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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Not to buy into this scam and to explain it to DS

49 replies

ReanimatedSGB · 03/05/2018 09:04

We haven't seen one in a while, but DS' current school has fallen for one of those poetry 'competition' scams. DS has 'won' the right to be published in their anthology, which will of course only be sold to the parents of kids who 'won'. I'm not buying any copies. I've told him his poem is good, and well done, but I wish someone would eradicate these cockroaches of vanity publishers...

OP posts:

crumbsinthecutlerydrawer · 03/05/2018 13:31

Ds’s school did this last year. I’d never heard of it, one of the other parents who worked in the school at the time told me it was ‘the competition that everyone wins’. I didn’t buy it, it was far too expensive and the fact that you only got a discount if you bought three was enough for me to write it off as crap. I just told him it was too expensive and he’s quite capable of understanding that. He was disappointed but he got his copy that he’d written back and we framed it for him. Hasn’t put him off, he still loves writing for himself.

TickleMcTickleFace · 03/05/2018 13:38

I had my poem published in one of these about 20 years ago and I never knew it was a scam my whole life as a published poet has been a lie I wonder if my mum realised?!
My mum still has the book though and to be honest I’d do the same for my DC as it’s a nice keepsake.

TheFirstMrsDV · 03/05/2018 13:46

They did this at DS's nursery ages ago and they tried to get me to buy copies for family and friends.
My son was 3, non verbal and his poem was a template with missing words that the staff filled in for him. Apparently that got chosen as the best poem [hmm

They couldn't get their head round me not wanting to buy the book. They were virtually open mouthed at me.

I think schools and nurseries are well out of order colluding with these scams.

Juells · 03/05/2018 13:48

There are art scams like this as well.

YearOfYouRemember · 03/05/2018 14:01

Over 20 years I had a poem published in a poetry anthology and of course bought a couple of copies. It was stocked in Waterstones though I have to say I never saw it but wasn't looked in main ones. I only paid for the book, not to enter and it's still nice to have it.

billybagpuss · 03/05/2018 14:10

I have these from my kids and I'm pleased I do, they do look at it from time to time and like seeing old school mates poems that they have lost touch with. Yes it was an expensive book but I wouldn't call it a scam.

chickywoo · 03/05/2018 14:15

Our school did this too, I asked dd is it just your poem? - as that is was the letter implied - no everyone in her year
I ignored the letter - but this wk recieved a reminder! So I’ve given consent for it to be published but not purchased anything!
What a con, it’s the same with the design a Christmas card thing they do total rip off! I’m sure school must be getting a cut of the profits

Original poster

ReanimatedSGB · 03/05/2018 14:23

I've actually sent my DS' dad a ranty email about it and suggested (because one of the things we do is offer a self-publishing service) that we do a package like this and offer it to local schools, only without the bullshit and the overcharging. We would either make it an actual competition and judge the poems on merit, or just invite them all to send in something and publish the lot as a fundraiser for the school - yes, we'd charge a fee for our time and effort, but not an extortionate one...

OP posts:

myusernamewastakenbyme · 03/05/2018 14:31

I remember getting a letter from Young Writers saying my eldest son had won a writing competition....i did a little digging on the internet and it soon transpired the whole class had 'won' too...only the child off sick that day was not included...
My son went in the next day and told his teacher it was a scam and she wasnt impressed with him.
I cant believe people are buying the books knowing its a scam...it just encourages it to keep going.

MissionItsPossible · 03/05/2018 15:10

@TickleMcTickleFace

Me too

But my poem WAS good and I DID win...didn't I?

AgentHannahWells · 03/05/2018 16:04

SGB I think you should!

TickleMcTickleFace · 03/05/2018 17:37

@Mission I’m glad it’s not just me I think it definitely still counts as a win, it must just have been the others who were scammed as they obviously couldn’t make a book with just our award winning poems

EmpressJewel · 03/05/2018 18:01

I ordered a book for DD recently. Then I found out that the whole class won. A month later, DS 'won' so I had to buy his book as well.....

BrightonBB · 03/05/2018 18:40

I think it is lazy and naive schools that enter their students for this. Like others have said I would much rather the school put some effort into a fundraising book of student's work that was actually their work.
My kids were not interested at all when they found out that pretty much the whole class had 'been selected'!!!!! Rather than encouraging them they felt cheated.
An overpriced vanity book in my opinion and a load of rubbish.

Original poster

ReanimatedSGB · 04/05/2018 00:48

I'll be emailing the head tomorrow. After a loooong chat with DS' dad i have agreed to make the email humble and polite and concerned eg 'I have heard that there may be something a teeny weeny bit questionable about this poetry competition' (with links include) rather than 'FFS why are schools still letting these fucking scammers lie to children and rip their parents off'...

OP posts:

40isnew50 · 04/05/2018 02:54

We bought a book for DD's poem just last week. Yes it is a scam but she was bursting with pride. Small price to pay....

Original poster

ReanimatedSGB · 04/05/2018 11:31

And when some other parent finds out that it's a scam, and lets everyone know? That's the other disgusting thing about these companies, apart from the sheer rip off - that kids who were really proud and thrilled have to find out that the 'win' was meaningless.

OP posts:

shinycat · 04/05/2018 13:58

I am torn. I think on ONE hand, it's a nice way to see your kids work in print, in an official printed book.

HOWEVER, I also think it's a bad idea to make out they have all 'won' and they are amazing writers. (And they charge too much for the anthologies where the poems and stories of the kids are published.)

My brother and his wife had their son picked as one of the special 'chosen ones' and his poem was published in an anthology. And he and she went around saying he is a 'published author' and properly bragged about him.

I knew all along, but didn't like to say, that 90% of the class also had their poems picked!

Also, they should not be charging more than a fiver for the 'anthologies.' They are making a killing from this, through gullible parents. It's bad enough that parents are ripped off with extortionate school uniform prices, and exorbitant 'school photograph' fees. But this anthology bullshit just takes the piss!

Tartsamazeballs · 04/05/2018 14:53

Me too Tickle, I'm devastated!! I was soooo proud 😂

BurpeesAreTheWorkOfTheDevil · 04/05/2018 14:59

I'm 35 and I remember having a poem published, was it through Kellogg's?

Cupoteap · 04/05/2018 15:14

Another one here whose now aware I was scammed25 years ago😢

BevBrook · 04/05/2018 15:24

SGB When our school did this last year, the next newsletter had a message saying a bit sniffily that "Young Writers is an established company that the school have been working with for a number of years but since some parents had expressed concerns they would not be working with them again".

I hadn't actually got around to emailing the school so there must have been others who did, and it did have an effect.

AgentHannahWells · 05/05/2018 12:55

Michael Rosen is a very good sort. I wonder if he would speak out about this shite? I think his word would be more respected by schools than us bunch of 'those parents'.

Storminateapot · 05/05/2018 13:04

I fell for this with my eldest although I thought it was fishy as (sorry Little Storm) the poem was shite. She still has the book, full of other shit doggerel penned by classmates and other randoms. The trouble was it came via school and therefore she felt it was genuine and it lent an air of legitimacy to the whole thing. £15 for a flimsy paperback.

By the time the younger siblings got to the same age the school Head had wised up and refused to allow them to use the school for the scam.

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