I posted some of my poems online for critique and recently got a letter in the mail from a company called Green Spring Publishing. They claim to have already published three books, all collections of different poems from amature writers in order to help them break into the world of literature.

I visited the website on the letter and it shows me the other books they have recently published and talks about how only the top five percent of the poems they look at are choosen to be in this book.

Should I be worried about this being a scam?

I'd do some serious googling to see what I could find on them. Poets are seldom recruited. And poetry is notoriously difficult to publish.

There are companies who publish collections of poetry for the primary purpose of selling the books to the people whose work is included in them. These are the places you have to look out for.

Madison wrote: "I posted some of my poems online for critique and recently got a letter in the mail from a company called Green Spring Publishing. They claim to have already published three books, all collections ..."

Hi, Madison--
I went to this site below where another poet was wondering the same thing--

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

Ususally, if you are published in an anthology, you are not asked to buy a copy for $20 , but you will actually receive payment--even if it's just in the form of a copy.

So, naturally, I agree with Ruth--check out more things about Green Spring Publishing--in fact don't even waste your time doing that, but rather send out more of your poetry instead.

What's great about publishing in anthologies is that they usually take already published poems--so you can get a lot of mileage out of one good poem. Publish it once in a review or journal hard copy or online, and then start looking for anthologies to send it to.

Just got news, so I'm delighted to announce that I'll be teaching a poetry workshop Nov 5-8th at the Florida Gold Caost University's Sanibel Writers conference on beautiful Sanibel Island, FL . All are welcome!

Good luck with placing more of your work.

Hi Madison,

I wouldn't call companies, and there are several, like Green Spring a scam, But, the anthology is definately a hustle. There are all kinds of literary magazines and journals that publish good poetry, poetry that has been vetted by serious editors and critics of the craft. When you publish in one of them, you are on the road to being taken seriously as a writer who wants to practice the art and craft of poetry. You submit to them and they make a value judgment regarding your work. Most emerging poets figure they'll get one poem accepted by one magazine out of every ten or twelve magazines they submit that poem to. Green Spring and some others like it simply fish around on the net for people who might like to see their poetry in print without having it actually go through any kind of editing process. Then, they hustle you by getting you to buy an anthology. Do the math. If they take in a thousand poems and sell a thousand anthologies to the writers or their relatives or both, then they've made twenty thousand dollars on a book that took about three thousand to print. A good poetry magazine will pay YOU for a poem. If they're small and don't have the budget to pay writers, then they give them FREE copies of the publication instead. If you're just looking to see your own words in print, there's nothing wrong with sending these people your poem and paying them to publish it by purchasing the book. If you have aspirations of being a serious poet one day who is respected by her peers and admired by her readers, this may not be the right place for you to publish. It's a matter of choice. The professional way is much more difficult and a matter of hard work and disappointment sometimes. But, a job recognized by others as well done is also much more satisfying.

Jim is absolutely right, Madison.

Jim wrote: "Hi Madison,

I wouldn't call companies, and there are several, like Green Spring a scam, But, the anthology is definately a hustle. There are all kinds of literary magazines and journals that pub..."

From: ninsthewriter:

I'd like to respond to two things--first to Jim and then RUTH. It's certainly not easy, but it's the only way to go--send out poems to little reviews and literarly jopurnals, and when you get a rejection--just send the poem someplace else.

Recently I received 4 accpetances, and I was flying high, next came four rejections--there was a time I'd suffer over that, but not any more. I quickly sent those rejected poems out elsewhere. It's all subjective, someone's gourmet caviar is just cold fish eggs to someone' else.

Now to RUTH--
Thanks, Ruth for the invitation. However, I neglected to copy your e-mail as I"ve never been invited to be a friend of someone from Poetry Goodreads till today. So I hit the add button too fast. The truth is, I feel I know you by the insightful comments you make...

If you checked out www.screiowa.com--then you've been reading the poets and masters, I hope, and today I received an e-mail from Jim brock, a wonderful "Floridian"(not native, but then again who is?) poet, who agreed to be our Master for the month of December--in between we have a fabulous line up of authors and poets.

Check out my my website and blog for a listing later tonight. www.ninaromano.com (then click on blog...)

Jim, very good description of the "process".
Hi Nina, I certainly don't meet too many other Ninas. Congrats on your course!

Nina wrote: "Jim, very good description of the "process".
Hi Nina, I certainly don't meet too many other Ninas. Congrats on your course!"

Thank you for congrats...and the same goes for me about "our" name...I try to remember to sign "ninsthewriter" to distinguish our comments, but don't always remember. Your picture is lovely--I have none, or rather, I don't know how to post one.

Hi Nina. Thanks for the invite to Screw Iowa. I went over and signed up, but haven't figured the place out yet.

As for emailing anyone here on Goodreads, if you click on their picture (or where their picture/avatar should be)it'll take you to their profile page where you can click on "send message" and email them through the goodreads system.

Thank you to everyone who helped me clear this up a bit.

We have decided not to send it in and I am going to work on submitting my writing elsewhere because I never even really submitted it to them. I have read alot about them but it has been all complaints.

Thanks again for the help!

Very interesting topic! I am glad I dropped in to check it out.