Poetry.com

Or a big fat scam as I like to say... It was even on dateline or some show like that, where this woman talks and tells her story of how they led her to believe she was great.

When I started writing in 1999 I posted several of my poems on this site. Many of my first few years are on this site. I have have one on there that someone wrote about me. I think it is called MISS YOU. Anyway, I quit because, they offer you to buy a book with you poem in it for $45. Yes I bought several of them at the start, feeling that I had accomplished something by getting published. Well if you ask me they publish everything for everyone and hope that you will buy the book. Now everytihng I have wrote is on my blog "Behind the Glasses" which is of course linked on "Link it or Sink it".

I did make a significant gain, and got into some books where you have your own page. LITTLE MAN was one of those to be published on it's own page. Yes I ordered the book 6 of them actually for like $200. I got that many for relatives that wanted a copy, as LITTLE MAN is about my brother that died of Cystic Fibrosis. I donated one copy to our high school library. Yeah imagine that, someone who struggled in English class all thru school now has published work in the school library. I did it in hopes that some would read it, maybe even know who I am and think I could do something like that to someday.

Anyway back to Poetry.com I think it is good in some ways, there is no purchase necessary. You do retain all copy rights. However, they want you to become a member, fly to their "shows" or "readings" for a small fee of like $600. They want you to buy the books, and other merchandise with your "work" on it. Everyone gets the same crappy cover letter. And for anyone in the beginning, you feel a real sense of accomplishment. Which then turns into wow, whoop-i-dip-ity-do. There is no real criticism, they accept everything. I mean, I feel some of my stuff is very good and other is very mediocre. But they give you the sense that everything you do is gold. They also have a membership that you can join and critic each others work. I don't remember if that comes with a fee or not. Like I said you don't have to purchase anything, but you send it to them and get published, then if you don't buy, then you have published work that you don't even have a copy of. It seems pointless to me. And they brag you up to get you to buy, join the club and all of that... I do appear to have quite a few on there compared to others with the same name as me. I have 16 on the site, where most of those with the same name as me hang around the 5-10 range.

Basically this is just to let anyone know, that yeah we all get the same cover letter.

These are the titles that I have on there. So you can be the judge.
A Note of Thanks
And It's All Good
And They Live...
Choices, Decision, & Consequences
Crying Lies
If I... would you?
In My Life
Little Man
Look Around You...
Millenium
One Day
Shades of Grey
Something
The Clown
Trace of a Red Rose
What You Feel