Poets, particularly those who are inexperienced, unpublished, and\or
vain, are
vulnerable to losing their money to unscrupulous operators. The two
articles by
Johnathon Clifford in the current magazine section of The Poetry Kit
show some of the ways in which this can happen. They also draw the
sometimes vague line between
acceptable vanity publishing and the outright publishing scam. The
Poetry Kit
would like to hear readers' experiences of such operations, and, within
the limits
of the laws of libel and slander, will publish the best as case studies.
What are the main ingredients of a scam? All or most of the following
must be
present before an operation can be considered to be a fraudulent attempt
to take
money from the vulnerable:
The writer is asked to pay for publication.
Selection for publication is by willingness to pay, not by artistic
merit
(however badly judged).
The writer is encouraged to buy copies of the publication in which
his/her
work appears.
The 'publisher' makes no significant effort to market the products
outside of
the circle of participating writers.
The 'publisher' makes false claims about his marketing efforts and
costs.
An area open to the scam which Johnathon does not mention is the writing
course. Everyone with pretensions to be a writer will have seen
advertisements
of the type: 'Be a Writer' or your money back. There are many genuine
courses
around, some of which are mentioned on the pages of The Poetry Kit. But
beware. Before
parting with your money, especially for expensive correspondence
courses,
check:
Is the course content what you want, or will you have to work
through
writing forms that don't interest you, just to get at those that
do?
Who are the tutors, and how well will you be able to communicate
with
them?
What are the 'money back' conditions? A common formula is 'if you
are not
published before completing the course'. But what do you have to do
to
complete the course? What if Assignment 20 is 'write a 26 part TV
verse-drama on the theme of cannibalism'?
If you're out there with anything to say on this topic, get in touch.
Within the
limits of legal liability, we'll make of it what we can.
Ted Slade
The Poetry Kit
http://www.poetrykit.org/
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|