Just received an email from something called "The World Poetry Movement." In it was an invitation to submit a poem and compete for $1000 prize. Oh my friends yes I have fallen for this in the past. I've sent my verse to these "people" and they have responded. They praised my poetry, told me I was a semi-finalist, and asked permission to publish my work in their book. They made it clear I was under no obligation to buy the book but, if I wanted to see my work in print, they were offering to sell me a copy (or copies) for the bargain price of $50.

To my embarrasment, I actually bought a copy.

I might plead youth and ignorance, but I was old enough to know better. I have no excuse. I was blinded by the prospect of seeing my deathless verse in print. To be fair, the poem actually was in the book--a badly bound, cheaply produced tome--along with hundreds of other poorly typeset doggerel. Far from being proud, I was ashamed. That shame lingers still, years later.

This posting is to warn AR members against this sort of thing. It's not really a scam because the "people" who do it don't really promise anything. I'm sure that they actually will pay some poor shmoe the $1000 they promise. Why not? They'll clear lots more than that from the dreck they'll sell to poet wannabes. It's a cash cow and they're milking it again.

So watch your email. You'll probably be getting something like this soon. If you decide to enter the contest, well, that's your option. Realize, though, that you're really just supporting a jumped up vanity press. You'd be better off simply posting your poems online in a blog or at a poetry site. (Unfortunately, some of them do the same sort of thing. Seems that poets tend to be more naive than us hard core sci-fi writers.)