A Caution about Poetry Contests
and Vanity Anthologies

Here's what I received after entering the Iliad Press FREE poetry contest.
Judge for yourself their intent.
(Iliad Press is an imprint of Cader Publishing, Ltd.)

A friend told me that the free Iliad Press poetry contests advertised on the internet were nothing more than a scam. To test whether or not this was true I e-mailed them some ridiculously awful lines of drivel (a poem, if you will) with numerous intentional grammatical and spelling errors which I'd jotted down in a couple of minutes-- I knew that any legitimate poetry contest would surely reject such tripe.

But not Iliad. In a few days I received "Congratulations" in a form letter notifying me that my poem had been stamped "QUALIFIED--FINAL ROUND" in the Iliad Press poetry contest, and had also been "approved for publication" in Iliad's 1998 literary anthology Connections. In this letter I was also given the "unique opportunity" to place my work on the internet in their "International Showcase of Authors" where my poem, my biography, and my photo would be displayed for one year.

However, here's the catch-- To "guarantee" inclusion in the Iliad anthology and International Showcase of Authors I would be "required" to produce a "check or money order or credit card information" for a $59.95 payment. Also for each additional poem I'd like to place on the web there would be a fee of $29.95. (This seemed to me to be an unreasonable if not ridiculous fee considering the low cost of space on the web-- a few cents per year for this amount of text.)

Alternately, if I wanted to "guarantee" that my "approved- for- publication" poem would appear in the Iliad anthology, I would be required to purchase the book for $44.95 (after my pre- publication discount). And if I wanted my biography "About the Author" published with my poem it would be only $19.95 extra. In other words, it could cost me over $100.00 to get a couple of my poems published with a brief biographical statement.

Also for only $65.00 ($45.00 for early birds) I could be listed in the National Authors Registry. For this fee I'd also receive a membership card and a subscription to Verses Magazine.

So, though my poem has "qualified" for the final round in the free Cader - Iliad poetry contest, and has been "approved for publication," it appears it's unlikely to actually be published unless I "guarantee" it with money.

Oh, so that's it? -- money. Do you think this whole contest thing may not be about poetry, but about money? Think about it. Don't get hooked by this free contest come-on. If you're interested in learning how to get your work published in quality publications, ones that accept poetry based on merit rather than your money, click on this publishing information website.

Dear friends, the real world of publishing does not work the Cader - Iliad way.  Do not be seduced into paying $45 to $60 to "guarantee" your poem is published.  Legitimate publishers pay poets and writers for their work, even if it is often only a few copies of the publication in which their work appears.

Vanity book publishers like Cader are not publishers at all. The publisher is the person or company who pays for the printing. If YOU pay, YOU are the publisher. If you decide to self- publish your poetry, go to local printshops and seek their assistance; get several estimates of printing costs. You can probably save yourself a considerable amount of money. It's your duty to educate yourself. Click HERE for information on self publishing.

This web page is provided for the benefit of poets and writers by Charlie Hughes and Wind Publications.

This so called poem was approved for publication by Iliad -- but I 'd have to send them money if I wanted to "guarantee" its publication.

Anniversary

Dear you are the only one
I care to share my life
Your are my sweet hon
My darling wife.

You have given love
To me eager
Like an angel above
You'll alwals be my sugar.

You'll always be there for me
So sweet and so true
It's plain for all to see
I'll always be their for you.

If I send in my money this poem could appear in the same book with your poem. It'll make you proud, right?

-- A Word to the Wise --
Avoid poetry contests that lack any critical evaluation of the work that is submitted to them.  A poetry contest that accepts everything and will publish anything for money is no contest at all.  No honor can be attached to appearing in an anthology anyone can be in for a few dollars.  What is any award worth if it can be purchased?  Click HERE for information on scam contests and vanity anthologies.

Perhaps you're wondering how to evaluate poetry contest organizations?
You might consider the following points from Dennis Gaughan.

Unethical poetry contest organizations engage in some, if not all, of the following activities:

--Care little about literature, its audience, or authors, and care least of all about encouraging quality work.

--Require or seduce downstream publication fees.

--Collect entrance fees for no purpose other than commercial advantage, seeking profits for the sponsors.

--Have a special interest in coercing minors, the disabled, and the elderly.

--Have self-interested commercial tie-ins with no literary significance.

--Impose extraordinary entry requirements almost always designed to extract yet more money from the poet.

--Do not publish truthful submission guidelines (if at all).

--Make false and misleading claims designed solely to convert an entrant from a literary participant to a customer for shoddy goods and services.

--Harvest information from entrants and use it to publicize undocumented endorsements, junk snail mail, and now spam.

Equally offensive, some so-called contests require authors to purchase the publication in which their work appears, whether a prize-winner or not. No author/entrant should have to do that!