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Original poster

Really cross with school - Young Writers

122 replies

Dancergirl · 03/03/2011 10:09

Has anyone else had a child whose work has been published in a Young Writers book?

Young Writers are a publishing company who claim that 'your' child has had a piece of writing selected to be published in a book. A small paperback book which costs £15.99 plus £2 postage!!

It's all done through the school but parents had no knowledge of entries being put in until we received letters saying our child had been selected. Parents (myself included) are angry because a) the school gave out our names and addresses to the company without permission....and b)we are now pressurised into buying this massively over-priced book.

My younger dd also had a poem published in one of these books last year and again parents were cross that details were given out. The teacher admitted it was an oversight and apologised (sort of) but this same teacher has done it again this year!

WWYD?

OP posts:
skylark2 · 28/12/2014 16:56

MrsTawdry, if your DD is desperately disappointed not to be published (I have no evidence that they only include your child's work in the book if you pay for it, but I bet they do) then there are firms out there who make it easy for you to publish a child's story + illustrations as a book in its own right. Much more reasonable prices, and all your child's own work rather than just part of one page among hundreds.

I'm not going to recommend because I haven't actually used any of them except to advise you to avoid any who suggest this makes your child a "published author" and that complete strangers will be queuing up to buy their book on Amazon if only you pay $$$ for their fancy publication package... it's not true, what you want is someone who will let you buy three copies for you + granny with no setup charges.

YvesJutteau · 28/12/2014 17:10

I was glad to have read on here about YW because we got a letter from them about DS over Christmas and I was able to bin it before he saw it. If they want a proper bound book of their work we can do it through Blurb or someone like that.

ToffeeCaramel · 28/12/2014 17:34

I bought the book when my dd did this four years ago. I don't remember it costing as much as £33 then though. I think it was £15.99 for the 3 for 2 offer. I like having a book with a little riddle she wrote at that age to look back on and it's nice seeing the sweet little riddles that other kids in her class wrote at that age too. I don't regret buying it. It's a bonus for me that we know lots of the other kids whose riddles are in it, not a negative. My younger dd didn't do it as I guess people had complained about it by then. I'd have liked one for her and her classmates, although £33 is more than I'd want to pay.

18yearstooold · 28/12/2014 17:46

I can't believe this is still going on

Dd is now in year 8 but when she was in reception they did this and we got letters home

I was livid and went into school to complain

They hadn't realised it was a scam and haven't been involved since

MosquitoFood · 28/12/2014 18:09

I got a letter about this for my son a few years ago. I didn't pay straight away and a while later I was offered to buy them for £5 rather then the original £16. I brought one then but it was pretty obvious what a con it was when it arrived and entire classes were in it. I'm pretty sure the schools must get a cut. Pretty shoddy if they are compromising data protection for profit.

fluffywhitekittens · 31/01/2015 17:33

Has anyone actually purchased the books and been happy with them?!

GabrielleB83 · 10/02/2015 14:02

Just to throw in my two pennies, I am a teacher who recently entered a load of my kids into one of these competitions. I did NOT give out their addresses, in line with school policy, but instead used the school address, and all parents would have been aware of what was happening as I set the competition entry for homework, which they are required to supervise as per our home-school agreement.

I had absolutely no idea that loads of them were going to get accepted, and was very surprised (and annoyed) when I got a barrel-load of 'winning' letters back to hand out to the parents of my children. Although I must point out that they had read and checked EVERY single story, and they had sent back the ones that hadn't made it with editorial comments explaining why they hadn't made the cut.

What we decided to do was to publicise the fact that the school were going to get a free copy, and advise parents to wait to order their copy until they had seen our copy and decided whether or not they wanted to spent the £15.99.

I just want to make it clear that the school gets ABSOLUTELY NO cut of any profit. The only 'benefit' is that we get one free copy of the anthology. Most teachers would enter into this competition because they want to get children enthusiastic about writing - and because it's very important for children to feel as if they are writing for a real audience (other than their teacher). It's a pain in the ass to administer such competitions as a teacher, and I promise you, we only do such things because we want the best opportunities for your children, too.

If you are thinking about going to your child's school to complain about one of these competitions, please don't. It is very unlikely that your school has done this as some nefarious trick to play on you and your children. The teachers are probably as surprised and annoyed as you are. Instead, why don't you go in and politely bring it to their attention, and perhaps suggest that they make it very clear to all parents that a copy of the book will be available in the school library? That's what we did, and our parents are quite happy!

revealall · 10/02/2015 22:21

I too was a it disappointed at first; the competition bit is a complete con.

However the book looks good with a nice font, each poem on a seperate page and there are lots of enteries from other schools.
Looking back it's lovely to have his poem actually in print in a real book. It's great that the rest of the class are in it too as a memory of them all.
At £16 it compares to the price of school photos and is quite nice as a reminder of their early work.

WeAllHaveWings · 10/02/2015 22:38

Ds has had 3! Pieces of work "published", a poem and a couple of short stories. we haven't bought any books and no pressure to do so (other than a letter which went straight to recycle).

It's. harmless bit of fun and encourages ds to write. In his class of 30 around 15 had their poems published, so quite a lot get done.

Original poster
Dancergirl · 13/02/2015 14:09

I've been a victim of this again with dd3! Same thing, she brought home the bumph, 'your child has been selected etc etc....' AND a letter from the headmaster congratulating her!

How can I not buy it??

I'm so annoyed, what success have people had when broaching it with their child's school?

OP posts:
Bonnie74 · 25/02/2015 14:12

My daughters school handed out certificates only yesterday from the young readers club, my sister in law told me about these "scams" so I went and spoke to the head teacher today and raised my concerns. She has took it very seriously and will be looking into it. I am just glad I got told before sending any money off.... All schools should be shown these complaints, it is, after all, protecting our children from disappointment.

fleecyjumper · 26/02/2015 20:48

I can't believe schools are still falling for this nonsense!

ToffeeCaramel · 27/02/2015 13:10

My ten year old did this when she was about 6 and it's actually quite sweet to look back at the little riddles that she and her classmates wrote at that age. My children have enjoyed looking back at them too. I'm not as interested in the riddles of children I don't know, so for me it's a positive things that lots from her class are in it. She'll leave the school in July and I think its a nice memento. I'm sure there are things I've spent the same amount of money on that have been a far bigger waste. I realise most people on mumsnet feel very differently about it though.

andien · 01/03/2015 20:11

Hi resurrecting this thread as we just got this from school as homework no less! I'm going to complain about it, but what I think is most disturbing of all which no one has mentioned (aside from calling all entries winners and charging £15 for winners!) is that they appear also to collect children's names, addresses and ages and the school they attend. There is NO MENTION on their site about how they protect this data, or if they sell it on to marketers. I would complain heartily to schools who have obviously not bothered (like ours) to really investigate what they are getting their students into.

neets28 · 15/06/2015 19:37

Shocking methods to take money from parents but more shocking that they can play on the emotions of young children. My 12 old year old told me today that his letter was from a scam company and to take it off the fridge because it made him sad. Watchdog these scammers...that is where I am going next. Oh and cancelling my cheque.

VanillaSugar · 19/08/2016 15:54

Resurrecting this thread as I have just got a letter at home saying my son has "won"!!!!

Yay.

Except it's going to cost £32 to see his entry squashed in with hundreds of others.

So, I'm resurrecting this to earn other people that Young Writers are back in business - August 2016.

QuadrupleL · 03/09/2016 21:25

We had a letter as well - little bit gutted to find out this is a scam! I have just ordered the book as well - I am going to e-mail for a refund. My DS was so excited when the letter came - no idea it was a scam.

mathsmum314 · 04/09/2016 16:59

The school should know better than to give out children's names and addresses, its breaking data protection laws. But essentially they are being scammed as well.

FYI, I didn't buy the back in March book and a few weeks ago they sent me another letter, with a 50% discount and NO P&P charge.

foursillybeans · 04/09/2016 17:22

Yep. I hate Young Writers. It's is such an emotionally blackmailing rip off. My DCs poems were not even any good. I certainly didn't want a permanent record of them.Grin
Our school does this as well as the children's art work that is cheaply framed and then displayed in the hall and then they charge £7.99 for it .... or they bin in and you don't get it at all.
They also do those terrible children's art work Christmas cards. The charities must be really annoyed at the money they must out on from their own cards sales.

indieskreet · 16/02/2017 19:27

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indieskreet · 16/02/2017 20:02

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DriftingDreamer · 17/02/2017 18:36

I know this is a zombie thread.
Few years ago fell for this and bought a book. Rubbish proof reading so mistakes throughout book.
Absolute rip off.
School not done it again....

indieskreet · 17/02/2017 18:59

my post which was a warning to people to stay away from Forward Poetry has been deleted as I apparently broke the rules. My account of their site was a fair one, which Forward Poetry Site (Forward Press) has complained about and had removed I believe. Anyone who wants to see it, can read on my FB at Indie Skreet. Whether you choose to or not, the site is not run effectively to keep bullies at bay. It is a vanity site which if one tries to give 'constructive' critique, i.e, spelling errors, grammatical, one is attacked. So don't expect to get constructive critique either.

ArchNotImpudent · 17/02/2017 19:04

I'm confused. The children own the copyright of the piece of work they've written so how does it get published without the parents agreeing on the child's behalf?

I agree with this. I'd be tempted to go back and say you're acting as literary agent for your child, and your child's fee for all rights to the work in question is £10,000.

Eclaireco · 19/02/2017 08:08

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