TheFamous Poets Society (also known as theChristian Poets Guild[1]) was avanity press[2][3] that organized a poetry contest and offered self-publishing services.
Despite the company's claims to have awarded over $425,000 in cash prizes to selected poets over 8 years,[4] nearly all writers who submitted works were accepted regardless of artistic merit, and they were required to buy the anthology (described in oneNBC4 story as resembling a "yearbook" and being printed on "Xerox paper"[5]) in which they appeared in order to receive a copy of it; in addition, they had to pay significant fees to attend the contests' award ceremonies.[6][7] TheWinning Writers website lists the Famous Poets Society as service that aspiring poets should avoid,[1] while an article in theBoston Phoenix described it as an outright scam, stating that its presumptive founder "[had] been preying on the naïveté and vanity of poets for 20 years."[7]
It was felt that poetry was needed now more than ever. It was also felt that there would be no full refunds of the $495 registration fee, in the event of a canceled flight or a distraught flier.