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Young Writers - A poetry odyssey 2007

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  • melspur
    melspur Posts: 4,257 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    £12.99 sounds cheap to me, i won a poetry comp about 13 yrs ago and had poem published, they wanted nearly £80 for that book, needless to say i didn't buy it
  • modgit
    modgit Posts: 670 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    My son's just "won" this, so has nearly everyone else in his year! Book costs £14.99 now :cool:
  • dimark6267
    dimark6267 Posts: 284 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Photogenic
    Received a letter in the post today, my daughter entered Young Writers' Mini Sagas competition through her school and her story has been chosen to be printed. They had to write it using 50 words or less!!
    The book is £15.99 to buy!!!
    Wondering how many other kids in her class have had the same letter!!
  • Fostermummy
    Fostermummy Posts: 19,099 Forumite
    :T:TMany Congratulations:T:T
    :happyhearJules xx :wave:

    Wins in 2015
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  • dimark6267 wrote: »
    Received a letter in the post today, my daughter entered Young Writers' Mini Sagas competition through her school and her story has been chosen to be printed. They had to write it using 50 words or less!!
    The book is £15.99 to buy!!!
    Wondering how many other kids in her class have had the same letter!!


    Umm.........small world. One of these things turned up in our post today and the first question I asked my wife as she read it out was "How much is it going to cost?"

    Is this a scam?

    Even if it is, image the look on my daughters face when she sees her name and story in print.
  • Giggles_Fairy
    Giggles_Fairy Posts: 1,155 Forumite
    Have to say at the grand old age of 24 I too got my poem included in one of these books when I was about 13! It may seem like a 'scam' to you but as a youngster I remember being so proud my poem was in a 'real' book (even if various others in my class were too) and it actually spured me on to developing my poetry more and writing off to publishers etc. I even got some poems published in more books (one even had poems written by adults in which I was very proud of!). For those few months I developed my writing skills and got a sense of pride. Yeah I had to pay £15 per book or what ever it was but still to this day I have all the books together in my cupboard and I look forward to being able to show them off to my children, grandchildren etc. It was an accomplishment in my life that I am proud of and if I hadnt bought the book I would never have any record of it.

    I guess Im just trying to give the other side of the story. If you have the spare money then order the book and make a fuss of your child telling them how great it is they were included. In the grand scheme of things its not a scam that hurts anyone, a company makes money and children get to see their names and work in print. :D
  • deedee1968
    deedee1968 Posts: 82 Forumite
    My 6 year old has just won one of these competitions.(acrostic competition). I am within two minds whether to buy the book. Now £15.99 each or 3 for price of 2. I know it would make good presents for grandparents bit i can't help feeling its a rip off if most children who enter get published!
  • Mumto5
    Mumto5 Posts: 1,838 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    deedee1968 wrote: »
    My 6 year old has just won one of these competitions.(acrostic competition). I am within two minds whether to buy the book. Now £15.99 each or 3 for price of 2. I know it would make good presents for grandparents bit i can't help feeling its a rip off if most children who enter get published!

    Mine too - what a small world. Incidentally the whole class has won bar the 2 kids who were absent on the day the poems were done.

    To do the maths......

    25 kids x a minimum of £15.99 = £399.75

    or to put a really rosy glow on it with all the pride from the parents

    25 dids x 2 books for a third free of £31.98 £799.50

    Nice work if you can get it.
  • mjm3346
    mjm3346 Posts: 47,269 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 8 June 2010 at 6:58PM
    Mumto5 wrote: »
    Mine too - what a small world. Incidentally the whole class has won bar the 2 kids who were absent on the day the poems were done.

    To do the maths......

    25 kids x a minimum of £15.99 = £399.75

    or to put a really rosy glow on it with all the pride from the parents

    25 dids x 2 books for a third free of £31.98 £799.50

    Nice work if you can get it.

    I wonder how much of a "kickback" the schools get?

    Even for "vanity" publishing a large print run reduces costs. The, presumably hardback with posh bindings, book will include far more than just the 25 in the class (if it does not then it is little more than a pamphlet and even more overpriced than it first appears).

    At on-line photo shops you can create for example a "deluxe diary" including over 150 of your own photographs @ less than £18.50 each or less than £16.50 for 20+.
    One poem £15.99!
  • welshdeedee
    welshdeedee Posts: 27,496 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    [STRIKE]30:22[/STRIKE]
    [STRIKE]30:07[/STRIKE]
    29:07
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