Extremely proud of my daughter.

christineperseus

All three of my boys have been 'published' in this way too........
having bought the first issue (plus two copies for the grandparents)
we were 'obliged' to buy the subsequent books.
Check though the copies, because for the second two publications lots of the pages were printed upside down.
It was VERY difficult to get properly printed copies.
I do wonder where they are now:o

tyllwyd

I think people are getting a bit overexcited about the fact that the publisher of these books is making a profit - the aim of any publisher is to make a profit, and low print run books are going to cost more per book than high print run books.

I think they should be more up front about what the book is, what the conditions for publication will be and what the final copy will cost, so that parents can decide beforehand whether or not to take part, but I don't think it is such a terrible thing as other posters have suggested.

My daughter in primary school had a poem published in one of these books, and also in a book that the school compiled and had printed themselves. She also wrote a little book which I self-published for her through Lulu. Now as a teenager she is obsessed with blogging and writing fan fiction. I wouldn't say that seeing her poems published in a printed book was a negative experience for her - quite the opposite.

Tish_P

Also, the firm seems to have a history of ripping people off right left and centre:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1712176/Return-of-the-Peoples-Publisher.html#axzz2KUsPfvve

Steer well clear!

Carl31

tyllwyd wrote: »

I think people are getting a bit overexcited about the fact that the publisher of these books is making a profit - the aim of any publisher is to make a profit, and low print run books are going to cost more per book than high print run books.

I think they should be more up front about what the book is, what the conditions for publication will be and what the final copy will cost, so that parents can decide beforehand whether or not to take part, but I don't think it is such a terrible thing as other posters have suggested.

My daughter in primary school had a poem published in one of these books, and also in a book that the school compiled and had printed themselves. She also wrote a little book which I self-published for her through Lulu. Now as a teenager she is obsessed with blogging and writing fan fiction. I wouldn't say that seeing her poems published in a printed book was a negative experience for her - quite the opposite.

Its the way they make their profit though, charging large sums for books that parents feel obliged to buy, under false pretences, the children havent won anything, its just a glorified version of having your work put on the wall in class, but it costs money

Usually, profits from book selling are not driven from a lie

barbiedoll

I posted about this scam before and as I said then, me and some of the other mums got together, we each paid a couple of quid and one of them photocopied the book so we all had a copy of our child's published poem/story.

I framed mine and put it on DS's bedroom wall....cost me less than a fiver, including a Wilkinson's cheapy frame!

ashleypride

tyllwyd wrote: »

I think they should be more up front about what the book is, what the conditions for publication will be and what the final copy will cost, so that parents can decide beforehand whether or not to take part, but I don't think it is such a terrible thing as other posters have suggested.

There is nothing wrong with vanity publishing, as long all parties are aware of what is going on.
But these companies are running fake competitions, using deception and manipulation on kids and parents in order to make money. Immoral at least, and quite possibly fraud. I call that terrible myself.

tyllwyd wrote: »

My daughter in primary school had a poem published in one of these books, and also in a book that the school compiled and had printed themselves. She also wrote a little book which I self-published for her through Lulu. Now as a teenager she is obsessed with blogging and writing fan fiction. I wouldn't say that seeing her poems published in a printed book was a negative experience for her - quite the opposite.

That's great, but what about all the rest of the kids that were given false hope? I cannot see how lying to our kids about their abilities helps anyone.

peachyprice

meritaten wrote: »

PS. there are not many people who can claim to be a published author! will look good on her CV - worth the price of the book!

I really don't think scam/vanity publishing will do her anything on her CV other than give someone a good laugh TBH.

peachyprice

tyllwyd wrote: »

I think people are getting a bit overexcited about the fact that the publisher of these books is making a profit - the aim of any publisher is to make a profit, and low print run books are going to cost more per book than high print run books.

I think they should be more up front about what the book is, what the conditions for publication will be and what the final copy will cost, so that parents can decide beforehand whether or not to take part, but I don't think it is such a terrible thing as other posters have suggested.

My daughter in primary school had a poem published in one of these books, and also in a book that the school compiled and had printed themselves. She also wrote a little book which I self-published for her through Lulu. Now as a teenager she is obsessed with blogging and writing fan fiction. I wouldn't say that seeing her poems published in a printed book was a negative experience for her - quite the opposite.

it's not the fact that they make a profit, all publishers do.

It's the fact that they are profitting by using the work of children that aren't necessarily talented, they are publishing whole classloads of varying quality to fill the book.

They are mis-leading children who aren't that good into believing they are, giving them false hope that they can be something that really, in alot of cases, just isn't going to happen. If they took the work that was published in these books to a proper publisher they would be shown the door.

It's good that your daughter has benefitted from being 'published' and that she still enjoys writing, but if that is where her talent lies surely she would still be interested in writing even without this 'opportunity'

shirlgirl2004

I did this with my daughter. Obviously she "won" and we sent the letter back saying she could be included but didn't buy a copy. A friend whose son had also "won" bought us a copy because she felt bad for our daughter. Not sure why our DD would feel bad because she had a letter telling her she had won and we were going to borrow it from the library. My friend was so pleased I didn't have the heart to tell her it was a con.