| Author | Message | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11841 Registered: 12-2003 |
For those of you that keep track of these things poetry.com now has a new name: Lulu Poetry I wonder how they picked that one? It's too close to the LuLu site some of us use to self-publish. Just like poetry.com is too close to poets.org. Just thought it was interesting. Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11842 Registered: 12-2003 |
OMG, check this out could they be the same? lulu.com link from Lulu search lulu.com link through poetry.com They look pretty much the same right down to the logo, except on the actual Lulu one I can see the trademark R, but in the poetry.com one it looks like a dot. This is pretty scary guys, it makes me leary of publishing with Lulu now. What if they've joined poetry.com? Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11843 Registered: 12-2003 |
Sorry Folks, it gets worse: Publisher's Weekly Article Selfpublishing Review Article YIKES!!! Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| Abraham de la Torre
Advanced Member Username: ham8113 Post Number: 1282 Registered: 02-2009 |
Kathy, I used to contribute to poetry.com until Marty ushered me into Wild. Guess it deserves its new name, huh? lol Ham The unjust sinner can no more go to heaven than the justified sinner can go to hell. - A.W. Tozer | ||
| Patricia A. Marsh
Intermediate Member Username: patricia Post Number: 434 Registered: 12-2007 |
Lulu Poetry Separate from Former Scam Site http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6652066.html?rssid=218 According to Publishers Weekly, Lulu bought the domain, not the business. (Message edited by Patricia on June 23, 2009) | ||
| Fred Longworth
Senior Member Username: sandiegopoet Post Number: 6321 Registered: 05-2006 |
Domain poisoning. * * * * * YOUR FOOTNOTE ADVERTISEMENT HERE. Call 1-555-555-5555 and ask for Fred. 10% discount if you mention Wild Poetry Forum. | ||
| Judy Thompson
Advanced Member Username: judyt54 Post Number: 1654 Registered: 11-2007 |
id say at this point poetry.com and lulu deserve each other. The ultimate in vanity press stuff, big time. And like the man said, if you have a button that says "need help rhyming' that says a LOT about the site. Afraid of the Dark | ||
| Packrat
Intermediate Member Username: harolyn_j_gourley Post Number: 600 Registered: 02-2008 |
Are you serious?! A site (or whatever) that wants you to "contribute" poetry to itself...that offers to help if you "need help rhyming"??!! Good grief!! that's not an insult to the Public's intelligence; it simply assumes they don't have any to start with!! (What's truly mortifying is...what a large and eager field (market-niche) they find themselves happy to "graze" in...*sigh* (Oh, the happy field of dozies, empty heads blithely nodding in the warm and scented wind of flatulence!) I wrote one (poem) up, and sent it to one of their alter-egos (Poetry Guild), that was simply a mocking, satiric raspberry (Bronx cheer) blown in their faces...and they couldn't even get the title right, when they wrote back advising me of my good fortune in achieving their standards of inclusion. (Well, met, in part, of course; now, all I had to do was send in gobs of $$!) As for the title?? Apparently they didn't recognize a blatant, caricaturish re-write of the title to Robbie Burns' "To A Field Mouse..." Scheesch!! --Packrat. DON'T poke the frog.....just to see if it'll jump! ----------------------------------- Scrit-Scratch | ||
| Gary Blankenship
Moderator Username: garydawg Post Number: 28496 Registered: 07-2001 |
I'm still confused. Nothing wrong with Lulu per see. Wild's book published using it. But I'm still puzzled about who did what to whom. Smiles. Gary Celebrate Walt with Gary: http://www.poetrykit.org/pkl/tw10/tw4conte.htm | ||
| Christopher T George
Senior Member Username: chrisgeorge Post Number: 7739 Registered: 12-2004 |
Well they really picked a "lulu" of a name!  Chris Editor, Desert Moon Review http://www.thedesertmoonreview.com Co-Editor, Loch Raven Review http://www.lochravenreview.net http://chrisgeorge.netpublish.net/ | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11845 Registered: 12-2003 |
Gary, I'm confused by it too. Why would Lulu buy poetry.com's domain? Why would they affiliate themselves with a scam site? Is it a $$$ thing, exposure, or are they trying to raise the quality of poetry.com? If it's the latter, then they have a big job ahead of them with the reputation poetry.com has. I don't know. All I know is that I don't think I'll be using Lulu to publish anything. Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| Christopher T George
Senior Member Username: chrisgeorge Post Number: 7741 Registered: 12-2004 |
It would appear to me that you can take over a domain name without being yourself a scurrilous site. It must happen all the time. Say for example if I took over http://chrisgeorge.com/ would that make me that handsome looking guy Chris George in Maple Valley, Washington state, a near neighbor of Mr. Gary Dawg? No and it wouldn't make me Chris George of "Rat Patrol" fame either! Chris (Message edited by chrisgeorge on June 24, 2009) (Message edited by chrisgeorge on June 24, 2009) Editor, Desert Moon Review http://www.thedesertmoonreview.com Co-Editor, Loch Raven Review http://www.lochravenreview.net http://chrisgeorge.netpublish.net/ | ||
| Judy Thompson
Advanced Member Username: judyt54 Post Number: 1656 Registered: 11-2007 |
pack, poetry.com has or had been around for ages, and it was a joke in the industry. A friend sent in a list of cooking utensils, and she got the same gee whiz letter you did. you see, they were not a publishing company as such, and didn't edit. i suspect they didn't even read the stuff. That's what vanity sites are about--they make their money off of the people who want to say they had a poem published in this cool anthology, and who will never mention how much it cost to get there. Afraid of the Dark | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 34517 Registered: 11-1998 |
I'm quite concerned about this myself, Kathy. What it says to me, and this is only my own opinion, is that lulu either doesn't know enough about the poetry world online to know what a bad reputation poetry.com has, or they don't care. If you buy a cesspool, you've lost the ability to smell. And anything you do to dress it up can't take away the stench. It's still under there, smelling things up. Honestly, I'm quite disappointed in lulu. The very last people online that I'd ever associate myself with is poetry.com. So, why would they? I go back to "don't know" or "don't care" as the answers. Either answer is not very encouraging. Turning around the reputation of poetry.com is a task of epic proportions. And ultimately doomed. Why shoot yourself in the foot by buying them? Big, big mistake in my opinion. Guess we have to wait and see how it shakes out. Love, M | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11848 Registered: 12-2003 |
Chris, I understand your point, but still don't know why they'd want to buy a domain with a bad reputation. Here's an article that I linked to through poets.org Lulu Acquires Poetry.com Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11850 Registered: 12-2003 |
M, I'm concerned about this too. It just doesn't look good no matter how you look at it. Lulu had one of the best reps in self-publishing before this, and now articles are already throwing around the words vanity publishing. If I had published The Suns with Lulu, which I intended to to but didn't quite get together yet, and then found this out it would have given me exactly the same feeling it did when eons ago I submitted to poetry.com and found out it was a scam. I know several here have used Lulu, and our anthology is published through them. But, that was a different time for Lulu. All we can do is wait. Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| d.marie
New member Username: dmarie Post Number: 30 Registered: 06-2009 |
maybe Poetry.com bought Lulu then Lulu bought poets.com which was not poetry.com. this is like the "made in china" of poetry sites, all links will lead back to poetry.com | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11851 Registered: 12-2003 |
dmarie, I haven't come across anything in my internet research that says poetry.com bought Lulu, but vice versa, that Lulu bought the poetry.com domain. As long as I've been aware poetry.com and poets.com have been pretty much one in the same. Poets.com being the interative community you could link to through poetry.com. Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| Gary Blankenship
Moderator Username: garydawg Post Number: 28501 Registered: 07-2001 |
Actually, reading the blog, I'm a bit less nervous - not entirely, but some. Wait and see seems the way to be. One question is why? Gotta be able to make money off of it, so how? Smiles. Gary Celebrate Walt with Gary: http://www.poetrykit.org/pkl/tw10/tw4conte.htm | ||
| Judy Thompson
Advanced Member Username: judyt54 Post Number: 1657 Registered: 11-2007 |
one other thought; maybe lulu, in a huge fit of hubris, felt that their rep was solid enough that their loyal customers would shrug and continue to use their services, either believing we are too stupid to live, or as you say, they don't care. and it does open up some interesting speculation about people who want to publish poems at any cost, and can now self-publish entire collections (good bad or just bloody awful) the same way. Ive never used lulu; did they have any kind of editing process, or a weeding out process, or did you just submit your manuscript and they would print it, as is? Afraid of the Dark | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 34519 Registered: 11-1998 |
Dearest Mr. B -- my guess, since they've said they will discontinue publishing of the questionable poetry.com anthologies, is that they intend to make money on it by funneling members of poetry.com directly into their "self-publishing" arm. There's a whole lot of people who populate poetry.com that might likely bite on the opportunity to self-publish. They've just bought themselves a very big potential client list for the self-publishing gambit. However, this indicates an overarching desire to make money. Seemingly at all costs, whether being associated with poetry.com ruins lulu's reputation or not. They're seeing fresh bodies and dollar signs and ignoring the potential damage to their reputation. Not very smart, in my opinion. But then, lulu hasn't been very bright about things. My dealings with them on the Wild anthology were okay, but not great. I had some issues with them that they never resolved to my satisfaction. Love, M | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 34520 Registered: 11-1998 |
Dearest Judy -- no, lulu has no editing process. They don't care what you want to self-publish or the quality of any manuscript they receive. You can self-publish a bunch of blank pages if that's what you wish to do. They merely print and distribute the book for you. What's in that book is of no concern to them. Love, M | ||
| Fred Longworth
Senior Member Username: sandiegopoet Post Number: 6325 Registered: 05-2006 |
They refused to publish my ogre's guide: How to Devour the Neighborhood Children. So there!  YOUR FOOTNOTE ADVERTISEMENT HERE. Call 1-555-555-5555 and ask for Fred. 10% discount if you mention Wild Poetry Forum. | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11853 Registered: 12-2003 |
Fred, I bet Watermark would have published it. LOL. Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| Gary Blankenship
Moderator Username: garydawg Post Number: 28502 Registered: 07-2001 |
Titles are so important. Consider: To Serve Children. Smiles. Gary Celebrate Walt with Gary: http://www.poetrykit.org/pkl/tw10/tw4conte.htm | ||
| Patricia A. Marsh
Intermediate Member Username: patricia Post Number: 435 Registered: 12-2007 |
"id say at this point poetry.com and lulu deserve each other. The ultimate in vanity press stuff, big time. And like the man said, if you have a button that says "need help rhyming' that says a LOT about the site."  Decided to take a gander at Lulu's poetry.com site to see what kind of help a needy would-be rhymster would find by clicking on the button that says "need help rhyming?" . . . when . . . Ta-duh! Out popped a [uh] user-friendly online dictionary of rhymes, synonyms, etcetera!  | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11854 Registered: 12-2003 |
Poets.com, which was the "community" part of poetry.com appears to no longer be available. I did a google search, and when I clicked on the link I was redirected to poetry.com/Lulu Poetry. There is no link on the Lulu poetry page for a community. This could be one of Lulu's changes, no more community, no more charging people to join it. Or maybe they're just revamping it. Don't know. This could also mean that Wild and other boards could get an influx of new members from those that lost their poets.com community. Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| Fred Longworth
Senior Member Username: sandiegopoet Post Number: 6326 Registered: 05-2006 |
Thanks, Gary. I'll resubmit as To Serve Moderators. YOUR FOOTNOTE ADVERTISEMENT HERE. Call 1-555-555-5555 and ask for Fred. 10% discount if you mention Wild Poetry Forum. | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11855 Registered: 12-2003 |
Patricia , this is what the Selfpublisher's Article had to say about the rhyming button at Lulu poetry/poetry.com: "What this implies is that Lulu’s Poetry.com is not a place to publish poetry, it’s a place to publish bad poetry. Now, I realize that there can be good poetry that rhymes, but any serious poet who comes to that site and sees the rhyming button is going to scoff and flee in the other direction. It seems built for people who know very little about poetry – hobbyists, not people who live and breathe the artform." Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 34521 Registered: 11-1998 |
"This could also mean that Wild and other boards could get an influx of new members from those that lost their poets.com community." Good lord, I hadn't even thought of that, Kathy. Please don't say that anymore. I just broke out in hives and that nasty tic I had? Well, it's back.  Love, M | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11856 Registered: 12-2003 |
Sorry M. I didn't mean to make you ill. Yikes! Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| Gary Blankenship
Moderator Username: garydawg Post Number: 28503 Registered: 07-2001 |
Actually, I don't think the rhyming button was that bad. Even beginners need a place for help. And there are several places online to match rhyme, even orange. Seriously, the reference portion of poetry.com had fairly good information, esp the glossary. Of course, like finding zicron in a pig pen. Smiles. Gary Celebrate Walt with Gary: http://www.poetrykit.org/pkl/tw10/tw4conte.htm | ||
| Packrat
Intermediate Member Username: harolyn_j_gourley Post Number: 602 Registered: 02-2008 |
Yeah, Judy, I knew what they were about (more or less) before I submitted; my entire intention was to provoke them...*sigh--a waste of time, even for that (and dang!, it was actually a pretty good poem! *LOL* But, OH!, a list of cooking utensils?? That's hilarious!! ******* Two different slants occur to me, on reading all of the above: 1) Could it be that lulu bought poetry.com's domain so that they might eventually shut it down? ...but on the other hand... 2) Whom poetry.com always roped in were...individuals who were trying to get themselves published--even if only included with many others in a single tome. That pool of fish is still out there, even if they're now somewhat more alerted to poetry.com as a recognized scam. They may be more wary of being snookered, but they're still ever-hungry for a crack at quick-n-easy publishing of themselves in some way... If lulu acquires poetry.com's "audience", and can offer them the opportunity to publish (unquestioned/uncritiqued/unedited, etc.) a whole book full of their precioussss, and for likely no less than a full-rig inclusionary volume...it sort of becomes legitimate in its' own peculiar way. Thus, timid folk can send one poem in, for poetry.com inclusion, and bolder sprats can go for publishing a whole book full of themselves (pun intended), and everybody's(relatively) happy. Lulu and poetry.com gets our bucks, same as always; we get PUBLISHED!!, and bask in the shine of as much glorious praise and acclamation as this mini-industry can spin up and spew out all over us! "Oh! I'm PUBLISHED, and They Say I'm WONDERFUL!!" (and it only cost me...ah, but what price can one put on FAME!!?? IMMORTALITY!!?? Aaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!) I've got nothing against self-publishing; it's a legitimate and respectable small-scale endeavour, and can well launch itself into something bigger and more meaningful, but...these guys aren't in it to do anybody any favours...'cept for theirselves. They use people's hopes and aspirations (however well,or poorly, merited) as sugar-bait, to draw them in and talk/persuade them out of their money. It's legal, but hardly commendable. Hummpphf! One could rail on about ethics, et al, etc., but the truth is...humans are both their own most vicious predator and their own most vulnerable prey. ("Watch out for stubor!" --R.A.Heilein) --Packrat. DON'T poke the frog.....just to see if it'll jump! ----------------------------------- Scrit-Scratch | ||
| Patricia A. Marsh
Intermediate Member Username: patricia Post Number: 436 Registered: 12-2007 |
Kathy -- What I found sorta curious at the Lulu poetry.com website was the need-help-rhyming dictionary. It appears to be almost identical to RhymeZone's dictionary of rhymes. http://www.rhymezone.com/ http://rhyme.poetry.com/ Since RhymeZone has been around for years and years -- enough years for it to have become a convenient online tool for quite a few formalists who work in rhyme -- serious formalists (more than likely!) wouldn't be caught dead wasting their time nosing around Lulu's poetry.com website . . . except out of curiosity . . . or, perhaps, for laughs?  P.S. Did a search for words rhyming with "word" at both websites . . . found identical (88) results. Hm-m.  P.P.S 223 identical results for "gary"; 212 identicals for "fred"; and . . . Sorry, derf was not found in this dictionary. . . . but . . .?? Sorry, derf was not found in this dictionary. (Message edited by Patricia on June 24, 2009) | ||
| Judy Thompson
Advanced Member Username: judyt54 Post Number: 1658 Registered: 11-2007 |
It is also a land mine for proud parents whose 11 year old just wrote his or her first poem. and then seventy five more. They can now go to lulu, get the thing published, and present it to the aspiring poet. for the rest of his or her life it will be right on the coffee table next to the other land mine called "the family photos". It's enough to drive a future poet right into car repair. Afraid of the Dark | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11857 Registered: 12-2003 |
I emailed Predators and Editors and here is their respone: We know only the old poetry.com business went out of business and sold off their domain to Lulu. Since then, P&E hasn't had any complaints about the site. We hope that continues to be the case in the years to come. -- Cordially, Dave Kuzminski, Editor Preditors & Editors ™ http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/ -------------- Original message from "Kathy Paupore" <paupore@uplogon.com>: -------------- Hi, Just curious if you have any information on Lulu buying out the poetry.com domain? Thanks, Kathy *** But Lulu poetry.com is very young, so the camplaints might still be coming... I imagine the patrons of poets.com have their share of complaints, but who would listen? I don't know, Lulu was a place to self-publish before and you could publish anything there, as M said, so whether it's the old Lulu or the new, that hasn't changed. Lulu had their own site, so why buy the poetry.com domain? Patricia, that's interesting about the rhyming dictionary being so similiar, maybe it is one that is available for any site to use. Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 34537 Registered: 11-1998 |
"Lulu had their own site, so why buy the poetry.com domain?" The simple answer, Kathy? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Now a new crop of people (poetry.com/poets.com) who might not have heard or known about lulu will be directed straight to lulu to spend their bucks on self-publishing. In my experience, when it comes to business, it's always about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Gagging, M | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11858 Registered: 12-2003 |
M, that's so funny, I had that as my own answer to the question, but then deleted it. I guess poetry.com's claim to having millions of users was a bit too attractive for Lulu. Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| Andrew Dufresne
Senior Member Username: beachdreamer Post Number: 2650 Registered: 01-2006 |
They're still a good place to print your books. I'm just saying. ad You are cordially invited to my blog, which has poetry, music, circus clowns, balloons, rats, bats, dirty water hotdogs, and mucho more! http://ohhush.tumblr.com/ | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Moderator Username: kathy Post Number: 11861 Registered: 12-2003 |
Will they still be good in the future? Kathy You're invited to: Wild Flowers Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.~Robert Frost | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 34540 Registered: 11-1998 |
Yes, they are a good place to have your books printed, ad. They're relatively inexpensive and do a decent job of printing and shipping. And for the most part, they deliver what they say they will deliver. Can't fault them in that regard. Many, including Wild members, have used their services successfully. Love, M | ||
| Abraham de la Torre
Advanced Member Username: ham8113 Post Number: 1289 Registered: 02-2009 |
That's one vote of confidence, Andrew. Lulu's still what it is though. Ham The unjust sinner can no more go to heaven than the justified sinner can go to hell. - A.W. Tozer | ||
| Judy Thompson
Advanced Member Username: judyt54 Post Number: 1660 Registered: 11-2007 |
well, the problem is also one of snobbishness, isn't it. Im not excluding myself from it, poetry in and of itself tends toward that attitude anyway. The very nature of it demands a certain snobbery level--it's as much where you were previously published and who was your mentor as much as it is skill, or quality, or anything else. We have a choice when we aim for being published to go for the easy mag, the one that we know will most likely take us, and be a big fish in a small pool, or aim for a higher level which will give us cred in the eyes of whomever might be looking that matters... and if you choose to publish (self or otherwise and trust me I think self publishing is the way to go, these days for a LOT of good writers), would you choose to self publish with a place that now owns poetry.com or a place that doesn't? Afraid of the Dark | ||
| Patricia A. Marsh
Intermediate Member Username: patricia Post Number: 439 Registered: 12-2007 |
"Patricia, that's interesting about the rhyming dictionary being so similiar, maybe it is one that is available for any site to use." Kathy -- You're right! RhymeZone is "...a language arts resource free to everyone on the Web and answers over 8 million queries monthly." RhymeZone's website indicates it has a 2007 copyright by "Datamuse". See http://www.datamuse.com where I noticed another free database worth bookmarking, a "OneLook" dictionary "...indexing over 5 million words and phrases in over 900 sources." (See http://www.onelook.com ) P.S. "OneLook" found "derf" . . .  . . . in multiple dictionaries. P.P.S. "13,587,880 words in 1024 dictionaries indexed ........ Today's word is larynx " (Message edited by Patricia on June 25, 2009) (Message edited by Patricia on June 25, 2009) | ||
| Dan Tompsett
Intermediate Member Username: db_tompsett Post Number: 670 Registered: 07-2007 |
The domain name "poetry.com" in of itself is fantastic, and I'm sure a fantastic investment. If had had the $ I would buy it in a heartbeat. LuLu buying it makes perfect business sense to me. "People who believe a lot of crap are better off." Charles Bukowski | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 34541 Registered: 11-1998 |
Sometimes I do wonder, Dan, if you don't just say the opposite of everything everyone else says, no matter what it is, just to see what happens. And no matter whether you'd really "buy" it or not. *LOL* Here, let me try out this theory: Dan, the moon is made of green Swiss cheese with lots of holes in it. But every once in a while, all that cheese coagulates into a big lump so it looks full, but it really isn't. And that's when a certain confused admin of a certain poetry workshop, not under the domain name of poetry.com, howls at it, thinking it is really the head of a particular member who says the opposite of what everyone else does just to get her goat (she has a herd of goats in the backyard that he covets). Go ahead, Dan. Your turn.  Love, M | ||
| Dan Tompsett
Intermediate Member Username: db_tompsett Post Number: 671 Registered: 07-2007 |
Wouldn't dream of trying to "get your goat," dear ~M~. I probably didn't make myself clear. I know people who buy domain names as potential investments. "poetry.com" is a domain name that I'm sure virtually anyone would buy, whether they were aware of the history behind it or not. For example, I'm sure domain names such as "sex.com" "porn.com" "books.com" history.com" etc etc etc would be grabbed up right away whether the buyer was into those things or not. They can always sell them later for a great profit, unless they paid too much for them, of course. "People who believe a lot of crap are better off." Charles Bukowski | ||
| Andrew Dufresne
Senior Member Username: beachdreamer Post Number: 2662 Registered: 01-2006 |
Well, they put my book on Amazon.com I haven't suffered too much because of that. ad You are cordially invited to my blog, which has poetry, music, circus clowns, balloons, rats, bats, dirty water hotdogs, and mucho more! http://ohhush.tumblr.com/ | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 34544 Registered: 11-1998 |
Yeah, I understood what you meant, Dan. I was just funnin' with ya'. poetry.com would be a marvelous domain name to snap up. Anyone entering "poetry" into a search engine would immediately be taken there. That's why poetry.com (the scam people) chose it in the first place. They ain't stupid. And they probably knew they'd be confused with Poetry magazine, one of the top journals out there. You want people to be making that mistake. What I don't understand is why Poetry magazine didn't scoop up that domain name from the very beginning. Dumb move not to on their part. Oh, and ad, lulu as an institution up to this point has been very positive for its clients. Yes, placement on Amazon and other things. I don't think anyone's questioning their past business practices. The question is what happens now that they've associated themselves with scam artists by virtue of taking over that domain name? Like Dan said, it was a smart move overall. It's just disassociating themselves with the scammers that's going to be the tough part. But obviously the owners of lulu didn't think that would be a hard hurdle to jump. Let's hope they're right about that, and that they will continue to offer their clients good service. Even though a lot of those clients now really shouldn't be self-publishing books. But what's the loss, really? All those bad books will just sit there, with nobody ordering them. Lots of wasted money on the clients' end self-publishing books that should never see print, but if they want to throw money out the window, I guess that's their right. lulu's just capitalizing on their misguided dreams. Ah, capitalism. Ya' gotta love it. *sigh* Love, M | ||
| Andrew Dufresne
Senior Member Username: beachdreamer Post Number: 2675 Registered: 01-2006 |
I'm not a torch carrier for Lulu. I will use them until they show me they are not useful. I am cruel and ruthless that way. ad You are cordially invited to my blog, which has poetry, music, circus clowns, balloons, rats, bats, dirty water hotdogs, and mucho more! http://ohhush.tumblr.com/ | ||
| Christopher T George
Senior Member Username: chrisgeorge Post Number: 7744 Registered: 12-2004 |
Hello all The bottom line is that Lulu are a business set up for putting out great looking books for whomever wants to pony up to get a book out. So it make perfect business sense for Lulu to acquire the poetry.com domain name that would put them in touch with people who wish to publish. One of those people who used Lulu was Wild Poetry Forum, and the editors of Poets Gone Wild anthology purposely chose Lulu because they knew they would put out a nice looking book. I for one am one of the poets pleased to be included in the book. Any book should be judged on its contents, and in this case the editors' standards were creditable. Lulu was just the publishing/printing house. Best regards Chris George Editor, Desert Moon Review http://www.thedesertmoonreview.com Co-Editor, Loch Raven Review http://www.lochravenreview.net http://chrisgeorge.netpublish.net/ | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 34546 Registered: 11-1998 |
To tell the honest truth, Chris, I'm not exactly sure why lulu was chosen for the Poets Gone Wild Anthology. I took over the admin position of Wild right in the middle of that project, and hadn't been involved in it up to that point. I came into it after the decision had been made to use lulu to print and distribute the book. I'm sure the editors of the anthology chose lulu because they felt it was the best option at the time. Affordable and efficient. I merely carried through with the choices that had already been determined (anthology contributors, book covers, printing and distribution method, etc.) I was and am satisfied with lulu for the most part. They do have one major problem that I never did get resolved to my satisfaction, but that didn't effect either the cost or the efficiency of using lulu. Love, M | ||
| Packrat
Intermediate Member Username: harolyn_j_gourley Post Number: 603 Registered: 02-2008 |
Ma-a-ay-be... it would be "helpful", in the long run, for as many practising poets as possible to...all send e-mails to LuLu, explaining their concerns and anxieties over the matter (*wink-wink*nudge-nudge*)...a lot of e-mails! It might be something that could tip LuLu's policies into at least tweaking poetry.com (if that's within their power) into a more legitimate shape, such as adding a real judging/assessment element, and making it a real competition for easy, ground-level entry into being published. If they'd go one step further, and mass-produce and distribute it like a magazine for the actual Public exposure that it's current "marks" are led to assume... It could go a long way toward becoming a very good thing, instead of risking the tainting of its' reputation by association with a known scam. Food for thought...! --Packrat. DON'T poke the frog.....just to see if it'll jump! ----------------------------------- Scrit-Scratch |
