<p>Ok so I have a 7 year old son that has some issues putting it mildly. And I got a letter today addressed to him, it is from the Anthology of Short Stories by Young Americans. It says his school entered him and he won for most creative. They want 12.95 per softback or 21.95 per hardback.</p>
<p>Here is the thing my son is developmentally delayed and can barely write has own name. How these people think I am gonna believe he wrote a short story they could read and understand is beyond me.</p>
<p>So whats the verdict scam or not? And how the heck did they get my child’s name?</p>
<p>Doesn’t pop up in Google as a scam. I second calling his school and learning what they know. Could possibly be something he verbalized to an instructor and was submitted.</p>
<p>Scam was what popped in my head and still is what I believe this is. If the school sent something like that in they would have notified me either before they sent it in or after.</p>
<p>They want your money for the book. You don’t need to BUY the book even if it isn’t a scam. Save your money for something more important…and frame the letter.</p>
<p>Ten years ago, my son’s second grade teacher entered my son’s writing. We did not buy the book, although as an eager parent, I was tempted. It was not a particularly good example of his writing and seemed a high price. On the other hand, if the writing is your child’s (and I understand that in your situation you question that), what is the scam? Are they promising you anything that they are not delivering? It obviously is a money maker for the publisher but it seems that they tell you that up front.</p>
<p>Whether or not it’s a scam (and I expect it is), your son has let you know that the idea of publishing a book is exciting to him. Perhaps you could work with him to create a book that really is his. My kids used to write stories and add photos of their own to create small books. These days you can do that much more easily with services like mypublisher.com and blurb.com</p>
<p>Technically, it may not be a “scam” but there is a lot about this program that makes me uncomfortable. I went to the website, and wanted to find out if teachers could submit the work of their students. Yes, they can. So of course I wondered… WHY would a teacher submit the work of their students, without parental permission? So I thought there might be a financial incentive. Sure enough, there is a financial incentive for teachers to submit the work of their students. Not an out and out commission, which is what I expected, but the chance for the teacher to win a “grant” if the teacher submits the work of 20 students. The whole thing makes me uncomfortable, to say the least.</p>
<p>^^ Regardless, a teacher should never submit the writings of the students without the students’ and parents’ permission. I agree with ‘NJres’ that this seems unethical and at the end of the day is just a money making scheme for both this publisher and apparently the teachers.</p>
<p>Scam, I still have that very same letter sent to my D when she was 8. She’s 21 now. Same price for the “book” too, which btw would have been ordered “pre-publication”. My D was pretty ticked off at me for not ordering. I saved the letter so i could bring it out to remind her when other scams came along.</p>
<p>Don’t know anything about this “scam,” but my D published a book with her photos through blurb.com, as was mentioned above, and I can vouch for that company as being very good. It was a lovely publication, and she is very proud of the book. Don’t remember what it cost, but it was well worth it. She did it through her HS photography class.</p>
<p>They don’t do it at age 7, but the 7th and 8th graders in our district are all encouraged to submit poems, essays, and short stories for publication. Usually when a piece is chosen, they send a proof copy for the child to check for errors and return. I bought one book for each child, then after that I refused to buy any more. They enjoy seeing their work in print, but it is basically a money maker for the publishing company.</p>
<p>It’s a scam. Given the details of this particular situation (i.e., you say it’s unlikely that your son actually wrote a story in the first place and that it was submitted without your knowledge), it sounds a bit worse than the usual (in itself unethical) “vanity anthology” approach.
[Warnings</a> and Cautions for Writers–Writing Contests and Vanity Anthologies](<a href=“http://www.sfwa.org/Beware/contests.html]Warnings”>http://www.sfwa.org/Beware/contests.html)</p>
<p>@franglish: Making and purchasing a Blurb book is totally different from receiving a “vanity anthology” solicitation. Your daughter initiated the process with Blurb, designed her own personal book, and paid for the printing and binding (sort of like a fancy scrapbook). In contrast, the vanity anthology folks are trying to flatter people into spending a (usually outrageous) sum of money in order to have their “award-winning” work printed in a (usually cheap) book that will be circulated among other “winners.”</p>