Young Writers Children's poetry

[KateBall]

My ds's class had to write poetry for a "competition" run by the publishers Forward Press Ltd under the title of YoungWriters. The best poems would get published in their book "Poetry Explorers - Somerset. Well they all wrote their poems and the publishers decided that all the poems were so good they would publish all of them from the whole class in their book. Now here's the catch they write and ask for £17.49 to buy a copy of the book when published showing your child's poem. Of course they are going to say that all the children's poems were good enough to be in the book - why would they restrict their market otherwise. I can't say my ds's poem is very good - I just can't. I just think we are all being sucked in and it feels awful as I have to decide whether to go along for it for the sake of my son seeing his poem in a book. I suppose its a small price to pay compared with how it might make him feel. What does anyone else think - ever come across this before?

[Karen A]

My ds's class had to write poetry for a "competition" run by the publishers Forward Press Ltd under the title of YoungWriters. The best poems would get published in their book "Poetry Explorers - Somerset. Well they all wrote their poems and the publishers decided that all the poems were so good they would publish all of them from the whole class in their book. Now here's the catch they write and ask for £17.49 to buy a copy of the book when published showing your child's poem. Of course they are going to say that all the children's poems were good enough to be in the book - why would they restrict their market otherwise. I can't say my ds's poem is very good - I just can't. I just think we are all being sucked in and it feels awful as I have to decide whether to go along for it for the sake of my son seeing his poem in a book. I suppose its a small price to pay compared with how it might make him feel. What does anyone else think - ever come across this before?

 

Hi Kateball.Yes I have come across what I think is the same thing.Ben had a poem published last year.

Yes most of his class also appeared to have poems published,

Yes you do have to buy the book all be it at a reduced price.

I felt a bit like you.Ben is actually quite a gifted writer and recently won an award on CBBC message board [slap my big head if you like ] so I did think it was honest to publish his poem.I did buy the book though.When we bought a copy for MIL I just did not make a big deal of the fact the book may not be all it appeared.

Edited May 13, 2009 by Karen A

[baddad]

Hi -

 

I just looked up 'forward press' and they appear to be a legitimate 'custom publisher', but them going into schools or running 'competitions' that have no losers does sound a bit like a money-making scheme...

 

Basically, this is just 'vanity publishing' for the new millenium - in the old days somebody vanity publishing would have to pay for a print run and then sell the whole thing themselves. Now with computer technology etc firms like this can produce books as 'one offs', and charge prices that reflect that. In the case of a whole school you could have a potential run of 100's or maybe even a 1000+, which would enable them to offer the 'substantial discount'. A nice prezzie, and very exciting for the kids, but in reality this sounds like little more than an 'alternative' to (i.e.,) a school photo or a limited edition T- Towel...

 

Hope that helps...

 

(Oh - my son's school did a similar thing with a recipe book, but through a local publisher, and it was much cheaper than this!)

 

[sonj186]

hi we had this last year! as far as we could see at cams school every childs poem went in to the book under the school name then broken down with pupils names! we came to the conclusion that they were banking on all the PROUD parents buying the book! which many did! the books are expensive though but i think the school get a cut for school funds.

[Karen A]

hi we had this last year! as far as we could see at cams school every childs poem went in to the book under the school name then broken down with pupils names! we came to the conclusion that they were banking on all the PROUD parents buying the book! which many did! the books are expensive though but i think the school get a cut for school funds.

 

PROUD parents like me apparently.

 

[sonj186]

I have one tucked away too

[KateBall]

just seems like exploitation and emotional blackmail to me.

[madme]

Yep we had one recently. I felt compelled to buy it ( sheer nagging power not proud parent ) DD was beside herself at seeing her name in print, She also enjoyed reading all the others work. It was quite enlightening seeing the different levels within the same year groups. Some kids were clearly very talented.

[sonj186]

hi we had this last year! as far as we could see at cams school every childs poem went in to the book under the school name then broken down with pupils names! we came to the conclusion that they were banking on all the PROUD parents buying the book! which many did! the books are expensive though but i think the school get a cut for school funds.

I didnt mean proud parent as a bad thing im a very proud parent what i was trying to say is that they play on the fact that parents will be compelled to buy the book because their wee one has a poem in it

[Pippin]

We had a moan to school last year about this and they swore they didnt get a cut, but it's clearly , as was previously so well put, "vanity publishing". These books will never be out there for the general public to buy, and the quality of the printing and binding is not good in the ones I've seen.

[Mum of 3]

just seems like exploitation and emotional blackmail to me.

 

I agree with you, KateBall. This is not a competition, and the cost of the book is going to be prohibitive to many parents, who will, nevertheless, feel obliged to buy it, which is why it's emotional blackmail. I for one am sick and tired of being asked for money for various school things...and G's only been there 2 and a half terms!

[Tally]

It sounds like they are more of a printers than a publisher. They are just going to take orders and print as many books as get ordered. The small print run is the reason it is so expensive. This book will probably not be on general release.

[KateBall]

Thanks all for comments - I expect I will end up buying it but it makes me so uncomfortable. Feel like I've been scammed.

[zaman]

From personal experience I can tell you that they will send you / your child more and more editions to enter. We did it once, which was enough.

[ryansmum2]

[/size] Hi there - yes I had EXACTLY the same thing happen in our shcool, not with my AS Son but with my daughter (who's extremely good at writing/english ect) NOT that , that changes anything - basically we were still CONNED !!! The book we had to pay for was about £18

 

After we'ed paid the money for the 'special /unique book' we then found out that about 10-15 children out of ALL the classes in the school, had, had their 'poems' printed in this 'special' book - again I WAS CONNED !

 

I complained to the school about it , as many of the other mothers did - because these people can only get hold of the childrens poems via prior arrangement via the school / teachers - so basically its down to them - there is a web site which explains ALL - www.youngwriters.co.uk if you go to FAQ half way down you'll see THE ONLY mention on the website about the cost to parents - obviously the teachers are not reading through the website properly

 

and I too totally agree with Kateball ... Competition??? I dont think so

 

If we all complained via the www.youngwriters.co.uk 'about us' page maybe they would have to re-think what they are doing to us parents, especially us on low incomes...

 

mel xx