Poetry Scam - how to avoid becoming a victim
by Steve Nickson
Has this ever happened to you? You dream of being a published writer and
can't wait to get your work in print, or you receive an offer that will
make your publishing dreams come true.
Then it is important that you are aware of the poetry scam.
This scam preys on the hopes and aspirations of unassuming authors. It
starts out by you contacting several companies and then one of them sends
you an email to say you have been selected for publication. You are over
the moon. However, before you break out the champagne, you should do some
research!
This could be a poetry scam. You are advised that to make it to print you
usually have to pay the publication costs yourself. You may be so
desperate to get published that you choose to run with it. What you could
end up with however is a garage full of books that you have trouble
selling. An alternative scenario is that you end up with only a few copies
that cost you thousands of dollars each, or in some cases, you end up with
no books at all!
Scammers are very good at deceiving you into believing that they run
reputable publishing houses, and will charge you much more money than it
would cost if you self-publish on your own.
Publishers or agents who charge reading fees for submissions should also
be avoided. It often indicates they are making money from your fees rather
than book sales!
For beginner writers looking for success, the most popular method is to
get an agent who will submit your work to publishers. If you bypass the
agent and deal with publishers who charge for the publication of the
books, they are not traditional publishing houses. These sort of companies
are known as vanity publishers or print on demand publishers and are
usually not regarded highly in the publishing industry.
They tend to charge very high prices, carry out little or no editing, and
provide little or no marketing or promotion of the books. The book quality
is generally not high. This is not the recommended route for beginner
writers.
A recent variation is for self publishing scammers to try to appear as
reputable publishers claiming to charge no publisher's fee to accept your
book. Instead what they do is require the author to pay an editor from a
list the publisher provides, to get the manuscript into shape. In fact the
'editor' is one of the publisher's employees, and the author's money ends
up back in the publisher's pocket.
Avoiding the poetry scam starts when you first begin submitting your work
to prospective publishers. Start by checking to see if the publishers are
legitimate by looking them up in the Predators and Editors website. You
can also look for publishers in the Writer's Market book.
You should also verify the address of the publisher [scammers tend to use
a post office box or drop-off address], and ring the phone number
[scammers often don't provide these]. If the contact details such as
address, phone, fax and email are not prominently displayed on their web
address, look somewhere else to be published.
Join a writer's group such as the Romance Writers of America as it
provides the opportunity to ask about any agents or publishers you are
considering.
When you finally have a contract, take your time and seek expert advice.
No reputable publisher or agent would object to this.
Steve Nickson makes it easy to avoid being scammed. Find out how scams
work, how to recognize them, and the steps to take to avoid becoming a
victim by visiting
http://www.watchforscams.com
