Contest fees?

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Should I pay money to enter my work in a contest? Is that a scam?

what sort of contest? sounds abit shifty to me. there was a 'national poetry competition' that my school took part in once. Nearly everyone who entered got picked as a 'winner' and told their poem would be published in a book and how many did they want to buy lol. i didnt reply back because my poem was personal and i didnt want it published but everyone else did and paid up. a few months later there was a segment about it on watchdog (uk tv show) saying how it was all some big scam...

"Pay to play" is always a scam. No matter how convincing they make it look they'll screw you over.

Did you see it on Myspace or something? People send spam like that to prey on up-and-coming musicians and take their money.

Don't fall for it. Believe me, I almost did once. I was foolish enough to give them my phone number too. You can probably guess what happened.

I know what you mean about those books.

What I was looking at was these, from Writer's Digest -

http://www.writersdigest.com/competitions

that's fine



writer's digest is legit.

Well, you do have to be careful and learn how to tell a scam from the real thing, but they are not all scams. There are many "pay to play" contests run by reputable companies. There are also many pay to play music venues where bands pay for a play "slot" at the venue, and get a larger take of the door.

It's not a completely new concept. Often, these contests collect the fee from the entrants, keep some of it, and split the remainder up between the winners.

I know nothing of this particular company, so I can't speak to whether they are truly reputable.