Online Writing Contests Scams

When it comes to breaking into print writing contests are a good way to get noticed. For the novice writer however they are also a good way to get scammed. How do you know if you have never entered into a writing contest before what is legitimate and what is a scam?

Research is your best answer when it comes to understanding what is a legitimate contest and what is a scam. Writing forums and online groups frequently compile lists of known scams. Along with words of advice for new users.

One such site writes that contests that cost money to enter almost always scams. However since Writer's Digest Magazine has had a contest for the last eighty years it is arguable that not all contests that have entry fees are scams. Reputation is everything when it comes to these contests.

In the May 2011 issue of Writers Magazine there is a list of over seventy contests that are currently going on, with entry fees varying from no fee to $5, $10, and even up to $25 per entry. About.com, lists some criteria that they try to follow when determining whether or not a contest is a scam, these include whether or not there is a fee, where that fee goes to, what the winner of the contest gets.

Basing whether or not a contest is legitimate on what the contestants get however isn't always an accurate judge, how many of us entered the Poetry Contest of America as children or young adults and were told that our poetry was published in an anthology, in order to get this anthology we simply had to pay the $19.95 plus shipping and handling? Automatically winning the contest, and it would only cost an additional twenty dollars.

Is an excellent site, highlighting what contests are scams and which ones are legitimate. Going through that site is a must for anyone prior to entering a contest. They don't come right out and say that certain contests are scams instead not recommending contests that charge a fee, the only one listed as a known scam is one that was run on Craigslist.

There is the buyer beware, if it sounds to good to be true it probably is.