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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel that someone at school really should have been reading Mumsnet

28 replies

Toomuchstuffwillkillme · 08/02/2019 22:07

Received a lovely letter in the post today telling me that DS's wonderful piece of creative writing (which I knew nothing about, apparently he produced this masterpiece in school) has been 'selected for publication' in a book showcasing talented young writers. Wow, this sounds great, hey there's a Certificate of Merit and everything in the letter. Oh hang on - it says here they had in excess of 24000 entries and 'all entrants had a realistic chance of seeing their work in print'. Do I detect aroma of large furry rodent?
Read on a bit and find I need to pay 15.99 to order a copy of this marvellous anthology - or hey, I could get 7 for £79.95, bargain Wink So I do a search on MN (as you do) for Young Writers. The results are depressing. And apparently it's been going for decades, as the letterhead says Est and cynically exploiting parents since 1991.

I will have to have a word with school. But meanwhile thought I'd post just in case like me you'd been living in blissful ignorance and not read the old threads. You have now been warned!
Alternatively of course I am simply BU and you'lI tell me I should immediately order all 7 copies for friends and family...

OP posts:
kitkatsky · 08/02/2019 22:09

The school likely know, but get a cut of others. Check out the School Cuts website to get some idea of how much cash your school Has this year and no from there

mcmooberry · 08/02/2019 22:10

Ha ha I nearly got taken in by that too until I read the piece of work which was being published which they had enclosed with the letter and realised immediately it was a scam!!

PeanuttyButter · 08/02/2019 22:12

Think I had a poem about the colour red published like that. My parents said it wasn't very good iirc probably the same thing.. they didn't buy it

Hunter037 · 08/02/2019 22:12

I've definitely heard of this before. I'm sure the school know the deal, they probably get commission or something

ScreamingValenta · 08/02/2019 22:15

Tell them to contact your DS's literary agent to negotiate his fee for publication rights Grin.

WiddlinDiddlin · 08/02/2019 22:15

Yeah its been going on donkeys years, cracking way of extorting money out of parents who need to see Little Johnnys work in print.

If you want to see Little Johnnys work in print, pick out the best ones and self publish somewhere like Lulu and give the resultant literary delight to all the aunties and uncleses for christmas, at a fraction of the price , and without lining anyone elses pocket!

MadauntofA · 08/02/2019 22:16

I did the same as you, then when I had realised the con that it was, I took the information into school and they immediately put a stop to it. Some lovely parent arranged for all the children in the year to have their poems published into a book which we paid (less than the £15.99) and some money was left over for the school.

gamerchick · 08/02/2019 22:19

This has been going on for years man Grin

I waited 8years and bought the book from Amazon for pennies.

Original poster
Toomuchstuffwillkillme · 08/02/2019 22:20

School is usually quite good, we don't get much of this. And this is secondary, I was starting to enjoy not being hassled by the likes of the School Christmas Card project (which always slightly irrationally gave me the rage) so this has irritated me.
Also DS read the letter first and was quite chuffed, he was a bit disappointed when he realised it was basically a scam. Fortunately I think he'll get over it Grin

OP posts:
WiddlinDiddlin · 08/02/2019 22:23

Write back to school suggesting that as his agent you must advise them that his rate is £28 an hour based on a min. 3 hours work and the work took 4 hours to produce, so you'll have £112 + 5% of the cover price as royalties.

(I am a freelancer. Teach 'em young not to get ripped off!)

adviceonthepox · 08/02/2019 22:25

When my eldest was in nursery he had to fill in the gaps in a poem. My favourite colour is, my favourite toy is etc. Obviously we had to write the words for him he was only just 3! 3 weeks later he was chosen to have his 'poem' printed in a book. £12.99 a copy etc. I laughed my head off and ignored. While I understand it raises money for the school it's such a rip off!

FunkyChunk · 08/02/2019 22:27

We had the same. I don't think it's a scam as such, I was happy to pay 15 quid if it benefits the school. Plus DD was so so chuffed to see her short story published, why not?

Original poster
Toomuchstuffwillkillme · 08/02/2019 22:29

Ah Widdlin, I have seen the work... It is not quite so bad that only a mother could love it, but it is definitely so short that only a very grasping literary agent could possibly believe it took him any more than 15mins tops. (Though I like your style!)

OP posts:
TeaBea2019 · 08/02/2019 22:31

Happened to me and boosted my confidence for a while as a shy teenager

Bingeslayer · 08/02/2019 22:31

I'm definitely too soft because I've stupidly paid the £17.99 with postage to school for 2 years running because my daughter was so pleased to get publishedAngry

BlueThesaurusRex · 08/02/2019 22:35

Hahaha we had this at junior school and one of my friends mums went to the local press to announce that her son had his work published GrinGrinGrin

ClemHFandango · 08/02/2019 22:37

I work in an English department and we do Young Writers occasionally. The tasks are sometimes interesting and kids like the idea of writing that has a real world “point”. We don’t get a cut of the takings. We just do it to try and inspire young people to write.

MeatRaffle · 08/02/2019 22:44

I got stung by this particular ruse some years ago.
To add insult to financial injury, there were only a small number of different "stories" which were personalised by the kids.
And there was only my DS's class in the book. The rest of it was by kids from completely different schools.
bitter

Original poster
Toomuchstuffwillkillme · 08/02/2019 22:46

Yes I've just realised that school don't even get a cut Angry just a very small chance of winning a prize. Clem I think some of the suggestions upthread for getting your kids published are better than suckering your poor parents into lining the pockets of Young Writers.

Anyway, enough from me - but glad that on balance my annoyance was not apparently too U!

OP posts:
walkingtheplank · 08/02/2019 22:52

Happened with my son 4 years ago but luckily I'd read about it on here so saw it for the BS that it was and pointed it out to the school who were unaware (apparently) that it was a scam.

I was equally annoyed that they had given my child's contact details etc to a commercial company without my consent. School tried to blame it on my son for writing it down on the form he'd been given by the teacher. I might have pointed out that they were supposed to protect my 6 year old whilst in their care and not pass the buck.

AChickenCalledKorma · 08/02/2019 22:55

I'm sure there are better ways of giving students the opportunity of some "real world" writing that doesn't involve pressurising parents into paying a ridiculous sum for a paperback of dubious quality. Why not have a school newspaper or blog? Or get them to create their own anthology using one of the many self publishing websites that don't charge getting on for £20 a copy?

DontDribbleOnTheCarpet · 08/02/2019 23:00

At least 4 years ago I paid for one of these books because two of my children had work in it. I'm still getting emails asking me to buy more copies!
Never again.

DataBreachCentral · 08/02/2019 23:32

We had this about 15 years ago when DC were at primary.

The letter was sent home in the school bags!

This ruse has been scamming people long before Nigerian princes got in on the act Smile

YourFly · 08/02/2019 23:38

A bit like the bounty women on the maternity wards!

arethereanyleftatall · 08/02/2019 23:43

They do this with lots of things.
'Town football club coach visited school today and found your dd to be an excellent talent at football. We would like to invite her for premium coaching.'
On quizzing (utterly unathletic) dd how did football go
'The ball hit my leg once but I just ignored it.'
Hmmm.