Young Writers con

barbiedoll

My DS had a poem published in a book, along with most of his classmates. It's a brilliant scam, I just wish I'd thought of it first, of course all of the parents are going to fork out for a copy of their little darlings first opus!

Me and a few of the other mums chipped in £3 each to buy one copy of the book and one of the mums took the book to work and did 4 photocopies so we all have a copy of our kid's work in print.
(She's the one who told me about this website too! :T)

KimYeovil

Wizbub wrote: »

We still feel obligated to buy the book as all her friends parents are.
:mad:

You need to change schools and find new friends. If the other parents are thick enough to be purchasing the book then their offspring are unlikely to be any brighter. They will have a terrible influence on your child's education.

(Yes, I know I am more than a year late.)

lindsa

i work in the primary school my daughter attends. A couple of months ago her whole year group entered this competition and low and behold 12 out of 18 entries *won*.
one child entered a poem that was unreadable ( he was in a strop that day lol ) and he too was a winner, it seems theyve picked the first 12 off the pile as winners.
Despite this i was about to pay by paypal when i put young writers into google instead, so glad i did as ive just saved myself £18- for an A 5 soft back, colour only on the cover, book .
ive sent the consent back but no money, it says the school get a free copy so my daughter can see it there

lindsa

I think it is the schools fault for not seeing that this is a money-making scam.

can i just say that schools recieve loads of letters like this.... * let your children enter this competition * etc.There is no way of knowing from that first letter that its a con, but our school wont be entering it again

PopeSock

Mr_Dan wrote: »

Maybe it's the pessimism of adults (having too much experience of double glazing and used car salesmen) that is disappointing here. If you've told your child that it is is a 'scam', that they've not done amazingly in getting their work published (regardless of how many others have also been published) then you may have scammed your child out of feeling enthusiastic about their writing talent, and feeling proud of their achievement.

These books are usually around £15. How much is an XBox or Wii? Now that's a scam for you...

Kind of funny how your one and only post is defending this non-competition. So how much commission is 'your school' getting for this then? By the way, one of the professional teaching standards mentions establishing fair, respectful and trusting relationships with the children. The very nature of this non-competition seems to contradict that.

nicebiscuits

I think the problem here is the disappointment that your child will have when they realise that their writing wasn't as special as they thought. We received a letter yesterday and I knew immediately that it was a money making scam. My teenage daughter has quite low self esteem and this letter made her feel so good about herself. Of course I didn't tell her what I suspected but told her how proud I was of her but I know this will hit hard when she realises that she was one of many.

trumpton

Mr Dan - I suspect you work for this company. Frankly, if you feel that exploitative vanity publishing scams like this are a good way to encourage young people to write then I would be concerned if you were teaching my kids.

"If you've told your child...that they've not done amazingly in getting their work published (regardless of how many others have also been published) then you may have scammed your child out of feeling enthusiastic about their writing talent, and feeling proud of their achievement."

This is the point. The children have acheived nothing. Every poem/story entered is published - there is no 'competition', there is no achievement in being chosen. That's why they have a word limit on the poems - so they can cram loads more in and sell more.

Schools should photocopy each child's best piece of writing and sell it in booklets to the parents for school funds rather than lining the pockets of, in my opinion, scammers who cynically exploit children. These things are an out and out con, playing on childrens (understandable) excitement about having something professionally printed and parents (understandably) feeling pressured into buying it. The sooner schools wise up to this con and put these companies out of business the better.

I would rather buy an Xbox or Wii game anyday than fork out £15 for, in my view, the fraudulent exploitation of children.

Read this article about Forward Press, who ran the Young Writers vanity publishing, from the Daily Mail, March 2011:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1354015/The-Peoples-Publisher-went-bust-let-thousands-children--back.html#ixzz1VVxAJuW2

"Forward Press, based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, has shrugged off its £1.6 million debts, and its bosses - who have kept their fortunes despite the company collapse - are free to start cashing in again.

Despite the economic downturn, the Young Writers literary competitions brought in more than £2 million in the first nine months of 2010. But sales were no longer enough to cover Forward Press's mounting debts and the luxurious lifestyles of its owners, founder Ian Walton, 59, who, together with other family members drew £430,000 in directors salaries in 2008. Son Chris is manager.

As Revenue & Customs attempted to push the firm into bankruptcy by seeking unpaid taxes, Ian Walton voluntarily liquidated Forward Press on November 5.

Just three days later, he used a third party for his other firm, Bonacia, to buy back the Young Writers cash cow for £1 while ditching the taxman's £470,000 bill and the money and books it owes to disappointed clients and creditors."

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1713641/Forward-Press-boss-arrested.html

"Forward Press boss, Ian Walton, arrested in Spain on suspicion of fraud.
He faces accusations that Forward Press, based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, cheated thousands of parents in Spain. Children's poems were selected for publication in books that Forward Press 'offered to parents but never handed over once they had paid', a Spanish Civil Guard spokesman said."

So went bust with loads of debts, then started up again. The £15 parents pay for their child's poem has very nicely lined the pockets of this guy and his family imo.

If your childs school comes home with a letter about anything like this, I would refer them to the Daily Mail article. Doesn't seem so appealing when you see where your money goes.

trumpton

Well, I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this matter.

However, nothing you have said has convinced me that Young Writers is anything other than vanity publishing cleverly wrapped up in 'you've won a competition' type scam. This is the main complaint if you read the posts - vanity publishing presented as a competition of merit.

It seems to me that many schools, and most parents, are not even aware that it is vanity publishing - and frankly I think you are deluding yourself if you think it is anything other than this. If schools want to pay to have childrens work professionally published (either wholesale or judged on merit), that's fine. But to present this as a competition is, in my view, just a sneaky way of getting more sales.

"Do you want to pay £15 to have your child's poem published?" doesn't have the sales value of, "Your child is special - they have won a competition. Do you want to buy the book with all the winners work in?"

I am sure all the children whose work is printed are just as thrilled as you were when you got your letter as a child - but to be honest I would rather disappoint my children and tell them it is a scam than knowingly let them take part in something that is, in my opinion, a fraud and delusion.

I stand by my comment that it is not an acheivement to have your poem published - because practically all entries are published as other posters on this thread have confirmed. The acheivement is in the writing of the poem/story, not in the vanity publishing of it.

I don't blame parents for buying the book, but schools should not in my view be taking part in these 'competitions' if they know that they are simply vanity publishing.

Why not just print up a booklet containing each child's best piece of work at the end of the year? It's the same thing, but you could raise money for school funds rather than lining someone elses pockets.

It's pretty clear to most people now just exactly what this scheme is, so I won't be making further comments on this thread. Thanks OP for bringing this up on MSE. Hopefully others will be warned.

PopeSock

trumpton wrote: »

Why not just print up a booklet containing each child's best piece of work at the end of the year? It's the same thing, but you could raise money for school funds rather than lining someone elses pockets.

I suspect that the school gets commission - hence they make cash by doing this.

KittyLady

My daughter had this about five years ago. We bought a couple of copies and told her how great she was. Yes, it's a total con money wise really, but for her it's encouraged her to work hard at her writing and she's top of her class in English still.