International Library of Poets aka poetry.com Basicly poetry.com made money off of my own words copywrote it under there label and sold it to make a profit. Then asked me to pay to recieve my award. tricked and lied to us Owings Mills Maryland

thanks for nothing....i put my poem in and was notified by mail that i was chosen as one of the top peoms left in the prizes. i havent heard from them in a month.

I just got mail from the international library of poetry on sept.11th 2004. stating that they want to publish my poem and telling me that i was still a semi-finalist in the contest and had the chance to win still. I sent in $10 for a resevation of my book that my poem called "Angel" will be in. I just want it out there that I to am going through poetry.com. I don't know yet if they truely are a rip off but if they are I will find out if I dont get my book. And if I dont get my book i will press charges. But Lots of people said that the american poets society was a scam but i did get my book from them with my poem in it and my name under the poem they did not rip me off. So I guess I will just have to wait and see.

I neither work for the company that is under question, nor do I have any affiliation with them whatsoever. I am writing this as a satisfied customer and nothing more.

I too submitted my material to this organization back when it was a mail in only system. When I submitted, and I have checked the website on this as well, I was informed that I had a chance of winning a cash prize and/or publication in one of their anthologies (nowhere does it say anything about winning a copy of the work in which it was published). Within a few months, VERY fast in normal publishing timeframes, I too received a packet in the mail containing my editor's choice award for submission into one of their publications. It took some scrounging, but I went ahead and bought the anthology "Through the Looking Glass" which contained my poem and my author bio. I have since been published in roughly 6 of their publications, each of which I own and can provide proof of my poem being in such.

I personally consider the purchase worth it, and entering as well, for I am now a professionally published author, being able to use my work in the anthology as previously published material, not to mention that my publisher found me through the anthologies. In addition, it is plainly stated in the rules, and you can verify this with the Library of Congress, that anthologies are compilations of work and copyright goes to the individual whose name is in the byline of the work. The copyright of the ILP is for the arrangement of the compilation and the book itself, not for the individual work.

I for one am glad I submitted my work, and am happy to show the awesome detail and craftsmanship that went into the publication of MY work off to all my friends and relatives, not to mention my publisher.

I RECIEVED A LETTER INFORMING ME THAT I HAVE BEEN CHOOSEN AS A NOMINY FOR POET OF THE YEAR AT THE CONVENTION IN PHILADELPHIA IN AUGUST. NOW IF I DON'T ATTEND DOES THAT MEAN I DON'T WIN? YOU THINK THEY WOULD PAY MY WAY SINCE THEY PERSONALLY INVITED ME TO READ MY PEOM AND WILL BE FORMALLY INDUCTED ON FRIDAY AUGUST 13, 2004. IT ALSO SAID I WILL BE HONORED AT TWO SPECIAL CEREMONIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND.(GALA BANQUENTS AND AWARDS CEROMONIES)ALSO ATTEND A VIP RECEPTION. THAT LETTER WAS DATED JUNE 7, 2004. HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING SINCE.

As a fellow writer I have some tips for you...Research the company before submitting your work. Writers Digest is a good place for information. Poetry.com Sadly has been known to have problems for years. Many valid contest do charge a min. fee to enter. Heck even fairs charge you to enter a contest. Also make sure you read everything, sometimes these companies will make it confusing so that you sign your rights to the submission away with submission.

Good writting all.

I wrote a wonderful poem that won me 100 dollars then I entered to and then they took all my acess to that poem and took my rightd away!!!
I am thinking suing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wrote a wonderful poem that won me 100 dollars then I entered to and then they took all my acess to that poem and took my rightd away!!!
I am thinking suing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wrote a wonderful poem that won me 100 dollars then I entered to and then they took all my acess to that poem and took my rightd away!!!
I am thinking suing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wrote a wonderful poem that won me 100 dollars then I entered to and then they took all my acess to that poem and took my rightd away!!!
I am thinking suing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was so excited when they "Selected my poem". I didn't think twice purchasing the book. It took forever to get it, BTW it was $57 total. They also tried to get me to attend their seminar, yeah right. Then they sent me a notice that my poem was going to placed in another anthology. Accrding to my husbands fried, it is a legitimate publisher because it has an ISBN number, but now adays anything can be made REAL. I knew I was scammed when my poem appeared first in the book. "The Colors Of Life", you got that right.

I am so grateful to have seen this site in
response to many in the same situation.

Fortunately, I did not purchase a Anthology as
proclaimed by poem.com of my poem being published.

I too also had reservations and I can relate to
many others. Questions now running in my head,
Are my poems any good? I had received mail &
email of being a semi-finalist, then an invitation
extended to attend the Seminar in March 2004,
thus inducted. Of course coming from the other
side of the world, thankfully, made it impossible
to accept an extravagant invitation at my own
expense.

I typically, submitted my poem freely for recognition as to how good or bad my poetry is. I suppose for vanity.

Now I would never know, unless I make the ultimate step to look for publishers.

Thank you all out there for informing. This has
left me flabbergasted to say the least.

There is always an opportunist preying on the
innocent. Just be aware! We do learn from them

Eventually!

If you didn't pay for the book, your poem didn't appear in it.

Everyone who sends in a poem gets an acceptance letter (or e-mail, these days); only works by those who pay for a copy of the book appear in print.

Your work may appear on the Web site; I'd do a search & see. You may not be able to do anything about it, though, because the submission form may have buried print stating that copyright is transferred to ILP/poetry.com upon submission. If that is the case, there isn't much you can do about it.

As far as poetry.com stealing work to publish as its own, I don't think that's part of the game. All the poems are published under the authors' names; where the ILP makes money is in selling its books to unsuspecting poets.

You absolutely should receive a complimentary copy of a book in which your work appears; that is standard practice. A legitimate publisher can do this because it will sell enough books to cover the cost of production. But the ILP does not sell its books in stores; it runs only enough copies to cover those sold to the poets. If it gave away a free book to each poet, it would lose a ton of money. The only way this company makes money is because unsuspecting poets keep sending money to see their work in print.

Remember: a reputable publisher will pay you for your work; it will not make you pay to be published.

Sorry you were hosed by them, but good for you for not falling for the scam.

I'm sorry they put you through this too. Every person I've ever known that submits their work to poetry.com gets these bull crap letters, the siminar letters and e-mails, the "pay us for a copy of these bokks" letters. I checked with these so called books I was supossed to be in and sure enough I was not and these books never existed. I am a published poet now. Fortunately for myself I knew someone that was also a published poet and he read my stuff and put in a good work for me, otherwise I don't know how I could have found a repertable publishing company.

Did you know that there really isn't such a siminar in DC. I know that for a fact because I live on the outshirts of DC in MD, so, I checked into these so called siminars, they don't exsist, it's another way for them to try to take your money.

Before I showed my work to anyone, I know a notary, and had them notarize all my work. I strongly believe that poetry.com is submitting peoples poems as their own in order to be published. I have been in the mist of trying to prove this for the last few months and eventually, I will. If you know anyone that is a notary, have them notarize all your work or at least the work that you would submit to a credible publishing company. A real publishing company would send you a letter stating exactly what they see in your work. The compnay I deal with tells me upfront, if I show them a poem that isn't all that great, they will tell me that and let me know where I need to improve, if it's good, they'll express how good they felt it was.

I tell you what, I'll try to help yoiu out even more. I looked up your name on their site, I saw several David Lane's, can you tell me which one you are? I'll print your's out and show them to my publisher, I'll also tell you how to get your own copyrights. Let me know how to get in touch with you. best of luck.