included in a book of poetry.
However, that’s about as far as it goes, and if you are expecting anything more than just a fun place to post and the chance to have your poem in a book somewhere, then you will be disappointed in Poetry.com.
First of all, please understand that on Poetry.com everyone is a winner. They do not refuse any poem sent in, no matter how bad it might be. Don't believe me? Sign up and post an atrocious poem, and I guarantee you will receive a letter in the mail saying you are semi finalist and your poem is going to be published in a book.
After this, you can plan to receive many emails from Poetry.com, in addition to the third party sites they will sell your address to (Read the FAQs. They admit to this.) as well as a couple of different mailings, both via email and USPS. The first piece of mail you will receive is what is called a “proof copy” of your poem, asking you to make any necessary editing changes to your poem and return it to them by the due date in order to be included in the anthology for which your poem was selected. Along with this proof page will be a form to ask you to order the book that your poem will appear in, which sells anywhere from about $40-60 bucks.
One of the most painful moments for me as an editor is when I explain to that poet why bragging about this is not necessarily a good thing in the publishing world.
First, a word about Poetry.com. If you are an amateur poet and have no desire to be a poet or a writer for a living or even as a lucrative hobby, and your only desire is to have a place on the internet where you can have a page and display your poetry, then Poetry.com might be exactly what you are looking for. Poetry.com does indeed publish anthologies of poetry, and if you submit to them, your poem will indeed be included in a book of poetry.
However, that’s about as far as it goes, and if you are expecting anything more than just a fun place to post and the chance to have your poem in a book somewhere, then you will be disappointed in Poetry.com.
First of all, please understand that on Poetry.com everyone is a winner. They do not refuse any poem sent in, no matter how bad it might be. Don't believe me? Sign up and post an atrocious poem, and I guarantee you will receive a letter in the mail saying you are semi finalist and your poem is going to be published in a book.
After this, you can plan to receive many emails from Poetry.com, in addition to the third party sites they will sell your address to (Read the FAQs. They admit to this.) as well as a couple of different mailings, both via email and USPS. The first piece of mail you will receive is what is called a “proof copy” of your poem, asking you to make any necessary editing changes to your poem and return it to them by the due date in order to be included in the anthology for which your poem was selected. Along with this proof page will be a form to ask you to order the book that your poem will appear in, which sells anywhere from about $40-60 bucks.
Lulu.com is a great web site for writers who want to self publish
An artical by a fan of lulu.com
By PurpleCrayonBrain | Published 4/14/2007 | Read more »
Poetry.com is a "poetry contest" that offers winners $50,000 or more for their winning poem, no purchase necessary. It would be nice to win that much money, or even a fifth of that money for a poem, but let us not live in a dream world here.
By Ashley Sinatra | Published 3/19/2007 | Read more »
It is amazing that Poetry.com still has so much life even though it is a scam. This site and its sister sites all work on the same principle---preying on the hopes and dreams of innocent people.
By Jan Castagnaro | Published 1/30/2008 | Read more »
This article looks at the two sites, and which offers the best chance for young people to begin their writing experiences.
By Ronnie Hembree | Published 7/11/2007 | Read more »
Great humorous poems and cautions about literary dead ends, promoted by a contest!
By Dave Maddox | Published 3/7/2007 | Read more »
If you like to write poetry, but you wonder if you have any real talent, get the opinions of others. Here's how to do so online.
By Emma S. | Published 1/31/2006 | Read more »
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- Michelle L Devon is an editor, a writer, an author, a novelist, a screenwriter and a published poet. Yup, they are all different things. For more information or to hire Ms. Devon's writing services, please visit her author's page at www.MichelleLDevon.com.
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