Most writers dream of someday being published. But with so many publishers out there, who do you trust? How does one know whether a Publisher is legit or not? How do you know what contests to enter and which ones to avoid?

Like in every business there are dishonest people and the publishing industry is no different. Some writing contests are run by individuals purely to make a profit off of unsuspecting victims, who wish for nothing more than to see their writing published.

Our goal at Today's Writing Community is to provide you with a resource that will serve as a guide in assisting you to determine which publishers are fraudulent and what writing contest scams and publishing companies to avoid or use caution with, including information on how these contest scams work and how you can spot them.

If you question a publisher, editor, or agent's credibility, I invite you to post a notice asking about the specific agent or publisher that you're investigating in our forums. Always remember the golden rule, If something sounds too good to be true, you know that it probably is.

Be sure to bookmark this page and refer back to this site from time to time, as we do our best to keep you informed. Below you will find links to some useful resources that may provide you with the additional information that you are looking for.

Useful links for looking up information

• Google
• Yahoo
• Look Smart
• Dogpile
• MSN
• Internic

Caution and Warnings - Writers Resources
• Poetry Contest Caution
• BBB report on International Library of Poetry
• Poetry Scams, Rip-offs, and Horror Stories
• The Academy of American Poets - Writing and Publishing FAQ
• PoetryNOTcom, poetry scam or not?
• Poetryin-E-motion - Please see the, "Journal of Stupidities," pages for information on several poetry/publishing scams.
• Hollywood's Famous Poets - Bad Business Bureau Report
• Windpub Literary Scams
• Poetry Contests from Hell
• AARP Bulletin: Write and Wronged
• How Do You Judge A Writing Contest? - Writing
• The League of Canadian Poets: Vanity Contests?
• Waxing Poetic - Another Look at Poetry Contests
• Johnathon Clifford's Vanity Publishing page
• Watching Out for Web Scams
• Poetry Scam Watch
• The Price of Vanity
• Writer Alerts! - Warnings about problem publishers from the NationalWriters Union.
• Making Books
• The Price of Vanity
• The National Library of Poetry - A Scam that Doesn't Scam
• Poetry Kit: Poetry Scams
• ABC's 20/20 - Barbara Walters - The International Library of Poetry
• Watch out for these Freelance Writing Scams!
• Poetry Scams - Fraudulent Offers to Provide Publishing Services
• Poetry Con tests from Hell
• AuthorsLawyer.com: Literary Scams
• Scam-Spotting: If It Looks Like A Scam, It Probably Is
• Contracts Watch
• PM - Poetry scam disappoints literary hopefuls