Famous Poets Society Explained
The Famous Poets Society (also known as the Christian Poets Guild) was a vanity press[1] [2] that organized a poetry contest and offered self-publishing services.
Despite the company's claims to have awarded over $425,000 in cash prizes to selected poets over 8 years,[3] nearly all writers who submitted works were accepted regardless of artistic merit, and they were required to buy the anthology (described in one NBC4 story as resembling a "yearbook" and being printed on "Xerox paper"[4]) in which they appeared in order to receive a copy of it; in addition, they had to pay significant fees to attend the contests' award ceremonies.[5] [6] The Winning Writers website lists the Famous Poets Society as service that aspiring poets should avoid,[7] while an article in the Boston Phoenix described it as an outright scam, stating that its presumptive founder "[had] been preying on the naïveté and vanity of poets for 20 years."
See also
Notes and References
- News: There Once Was a Poet from L.A. . . November 24, 2002 . Roy . Rivenburg.
- Web site: Acquisitions Procedures: Print on Demand . American University Library . . 30 May 2022 . Washington, D.C..
- Web site: FPS Convention Winners . September 20, 2012 . October 27, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121027194140/http://www.famouspoets.com/MN.asp?pg=Winners . dead .
- News: Crenshaw . Liz . Poetry Contest . 5 September 2022 . 25 February 1999 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070223154653/http://windpub.com/literary.scams/NBC4.htm . 23 February 2007 . dead.
- Silverstein . Jake . What Is Poetry? . 30 May 2022 . . August 2002 . It was felt that poetry was needed now more than ever. It was also felt that there would be no full refunds of the $495 registration fee, in the event of a canceled flight or a distraught flier..
- News: Wright . Chris . BAD ART: A verse-case scenario . 30 May 2022 . . 5 July 2001.
- Web site: Contests and Services to Avoid . Winning Writers . 30 May 2022.
