# Content removed, please delete all quotes of my words



## Medea is not a victim type (Jan 22, 2015)

Content removed because I do not consent to VS's absurd and unenforceable terms of service.


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## GeneDoucette (Oct 14, 2014)

I got the same email overnight. My email service said it came from a mailing list, which is not an expectation for an individuated award notification, in my mind. It also didn't say which story. I haven't clicked on the link, but I imagine it leads to a fee-for-submission.


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## Anna Drake (Sep 22, 2014)

Sorry, I received the same email.  Three of us are too many for this thing to be real, I suspect. But at least they wished us Merry Christmas.


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## H.C. (Jul 28, 2016)

Yeah, me too.

I certainly didn't willingly sign up for their list. So I'm curious how I was added.

They make sure to let you know you can add this "nomination" to your editorial reviews. My thought is that they would like to build up their own legitimacy by giving out this "honor" and getting their name on editorial review spaces.


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## FlowerShift (May 25, 2015)

I got it too. Glad I checked here b/c it's obviously spam.

I did go to the site tho. The site looks fine but I doubt award stickers will increase or help sales, or if readers really care about this kind of thing. There's a $14 reading fee to enter the contest. I'm not sure if there are extra costs. So I'll pass on this.


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## PeteTarsi (Dec 15, 2014)

Also got an email. We must all have the same "nominating friend"  

The $14.95 reading fee is nominal compared to other such contests & awards (such as Reader's Favorite or IndieBRAG), so the financial investment isn't anything I'm too concerned about coughing up. Not sure if there'd be much return if I won other than having a book advertised in their publication without knowing how many people look at it.


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Me too. 

Sent from my HUAWEI LYO-L21 using Tapatalk


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## Used To Be BH (Sep 29, 2016)

Should I feel insulted that I didn't get the email? Apparently, I'm not high profile enough to even spam! 

I looked at the website. I don't think the intent is necessarily unethical, but, as we all know, writing contests don't typically affect sales.

The poetry contests are all advertised as free. The short story contest isn't labeled that way, and apparently that one does have a $14 fee. However, the usual scam involves getting "winners" to buy an expensive anthology. All of the anthologies by this organization are available for free download, so it doesn't seem likely that that's part of the process here, and nobody is going to get rich on a $14 fee. Most contests, even ones with decent prizes, are more expensive than that.

I wouldn't enter it, but I'm not seeing a lot of the usual red flags. I suppose there could be some in whatever agreement one makes to enter.


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

At the risk of hijacking an important hashtag, I have to admit:  "me too."

And I do not sign up for mailing lists, so I don't know where they got my info.  Nor do I have any illusions that my little stories got the attention of any type of "literary magazine."

Just someone phishing for info.  Or, if I'm feeling optimistic, trolling for business.


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## LadyG (Sep 3, 2015)

I got it too. The odd thing is that the email came to an address I don't really use very often. I have no idea how that particular email address ended up on a mailing list. Weird.


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## Escapee (Jan 31, 2014)

I received the same email and came straight to Kboards  Since they didn't bother to say which of my 30+ books was nominated I just figured it was a scam.


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## Longtime Lurker (Sep 14, 2016)

I got it too. Thought it was funny that how I had to enter my story after it was "nominated". With a small reading charge of $15.

_Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


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## AlexesR (Feb 19, 2014)

Yep. I got one, too. We all must be amazing writers to have all been nominated at the same time.


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

Got one, too. At first, I was all WOW! YAY for me!  And then... Waaaaait a minute. Let's go check Kboards. 
Sigh...


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## minxmalone (Oct 28, 2012)

I got one too. Hopefully this isn’t the beginning of a deluge of junk mail to my author address


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## A. S. Warwick (Jan 14, 2011)

I also got one.  If they are nominating me then they are getting desperate


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## Joseph Malik (Jul 12, 2016)

I got one, too.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Nominations all around!


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## Sam Kates (Aug 28, 2012)

And another one here. I didn't think for one moment it was genuine, but thought I'd pop here to confirm.


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## Ellie L (Aug 6, 2016)

NOTHING TO SEE HERE


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## DesertRatRose (Nov 4, 2015)

Raising hand. I got one too. But there was no way I was going to click on the link. My first thought was that the email was a virus scam.

_Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


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## Trina Lee (May 4, 2011)

I got it too. I figured it was shady.


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## BrentNichols (Mar 18, 2011)

If anyone wants to send me $15, I'd be happy to announce you've won an exclusive and prestigious award.


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## horst5 (Aug 9, 2013)

Hmm, I received two of them.
The second one came after I deleted the first one.
They are a tenacious bunch, and they keep on wishing me a Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas everyone!


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## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

I got it too. I have multiple email accounts--one for fans, one for promo sites, one connected to my website, one connected to my vendor logins, etc.

This one came to my promo site email. To me, that means it's likely one of the promo sites sold their mailing list.

Also, their email address is .org but their website is .com. Hmm...

Also also, the reading fee quoted me is $19.95. No idea why mine's different from others quoted above.


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## Emiisotherside (Dec 25, 2017)

Aw I'm sad to learn this isn't real, I got this email too and was very excited


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

I got this for one author name but not the other. I agree it's most likely a promo site selling its list.


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## Chris Weston (Jan 16, 2015)

Also received it this morning. It was my email for fans on my website, but always some spammers get a hold of it. Never used it for promo purposes. They're trying to snag some extra reading fees before the year ends.

But anyways, Merry Christmas!


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## Rhino Girl (Dec 25, 2017)

Yes, I got it, too...


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Mark Gardner said:


> Chalk another one up for receiving the email. I'd say it's not a scam _per se_ but if they get a thousand authors paying $15, then it's worth *their* while to actually follow through. I don't pay to enter contests, so I deleted it.


Right. $15 for a seal you can add to your cover is hard to resist. Hmm.

Sent from my HUAWEI LYO-L21 using Tapatalk


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## akrummenacker (Dec 25, 2017)

Guess this means I'm part of the club.  Got the e-mail and for a brief instant felt a twinge of excitement then Mr. Reason came knocking and told me to question things.  I shared my experience on FB and got several responses that led me to this group where lo and behold I find a LOT of us got that e-mail.  

I'm already finding a lot of good advice just under this discussion alone.  Glad to be here.  Lots of great info is available.  Hope I can add to the wisdom over time.

Merry Christmas all.


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## Pacman (Dec 18, 2016)

hand up, me too, not much info on the web about them when I went searching, doesn't seem like they've been around long enough to get much notice from anybody.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

Mine came today. I have an isolated computer that I use to go to questionable sites. This site looks legit. If it's not, somebody went to a lot of trouble building it and collecting stories and poems. It seems to be heavily erotica-oriented, has a strong Facebook presence, and has no scam-related warnings posted that I could find with Google, except for this thread.

No telling where they got this list that includes all our email addresses. Certainly it could have come from KBoards, but we no doubt have a lot of other online writer-related presences in common.


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## Paul Mathews (Jan 16, 2017)

My mailing list email address received this - which I almost never publicise. This suggests that someone may be signing up for mailing lists with the intention of harvesting the emails or is obtaining them by other foul means.

There is an unsubscribe option in the email where you will be asked why you 'unsubscribed'. You can report as spam. Whether it will do any good, I have no idea. But if enough people do it, it may stop. Only takes a couple of seconds.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

Interesting how "we've obtained your email address" translates to "you've been nominated". Scammers and spammers in bookland love to put "New York" in their name and love to open with phrases like "you've been nominated" or "you've been specially selected". My catch-all email addy gets "nominated" for awards every few weeks but it's annoying that the spammers have got hold of my more private address now.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Reported as spam and deleted.


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

The magazine seems legit, as a poetry thing.
The price to enter seems nominal.
I didn't get the email, I'm a nobody, so I hate them anyway! lol.


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## Mia Bishop (Dec 25, 2017)

I got this too, on two different email addresses.


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## Wisescarab (Oct 12, 2017)

I got this too, and there are some issues.

1) The quotes from places like the New York Times are misleading. None of them are referencing this particular award.

2) The quotes from the authors imply that they are referring to this award, when in fact they aren't - some are over 25 years old.

3). None of the books that they have tagged with "best story award," actually won the award. At least, they haven't referenced them. A few _have_ been reviewed by the magazine, but that is the limit of their involvement.

4) The payment option goes to Goodwin Media Group, and not the one based out of Utah. They are blocked by American Express (I contacted them) due to spam.


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## KateDouglas (Dec 25, 2017)

I feel really special--I got two copies of the same letter, sent to each of my email addresses. One thing I noticed is that the return address is to [email protected] and the actual magazine has a .com website. When I went to nyliterarymag.org, I got an "under maintenance" notice. I'm thinking scam as well, especially since it doesn't list what "story" has been nominated. Besides, the bulk of my 66 published titles are erotic paranormal, and for that alone I find it a bit difficult to believe this is a valid request.


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## NYLiteraryMagazine (Dec 25, 2017)

Hello everyone!

Thank you for informing us about the emails you received from nyliterarymag.org.
We are very sorry that these email offended you! 
Please accept our sincere apologies.

We outsourced our marketing to an Asian service to help us spread the word about our Best Story Award contest.
That is why you received this email on Christmas, and at such an unexpected time in the middle of the night.

Unfortunately, it appears this marketing agency made a terrible mistake and chose the wrong terminology when inviting authors to our contest.
We're very sorry if being told you were nominated offended, insulted, angered, or disappointed you.

We have fired this agency and will never hire overseas again.
From now on, we'll very carefully monitor every marketing message sent on our behalf.
Once again, please accept our apologies!

Yes, our magazine is indeed running the "Best Story Award" contest which has a low entry fee.

However, the NY Literary Magazine is not a scammer.
We are a respectable magazine.

It is unfair to call us a scammer, bad mouth us, and blacken our name for no reason.

"Your contest is a scam".
What are these allegations based on?
Simply receiving an email from nyliterarymag.org which said you were nominated for our award does not make our magazine NYLiteraryMagazine.com nor our contest a scam.

Why is our contest a scam?
Is it because our entry fee is so low?
We charge a very low reading fee in order to enable authors from all over the world to join our contest.

We are not scammers. 
The NY Literary Magazine is a legit magazine.
We have worked hard and long to establish our magazine, design each of our print anthologies, write valuable articles to help authors, provide useful resources, and grow our readership.
For two years, we've been running free-to-enter poetry and short story contests and publishing free-to-read digital magazines and print anthologies.

Yes, the Best Story Award contest is the first book contest we're running.
Yes, this book contest has an entry fee. It's not a poetry or short story contest.
Books take much longer to read than poems which is why we charge an entry fee.
It is not uncommon for book contests to charge entry fees.
Most other contests charge far higher entry fees than we do.

*Why does running a contest with an entry fee turn us into a scammer?*

Thank you for sharing your concerns.

The NY Literary Magazine


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## KateDouglas (Dec 25, 2017)

I've just signed up to this board, looking for info about this letter, so if I'm out of line, please let me know--I received them at both my working email addresses. The .org is incorrect for the NY Literary Magazine, which has a .com address at NYLiteraryMag.com, and if you go to the same address with .org, you'll get a page that says it's undergoing maintenance.

Kate Douglas



LilyBLily said:


> Got this email:
> 
> You were nominated for the NY Literary Magazine "Best Story Award"
> 
> ...


_Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


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## NYLiteraryMagazine (Dec 25, 2017)

KateDouglas said:


> I've just signed up to this board, looking for info about this letter, so if I'm out of line, please let me know--I received them at both my working email addresses. The .org is incorrect for the NY Literary Magazine, which has a .com address at NYLiteraryMag.com, and if you go to the same address with .org, you'll get a page that says it's undergoing maintenance.
> 
> Kate Douglas
> 
> _Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


Dear Kate,

Thank you for sharing your concerns.

We agree the emails sent by the marketing agency we hired have misrepresented our magazine and contest.
As mentioned above in our previous post, we apologize!

However, this does not make our contest nor our magazine a "scam".

Yes, we charge an entry fee for our contest.
Most contests charge entry fees. Many book contests charge far higher entry fees.
We charge a very low reading fee in order to enable authors from all over the world to join our contest.

We are not scammers. 
The NY Literary Magazine is a legit magazine.
We have worked hard and long to establish our magazine, design each of our print anthologies, write valuable articles to help authors, provide useful resources, and grow our readership.
For two years, we've been running free-to-enter poetry and short story contests and publishing free-to-read digital magazines and print anthologies.

Why does running a contest with an entry fee turn us into a scammer?

Kind Regards,

The NY Literary Magazine

_Quoted post has been edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Thanks for the reply, nylm. We weren't offended, just suspicious.

Sent from my HUAWEI LYO-L21 using Tapatalk


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## Wisescarab (Oct 12, 2017)

Hmm. Has anyone thought to contact the magazine itself?



> Hello everyone!
> 
> Thank you for informing us about the emails you received from nyliterarymag.org.
> We are very sorry that these email offended you!
> Please accept our sincere apologies.


Not to be that guy, but this smacks of an "English is not my first language," post, and with the use of "offended" actually makes me think it is Asian in nature.

The NY Literary Magazine may be legitimate. But, this also may not be from them. Possibly, it is a spoof.



> The .org is incorrect for the NY Literary Magazine, which has a .com address at NYLiteraryMag.com, and if you go to the same address with .org, you'll get a page that says it's undergoing maintenance.


Yep, what I thought (and alluded to above). I work in Cyber-security. I may dig further.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

NYLiteraryMagazine said:


> We outsourced our marketing to an Asian service to help us spread the word about our Best Story Award contest.


Please share with us the source your Asian publicity firm used to gather the email addresses of us authors. Thank you.


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## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

The denial makes me even more suspicious. The English is poor, especially for something "literary." [So, this is a site] that accepts 200 entries per category per month, meaning $3000 per category per month, and gives out an award that is not recognized by anybody.

_Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2017)

Why are you using deliberately misleading quotes on your website, some of which are 25 years old and were made by authors in reference to completely different competitions?

Why as someone already pointed out, has the payment method been blocked by Amex?

Why is it the quote used from John Macrae was made in 1982 in reference to an entirely different award?

Why is it that the quote you have attributed to agent Juliet Pickering and her agency (both of which are misspelled on the site) was taken from an old blog post about how awards help publishers take on short story collections.

Why is it if you browse the "author success" page, none of those authors seem to ever have won this particular award but their quotes are about entirely different awards?

Honestly there are so many warning signs (before we even get to the *ONLY 200* monthly nominees in our numerous categories!!!) if you fall for this, I have a nice tall metal structure in Paris you might be interested in purchasing...

_Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


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## H.C. (Jul 28, 2016)

@NYLM- By the way, who gave you permission to add me to an email list?

I've never heard of you and certainly didn't join your list willingly. Also, why say we were nominated by a friend, or reader when it was clearly a bought list?


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Folks, a reminder that it's fine to ask tough questions about this contest and the site running it, and it's fine to point out specific inaccuracies, contradictions, weirdnesses, or anything that arouses suspicion. What's not fine is to name-call. If you want to see the thread remain open for further examination of this contest, but you're making the "scammer"/"scam" accusation, that's counterproductive. Focus on the evidence and leave the labels for those reading the thread to affix (or not) in their own minds.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Tilly said:


> Why are you using deliberately misleading quotes on your website, some of which are 25 years old and were made by authors in reference to completely different competitions?
> 
> Why as someone already pointed out, has the payment method been blocked by Amex?
> 
> ...


All this.

Furthermore, it's not unrealistic for writers to assume scam when some mystery site emails us and says "your story has been nominated for an award," then won't say which story and asks for us to submit the story that's apparently already been nominated. Many such scams operate on this kind of "you've already won!" type of messaging.

_Quotation has been edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


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## SMartin (Jul 9, 2014)

One thing I wonder about this Award, is how it can have any merit? This is a monthly thing, with the sign up page going as far to say:

"You can enter the same story again in as many of our monthly contests as you wish.
If you didn't win one contest, you may enter your story again for the next month."

In other words, you can keep putting reading fees into the contest until you're the best in a month?

I would understand if this was a list they did twice a year, but monthly just screams "keep submitting until you're the best for the month."


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

SMartin said:


> One thing I wonder about this Award, is how it can have any merit? This is a monthly thing, with the sign up page going as far to say:
> 
> "You can enter the same story again in as many of our monthly contests as you wish.
> If you didn't win one contest, you may enter your story again for the next month."
> ...


The question that struck me is: If I've been _nominated,_ why do I have to submit anything??


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## Mark Dawson (Mar 24, 2012)

I think the infringement of CAN-SPAM is the most pressing question (although, of course, there are plenty more). You might have employed an agency (doubt it) but you’re still responsible. How did you get my email?


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## Word Fan (Apr 15, 2015)

A little checking [raises suspicions] right away. The address is misspelled; it's "Ogdensburg" not "Ogsenburg" and the real website (https://nyliterarymagazine.com/writing-contests/) says this:

_The NY Literary Magazine runs FREE-to-enter international poetry contests and short story writing contests._

They are the ones who award the "Pushcart Prize," one of the most respected literary awards anywhere.

_Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

KateDouglas said:


> I feel really special--I got two copies of the same letter, sent to each of my email addresses. One thing I noticed is that the return address is to [email protected] and the actual magazine has a .com website. When I went to nyliterarymag.org, I got an "under maintenance" notice. I'm thinking scam as well, especially since it doesn't list what "story" has been nominated. Besides, the bulk of my 66 published titles are erotic paranormal, and for that alone I find it a bit difficult to believe this is a valid request.


.org! I didn't know that, wow. So this person is only pretending to be affiliated with the magazine?


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## GeneDoucette (Oct 14, 2014)

the website was established in 2017, and before yesterday nobody had ever heard of it. The emails announcing we had been 'nominated' for an award already for our 'story' was a bulk mailing list blast that it appears half of the English-speaking world received. I mean, these are the things you look for, as an aware 21st century adult, when determining whether someone is attempting to scam you/


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## Elizabeth Black (Apr 8, 2011)

Count me in. I received the same email to an address I rarely use that not coincidentally received a lot of spam. On Christmas Eve, no less. I was all "OMG! I've been nominated for an award!" and then I saw I had to submit a story. I wondered why would I have to submit something if I've already been nominated. Then I saw the entry fee. What a disappointment. And reading what everyone here said in response to NY Literary Magazine's post makes me wonder even more. I'm very disappointed but I didn't let it ruin my Christmas.


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

Bill Hiatt said:


> I wouldn't enter it, but I'm not seeing a lot of the usual red flags. I suppose there could be some in whatever agreement one makes to enter.


The fact that they are spamming should be a pretty big red flag. Spammers still spam because it takes a tiny fraction of a percentage of those spammed to bite to be profitable. Same thing here at $15 a pop. And imagine what they'll do with your email address once they have you down as a paying.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

Escapee said:


> I received the same email and came straight to Kboards  Since they didn't bother to say which of my 30+ books was nominated I just figured it was a scam.


Yep, same here. Um, which of the 12 titles? And thus it went straight into the Deleted file.


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## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

I got a chuckle out of it.

"You _won_ the contest! You can now click here to _enter_ the contest!"


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Reopening this, following removing of outright accusations of scamming, though not all mentions of the word.

Since name-calling, and the term "scammer" in particular, has been showing up quite a bit on KBoards of late, it seems worth reviewing why we ask members not to engage in this practice. The obvious answer is that we want the tone of the board to be polite and measured, even when vendors/sites are being vetted rigorously. Wrong-doing of all kinds can be identified and explored in great detail without pejorative labels. The evidence that makes you want to apply the label is the essential thing to share. Those who read your evidence, and that provided by other members, can mentally categorize the site or vendor as they see fit.

Beyond that, we've found that name-calling is not productive. Notice how NY Literary Magazine's responses focus so heavily on the question of whether or not the contest is a "scam"? That's what happens when you name-call. The label becomes the focus of the conversation. Should it be, in this case? What if this site really does give out the awards it advertises, so that authors who enter are getting exactly what they paid for: a chance to win the prize that's been described to them. Does that mean there are no potential issues? I don't think it does. It seems to me there are a range of questions that are worth exploring here, even if this magazine is delivering exactly the prizes it advertises, with no hidden costs. It's too easy for more subtle questions to be obscured in the sturm und drang pejorative labels generate.

So, please share your evidence about, experiences with, and analysis of this site/contest, and leave the pejorative labels off. We're all grownups and are capable of slotting sites/vendors into categories on our own, based on what we read here.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

This contest is predatory in the worst way.

Am I allowed to say that? I think it's important that we are allowed (without making things personal) to express an opinion of something. Especially something like this that seeks to prey on our fellow authors.

http://accrispin.blogspot.ie/2017/12/how-not-to-promote-writing-contest-ny.html


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

Writer Beware points out all the concerns you might expect (spam, mass solicitation, entry fee, prize of dubious value/reknown), as well as a few more, calling aspects of the presentation "misleading" and calling into question some of the other author services this company provides: accrispin.blogspot.com/2017/12/how-not-to-promote-writing-contest-ny.html

Try as they might NYLM won't be able to pin all that on an "Asian service"


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## Used To Be BH (Sep 29, 2016)

Alan Petersen said:


> The fact that they are spamming should be a pretty big red flag. Spammers still spam because it takes a tiny fraction of a percentage of those spammed to bite to be profitable. Same thing here at $15 a pop. And imagine what they'll do with your email address once they have you down as a paying.


I was referring to what I could see on the website--which, as it turns out, may not belong to the same organization. That was also a much earlier point in the conversation, when the potential spamming hadn't been raised very much yet.

That said, yes, spamming is a serious concern.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Monique said:


> This contest is predatory in the worst way.
> 
> Am I allowed to say that? I think it's important that we are allowed (without making things personal) to express an opinion of something. Especially something like this that seeks to prey on our fellow authors.
> 
> http://accrispin.blogspot.ie/2017/12/how-not-to-promote-writing-contest-ny.html


Monique, our general feeling is that any given opinion can be expressed with and without pejorative labels, and we ask people to choose the latter approach when expressing their opinions here. We're certainly happy to host links from respected authorities like Writer Beware.


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## TiffanyTurner (Jun 8, 2009)

I've checked through all my emails since I mostly ignored all the generic "Merry Christmas" emails from all the retailers to me. Unless it said something interesting in the heading. Kind of disappointed that I didn't get one of these emails, but happy that I must have not used the promoter or something. But it's good info to have since I've been trying to enter different awards, and yes, I think you have to be careful of the ones that you get info on. This is definitely a good red flag to consider, and the fact all the writers got on the board and talked about it to warn everyone to check. It's pretty easy to make a decision about this contest once you check out the links. 

This is why I like this board so much. Whether a scam or a contest, at least there is enough info for me to check out links and make my own decision. Thank you everyone.


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## Taking my troll a$$ outta here (Apr 8, 2013)

Herefortheride said:


> @NYLM- By the way, who gave you permission to add me to an email list?
> 
> I've never heard of you and certainly didn't join your list willingly. Also, why say we were nominated by a friend, or reader when it was clearly a bought list?


Yes, this, 100%.

@NYLM how did you obtain the emails you sent this email to? Are you Jennifer from NYLM? 

Nevermind. It's all covered here anyway. 


> We outsourced our marketing to an Asian service to help us spread the word about our Best Story Award contest. That is why authors received the marketing email from nyliterarymag.org (which is not our main website) on Christmas night, and at such an unexpected time in the middle of the night.
> 
> Unfortunately, it appears they chose the wrong terminology when inviting authors to our contest. We're very sorry that being told they were nominated for the Best Story Award offended, insulted, angered, or disappointed so many authors.
> 
> We have fired this agency and will monitor each marketing action any one of our team members does extremely closely from now on.


Sheesh, it's not that authors were "offended" by being "nominated". No one was actually nominated for anything, and no one would be offended by a _legitimate_ simple nomination. What is offensive is that the email used deceptive phrasing to solicit paid entries for a contest and additionally used questionable means to obtain the email subscribers they sent it to. Complaining about the unhappy authors who received the email isn't a smart way to diffuse the situation, nor is blaming it on an "Asian service" (although I did see another email where the explanation from NYLM stated it was an "Indian service"). Which, as an aside, really made my skin crawl because there is no reason to use such a label, unless they intended to be disparaging in particular to Asian services as a whole in order to give the "mistake" some sort of explanation. I felt like we were supposed to read the explanation and be like, (smacking my hand on my forehead) "Oh, wow, okay, they used an _Asian service_. I understand now. Oh, okay, that explains it!"


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## C. Gold (Jun 12, 2017)

Word Fan said:


> A little checking [raises suspicions] right away. The address is misspelled; it's "Ogdensburg" not "Ogsenburg" and the real website (https://nyliterarymagazine.com/writing-contests/) says this:
> 
> _The NY Literary Magazine runs FREE-to-enter international poetry contests and short story writing contests._
> 
> They are the ones who award the "Pushcart Prize," one of the most respected literary awards anywhere.


I also found this on their website:
https://nyliterarymagazine.com/best-story-award-contest#1513882518612-55289745-65a9

Near the bottom they say, _After purchasing your entry you will be redirected to a page where you can complete your story submission entry and upload your story in standard digital format (PDF, Word doc, etc.).
_
The actual contest is experiencing technical issues so they've suspended submissions.

It's clear to me that for full length story contests, they charge an entry fee. This looks very legit and is on the .com website.

With that said, the UNSOLICITED email spam is the troubling aspect and why I would be hesitant to participate, if I had received the email. It doesn't look good if this email indeed came from the NY Lit Mag site. I think a far better approach would have been to simply post the contest on Kboards and other author-focused forums and social media groups in order to spread the word without gaining access to emails that clearly weren't collected from the main website.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

C. Gold said:


> It's clear to me that for full length story contests, they charge an entry fee. This looks very legit and is on the .com website.


A very small-time operation, that offers NO discernible benefit to authors, charging for 200 entries per category per month and deliberately using quotes in a misleading way to make it seem as though they are about *their contest* (they're not) is not what I'd call legit. It's a predatory.


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## CynthiaClay (Mar 17, 2017)

I got it too. I clicked the link and at first it said enter your story free. Why enter if already nominated? Then it said read more, so read more, and it claimed I already paid. Checked my Paypal. Nope, no payment to them, thank goodness. Googled them, which led me right here to this thread on the kboards.

_Edited. - Becca_


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## FlynnMcGuin (Apr 26, 2017)

Yeah, I got one too, and like several other commenters am wondering who sold them my name and email address. My, "Merry Christmas and Congratulations" email came to an address that I used recently to download a free ebook from Musestorytelling.org. I'm now getting their emails almost daily. Anybody else here on the MuseStorytelling mailing list? 

btw: I'm not planning to send any hard-earned money to MuseStorytelling!


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## C. Gold (Jun 12, 2017)

Monique said:


> A very small-time operation, that offers NO discernible benefit to authors, charging for 200 entries per category per month and deliberately using quotes in a misleading way to make it seem as though they are about *their contest* (they're not) is not what I'd call legit. It's a predatory.


I was addressing the 'is this email legitimate' issue, not the best practices issue which I think we can agree from the email spam that it could use vast improvement.


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

Just got a new email from NY Lit saying that their business has been ruined, they've fired all their staff, and so on. The whole thing smacks of victim-stance mentality and made me sick. But at least they say I'll never receive another email from them. So there's that.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Not exactly a calm and measured response to crisis. :O


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## Ellen Whyte (Dec 27, 2017)

I received the same email on my three author email accounts, plus two of my work accounts. Thought it was just a scam so deleted them all.

But now they're spamming me again over all my accounts with a whiny "we're destroyed because you're all hateful people" notice. 

I'd never dealt with the company before but I have to say, they're really going about this in a lousy way. 

I'm saving this to use as a case study for a "What not to do" class in marketing/PR.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

If NY Literary Magazine is still reading this thread, I'd like to respond to their email about how they're destroyed because of people calling foul on these kinds of tactics:

Tough.

Maybe you're completely innocent. Maybe it really was all down to this Asian marketing service. But if you're outsourcing the writing of your emails (and compiling of your email lists) to a third-party, then here's the thing: they're writing under _YOUR_ name. If you're giving them access to your email accounts, that's a tacit endorsement of their tactics. I would _never_ allow a third-party to send an email to my list that I haven't read and approved. That's just common sense.

And playing the victim and getting defensive against authors is just going to give you a bad name. What did you expect would happen after you sent out that email and posted that message on KBoards attacking authors? Did you think they would all shrug and enroll en masse in your contest?

Please.

Take responsibility for your actions. It's your business, your name, the buck stops with you.


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## katie78 (Nov 21, 2017)

yep, got it. they're attempting to make money off of all the desperate  indie writers out there. it is a lucrative business, i suspect.


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## C. Gold (Jun 12, 2017)

katie78 said:


> yep, got it. they're attempting to make money off of all the desperate indie writers out there. it is a lucrative business, i suspect.


Pff. I'm not THAT desperate!


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## Rose Andrews (Jun 1, 2017)

I must totally suck because I didn't get an email!


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## katie78 (Nov 21, 2017)

David VanDyke said:


> The denial makes me even more suspicious. The English is poor, especially for something "literary." [So, this is a site] that accepts 200 entries per category per month, meaning $3000 per category per month, and gives out an award that is not recognized by anybody.
> 
> _Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


yep. and the outsourced marketing firm is to blame for the misleading 'terminology' AND the multiple false advertising quotes?

so, how did you collect our emails?


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

I think those of us who didn't get the email are those whose email addresses they didn't have.

This reminds me of the Readers' Digest grand draw, where they send a notice to everyone in the United Kingdom informing them that they have come through the first stage of their draw. What they don't tell you is that the first stage is simply existing; the second stage is being known to RD.

This is the same. If you didn't get nominated, it's because they haven't discovered you exist.


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## H.C. (Jul 28, 2016)

That last email from NYLM was nasty! 

Didn’t take any personal responsibility for this massive failure and made no mention of where they bought my email address. 

And then blamed authors who had concerns about the predatory nature of the nominations.

Somehow this forces them to fire their entire staff and close shop?

This is likely just going to be a rebranding. Look out for the leader of the blog site. I don’t like how she has treated us.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

I've noticed many of these dubious services have a tendency to play victim and lay down guilt trips when they're caught red-handed.


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## C. Gold (Jun 12, 2017)

Foz meadows' blog makes a good point. They sent out an email claiming they had to fire 'all ten' employees. Yet, that wouldn't be enough people to read 200 novels in 11 categories each month which is what they were claiming they did and handed out awards based on merit.


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## H.C. (Jul 28, 2016)

C. Gold said:


> Foz meadows' blog makes a good point. They sent out an email claiming they had to fire 'all ten' employees. Yet, that wouldn't be enough people to read 200 novels in 11 categories each month which is what they were claiming they did and handed out awards based on merit.


Yep, keep pulling on the string and the whole thing unravels.

I counted 8 categories, is that right? At 200 per category they were claiming ten employees(some wouldn't have been readers) are capable of reading and qualifying 1600 stories EACH month?


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

katie78 said:


> yep. and the outsourced marketing firm is to blame for the misleading 'terminology' AND the multiple false advertising quotes?
> 
> *so, how did you collect our emails?*


I still want to know this, too. As I mentioned earlier, I rarely sign up for anything, and definitely not in the past year or two.


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## H.C. (Jul 28, 2016)

Jena H said:


> I still want to know this, too. As I mentioned earlier, I rarely sign up for anything, and definitely not in the past year or two.


I'm surely missing something but since I haven't started any promotion yet (I will soon, as my third book releases!) it couldn't have been a promo site.

I can only think of Instafreebie and Kboards as places that would have my email as a known writer's email as well as having a big list. Not saying that either Kboards or Instafreebie did sell out our emails but those are the two main places I associate with authors which would have my email address.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

Do you have mailing lists? If someone signs up for mine, they get links to free books and an email address in case things don't go smoothly. That could be a way they got them.


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## jeremyflagg (Oct 28, 2016)

Got this today as a follow up..... question bit much? Passive Aggressive?

Re: NY Literary Magazine Scam
Dear Author,

This is an official email from the NY Literary Magazine (NYLiteraryMagazine.com) regarding the Best Story Award contest, the nomination emails, the scam complaints, and the cyberbullying attacks upon our authors and our magazine. (This is the last email you will ever receive from us.)

What is this about?
On Christmas, an email was sent from NYLiteraryMag.org telling authors they were nominated for the Best Story Award contest and inviting them to submit their book to our contest.
It appears these emails angered people and caused them to believe our contest is a scam.

We would like to apologize for any annoyance, confusion, disappointment, or aggravation which the marketing email you received on Christmas may have caused you.

Additionally, there have been many inaccurate accusations circling around and cyberbully attacks upon authors who were awarded our award.
This has ruined our business and caused us to permanently shut down our magazine and contests.
Everyone who purchased an entry into our contest has been refunded.

After years of work on this magazine, we have had to fire our entire team of loyal, hard-working, full-time employees.

Who are we?
The NY Literary Magazine was a print and digital magazine.
We published free-to-read digital poetry anthologies, ran free-to-enter short story contests and poetry contests, interviewed authors, and wrote helpful articles. 

The scam allegations are regarding an email sent out from NYLiteraryMag.org about our "Best Story Award" contest.
This is indeed a book contest we started and were running on our website with an extremely affordable reading fee.

What happened?
Regretfully, we outsourced our marketing to an Asian company to help us spread the word about our Best Story Award contest.
We believed they were experts and could help us reach authors.
It was our terrible mistake to entrust the entire marketing campaign in their hands including the marketing methods, approach, and text. 
They sent out a marketing email on our behalf, from an email at nyliterarymag.org, at an unexpected time for USA time zone on Christmas. 

Unfortunately, it appears they chose the wrong approach and terminology when inviting authors to our contest by telling them they were nominated instead of simply informing them of our contest and inviting them to join it.
It was our terrible mistake not to closely supervise and monitor each marketing action they did and the text they used. 

For other businesses such as VIP Entrepreneur clubs (with ~$1,000 annual membership fees), sending a nomination email instead of an invite to join their clubs worked very well. Our marketing agency, therefore, presumed this was a good way to approach authors as well. They even thought that authors who didn't want to/couldn't afford the $15 entry fee to our contest would still be happy to be nominated and be able to mention it in their bio. 
They did not think there would be an issue with nominating multiple authors.
Nor did they think it would annoy authors to be nominated.

We apologize to all the authors who feel they were misled by being nominated.

In reply to the inaccurate accusations:

We are shocked at the number of inaccurate allegations which are circling on social media regarding us, our magazine, our anthologies, and contest. To make matters worse, some forum threads are locked and comments disabled on websites so we can't even answer the accusations.

"The award seal is fake."
The award seal is a PNG image. What exactly can be fake or "real" about a PNG image?
We never claimed winners would receive a physical, solid gold sticker for their book.

"You're selling award seals for $15. Everyone is an award winner, you just have to buy the award to win."
These accusations are completely false. We are not selling award seals. We never have and we never will.
Nowhere on the sales page does it say we're selling award seals.
$14.95 was the initial entry fee (which was later raised to $19.95) for the contest. Award winners were to receive an award seal for free. 
Stating "everyone is a winner" is also false. We have 1 winner per month per genre.
Obviously, those spreading these false accusations and outright lies didn't even visit the website or the contest's page.

"The nomination email came from a mailing list. Only scammers use mailing lists!"
It takes a lot of time to contact people one by one. Even authors use mailing services to contact all their readers in one go rather than sitting for days sending individual emails.

"The authors you say won an award don't have it on their book covers. It's a scam! They didn't really win!"
It is up to the award-winners if and how they choose to use our award seal.
All we do is inform the winners. Whether or not they choose to use our award seal is up to them.
We showed 3 examples of how awards CAN be used on a book's cover for illustration purposes.

"Their free contests prove they're scammers. It's a trick, a way to make you like their magazine."
Interesting. So we're a "scammer" if we charge entry fees and we're a scammer if we don't charge entry fees.
Hard to please everyone. At least our poetry contest winners were happy when they won our free-to-enter contests.

"They say you were nominated but have to pay to be nominated."
Authors nominated were not required to pay anything to be nominated.
Some nominated authors posted the picture of our trophy statute they were nominated for and used it for their marketing without paying to enter our contest. They didn't have to pay to be nominated.
If they did not want to enter our contest, they did not have to. No one was forced to enter.
Those who wished to have a chance to win the awards paid the low entry fee and entered their book.

"Your contest is a scam. You are stealing people's money."
Some authors think our contest and magazine is a scam due to the marketing email they received about being nominated. 
Our contest was a normal book contest with a low entry fee.
Many contests have entry fees. Whether or not the marketing email was misleading or annoying is another matter but that does not turn our entire magazine and contest into a scam.

"There is no submission page! It's a scam!"
Due to a PayPal IPN issue, clients who purchased an entry were not automatically redirected to the contest submission page. Moreover, after many people reported us as spammers, our confirmation emails no longer reached our clients' inboxes.



We have been dealing for the past days with hundreds of support tickets.
Each of our clients has been given the URL to the submission page where they successfully managed to submit their work, while we worked on fixing the IPN and form issue. It was only today that we realized what the issue was after PayPal sent us the email you see us above.

There is a contest submission page. People have been using it to submit their work.
These allegations that there is no submission page are false.

"Your stealing money! People can enter the same contest for free on another page on your site."
Someone claimed our Best Story Award contest (which is a full-length story/book contest) is the exact same contest as our free-to-enter short fiction story contest. These two contests are completely different. One is for books the other for short fiction stories up to 2,000 words. Seemingly, this person did not visit the contest page or bother verifying facts.

"Stop trying to pretend you're a literary agency!"
This comment which was posted on our "List of 20 Top Literary Agents Representing Fiction Authors" really surprised us. 
The article is a resource listing 20 top literary agents with contacts to them or links to their websites.
Nowhere on or off our site did we ever claim to be a literary agency in any form or manner. We are not a literary agency. We are a magazine.

"Scammers always put "NY" in their name. It's a red alert flag."
NY is one of the biggest publishing centers. We had no idea the city/state's name has a reputation as a scammer. That person should perhaps inform the NY Times to change their name and branding as well.

"The reviews you quote from authors are fake! They didn't enter your contest. You're using them to bait others."
The authors who were featured on our sales page were all indeed awarded the "Best Story Award" by our magazine.
Yes, they did not pay to enter this contest. They submitted their book for review to our magazine on their own accord at some point during 2017. 
We awarded them this honor because we believe their book is great and they deserve the award.
We have a right to award an award to anyone we want to.
We quoted exactly what they said in reply to our email in which we told them they won our award.
We did not quote anything which they did not say. We did not invent, modify, or add anything to what they said.

"On the PayPal receipt, it says Goodwin Media Group not NY Literary Magazine! Scaaaaam!"
Yes, the magazine is run under the umbrella of Goodwin Media Group (GMG). Many websites are owned by companies which have different names than the actual website domain name. We informed our customers on the thank you page after payment that they would see GMG on their PayPal receipt.

"The quotes on your page are fake."
We have a section talking in general about how winning an award can help an author.
We quoted what various reliable sources such as The Independent Publisher and others have to say about how winning an award or being placed in contests is helpful for an author's career, for their credibility, and for getting more sales etc.
We quoted true facts about winning awards and contests in general. We did not lie and say this is what they said about our contest.

"Your anthologies are fake."
There is nothing fake about our anthologies. They are filled with original art and with poems written by real people who submitted their work to our mag and were overjoyed about being published. We even offer the anthologies in a free-to-read digital format.

Since the founding of the NY Literary Magazine, we have worked long and hard to turn it into a beloved and respectable magazine. We worked hard to design each of our free-to-read anthologies, read through thousands of free poetry and short story submissions, write articles to help authors, provide useful resources, and grow our readership. We did all this work in the past years at our own cost.

"You hired an Asian provider. Ha! That proves you're scammer."
American marketing agencies charge extremely high fees. 
Many companies outsource their marketing to Asia/India.
There are tens of thousands of Asian marketing companies on sites such as Upwork.com
It is very hard to know who is good or not.
Simply hiring an Asian marketing company does not make us a scammer. 
If an author hires a Phillipino assistant for $300/mo to answer emails, this doesn't make the author a scammer either.

"The poor Asians! All the scammers always blame them."
We are not the only company who has had bad experiences with outsourced providers.
It's a matter of luck.
Yes, we know we made a mistake by not monitoring all the marketing campaigns.
But that one wrongly worded email does not make us scammers.

A big apology to all the authors who are suffering due to the lies spread about them "buying" an award seal from us...

For two years, we've been running free-to-enter poetry and short story contests and publishing free-to-read digital magazines and print anthologies. We even spent time training and monitoring 20 interns who read through thousands of free poetry submissions this summer.

We made tens of writers around the world happy. Writers published by our magazine sent us heartwarming thank you notes. Some said being published is what gave them the strength to continue writing especially after receiving discouraging letters from agents and publishers they contacted.
Others from extremely poor countries (Nigeria, Botswana, India) were overjoyed to have an opportunity to submit their work for free to a magazine and to have their voices heard.
We featured writers of every nationality, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
Even our interns enjoyed working for us and were grateful for all the things they learned.

Since our anthologies are free, our poetry contests are free, and submissions to our magazine are free, we needed a way to sustain our magazine for the future, which is why we launched the Best Story Award contest. 

We are completely devastated and shattered from the extent of hate mail, comments, messages, tweets, lies and false accusations that were posted online which have totally blackened our name and destroyed our magazine - all based on a single email with one wrongly-worded sentence.

It's shocking how many people have posted blatant lies which weren't based on any facts and how many more people have shared, retweeted, and quoted those lies without ever checking to see if it's true or at least visiting our website.

Worse still, it is truly horrible to see how cruel some humans can be.
Some unsuccessful, jealous authors are spending days contacting the fans of authors who won an award from us or received a book review, telling their fans lies in an attempt to ruin the author's reputation, turn their readers against them, destroy years of their hard work to build up their careers and readership, and ruin their lives for no reason and under the guise of "saving them from a scam".

We love our authors and feel terrible to hear what some of them are going through thanks to these misguided people!
This has been a heartbreaking Christmas. 

We hope those people who spread the lies and worked so hard to destroy honest people's lives are now satisfied.
We have closed our contest. Refunded everyone who entered. 
There will be no more free-to-enter contests. No more free-to-read anthologies.
No more articles. No more anything.

We had the heartbreaking task of firing our team of loyal, hard-working employees. 10 people are now jobless after Christmas.

Please leave the poor authors alone. They did nothing wrong by receiving a book review from our magazine or receiving an award from us. Stop ruining their lives for no reason. Go work on your book instead.

To all the rest of you, we wish you all the best success in your career and a happy life!


Sincerely,

The NY Literary Magazine Team





Copyright © 2017 NY Literary Magazine, All rights reserved.
This is the last email you will ever receive from the NY Literary Magazine.

Our mailing address is:
NY Literary Magazine
Unit 31321 808 Commerce Park Drive
Ogdensburg, NY 13669

Add us to your address book


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

Since when have legitimate queries about aspects of a company been cyberbullying?

I don't know about anyone else, but if I had spent years building up a magazine and a reputation, the last thing I would do would be to outsource the mailing list bit to a country whose first language is not English.


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Doglover said:


> Do you have mailing lists? If someone signs up for mine, they get links to free books and an email address in case things don't go smoothly. That could be a way they got them.


No mailing list in my case.


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

Got the email on Christmas Day. I ignored it because:

It didn't use my author name.

It didn't mention the title of my book.

It didn't tell me how I was nominated e.g. reader surveys, jury, etc.

Then, I got the second email yesterday.

Red flags galore: would not really accept responsibility, blamed everyone else for the bad decision, made ridiculous claims, overly verbose (me thinks the lady doth protest too much...)

Totally confirmed my first suspicion.

_Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


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## Guest (Dec 27, 2017)

Perry Constantine said:


> Maybe you're completely innocent. Maybe it really was all down to this Asian marketing service. But if you're outsourcing the writing of your emails (and compiling of your email lists) to a third-party, then here's the thing: they're writing under _YOUR_ name. If you're giving them access to your email accounts, that's a tacit endorsement of their tactics. I would _never_ allow a third-party to send an email to my list that I haven't read and approved. That's just common sense.


Exactly. I work in contract packaging. We do a lot of creative work for other companies. The number of eyes that have to approve so much as a shipper label is over a dozen. As a business, the responsibility is on the business to review anything going out in your name from a vendor you hire. It is YOUR reputation on the line.

But here is the thing...if...IF a company is as widely respected and prestigious as the site owner contends, this one issue would not have forced them to close their doors. You would have issued a press release that said, "We apologize. Our vendor sent out an email that was not reviewed first. We regret that this happened." And, because your reputation was what you claim it to be, all would have been forgiven. If your company is destroyed by something like this then you were already blowing smoke regarding your influence and respect in the industry. A company that already has wide industry respect wouldn't be destroyed by a single errant email.

It would have been embarrassed, but this was a manageable PR problem. The ridiculous level of aggressiveness and victimhood in the replies here really indicates the lack of professionalism behind the site. The responses here made the situation worse by trying to shift blame to those who received the spam in the first place instead of owning the problem, apologizing, and DROPPING THE DISCUSSION.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

FWIW: 

The domain name nyliterarymagazine.com has its registration info hidden with a Denver shield company named Domain Protection Services, Inc. The domain was registered in June 2016 and expires in June 2018.

The domain name nyliterarymag.org is similarly protected and was registered in October 2017.


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## FlynnMcGuin (Apr 26, 2017)

I've dealt with a number of scammers in my lifetime. Here's a few things they all seem to have in common when confronted or questioned:

- Playing the victim, supposedly not understanding why anyone would "demonize" them (for no reason whatsoever except to be mean).
- Blaming their failures on others (did you notice it was not just the "Asian" company that screwed up but also PayPal?). 
- Contradicting themselves--(they had to fire all their employees and shut down the business. Also, they are processing hundreds of service tickets.)
- As others have pointed out, the math doesn't add up--10 employees "reviewing" 100's of titles.

Another thing that doesn't ring true is timing: The "Big Crisis" occurs on Dec. 25; by Dec 27 they have made the decision to shut down their "perfectly legitimate" company (all because it was destroyed by mean people)? 

If you have been fortunate enough to never have been ripped off by dishonest operators, here is a text-book demonstration of what to look out for.


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

jeremyflagg said:


> Got this today as a follow up..... question bit much? Passive Aggressive?
> 
> Re: NY Literary Magazine Scam
> Dear Author,
> ...


Holy crap! That's a metric [crap]-ton of deflective writing. If they'd put as much work into their "work" as they did that email, they might have lasted a day or two longer.

_Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


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## katie78 (Nov 21, 2017)

did anyone else notice that in their super unprofessional victim letter, they're STILL claiming we were 'nominated' and could use that 'nomination' as a promotional tool. "i was spammed by NYLM. buy my book!'


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Someone else cleverly pointed out that the "how they got our emails to spam" issue was not only never addressed, but it seems unlikely that this "Asian company" manufactured/bought the list and then shared that same list with NYLit to send out their not-so-mea-culpa letter.

I know I'll be watching them closely to see if they really do shut down.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

I was feeling left out until I checked my spam filter on gmail. There it was!   So, it looks like we were all nominated. What a talented bunch we are!


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## The Wyoming Kid (Jun 18, 2017)

Ogdensburg is a town in the northernmost extremities of New York State, way up on the Canadian border. Sounds like someone is trolling for "entrants" into a "contest" he dreamed up so he could make a few hundred bucks from unsuspecting writers who think the "NY Literary Magazine" is some legitimate operation. He'll collect the money, declare a winner, and send him/her some phony certificate he had printed up to make it look "official".

_edited; PM if you have questions -- Ann_


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## SMartin (Jul 9, 2014)

OKay, I've slept a bit, but now I'm confused.

They sent out the "you've been nominated!" then they sent the gaslighting apology, claiming that would be the last one.

Now there's a third email, after they claimed they'd never email again? And they're still going?


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

What's the third email?


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## Word Fan (Apr 15, 2015)

I was wrong earlier (can you believe it?). The "Pushcart Prize" is awarded by the Pushcart Press (makes sense), not these goofy people.

Which just goes to show you that you can't believe everything that you look up and find on the Internet (can you believe it?). I guess that you have to research your research.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Wow. Can’t believe I somehow missed out on this one.  Guess that means I’m an untalented loser. 

Oh well.


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## Jim Johnson (Jan 4, 2011)

Rick Gualtieri said:


> Wow. Can't believe I somehow missed out on this one. Guess that means I'm an untalented loser.
> 
> Oh well.


Well, you know that's not true. How's your spam filter? The email I got went straight there. I'd heard about the scam through FB peeps, so didn't even see a need to open the email.


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## TiffanyTurner (Jun 8, 2009)

Checked my spam filter, and I still didn't find it. Guess I'm talentless too.

But I have to say, I've never seen a legitimate contest or business write such a whinny letter. Most magazines/businesses would want to apologize and move on. But to say they closed down and lost employees? It must mean the gig is up, and they are closing down shop to open up another store front to do the same thing. I don't think ANY legitimate business or magazine would write an email like that. We're always on-line telling authors not to respond to their reviews like this. So, it's really unprofessional for a magazine/business to do it. SO, basically, I don't believe the email.


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## 39416 (Mar 18, 2011)

It's really inspiring though that we, the self-pubbing community, shut this thing down. Now if we could only do something about KU's Page Flip...


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## A Dark Path (Aug 24, 2015)

loraininflorida said:


> It's really inspiring though that we, the self-pubbing community, shut this thing down. Now if we could only do something about KU's Page Flip...


But did we really shut it down? More likely we only shut it down until the next time. I received the email on the 25th, and I definitely had a flash of deja vu when I saw that magnificent statuette.


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## Nicholas Andrews (Sep 8, 2011)

Why does this whole thing bring the lyrics from "Shakedown" by Bob Seger to mind?


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2017)

Word Fan said:


> I was wrong earlier (can you believe it?). The "Pushcart Prize" is awarded by the Pushcart Press (makes sense), not these goofy people.


What they are doing is using the fact that they send five nominations to The Pushcart Prize every year as a 'selling point." But any publisher can submit works for consideration for The Pushcart. Being NOMINATED is thoughtful...if the publisher is doing so because they genuinely believe your work has merit. But using that fact as a selling point to justify your contests? That is slimy.


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## Anna Drake (Sep 22, 2014)

Oh golly, reading these posts is the most fun I've had in a long time. Way to so Kindle Boards, keeping Indie Authors informed by linking us together.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

The tone-deaf name "New York Literary Magazine" should've been a dead give-away. Like Disco Stu, literary magazines don't advertise--might as well have called it "The Prestigious Content Periodical."


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2017)

WHDean said:


> The tone-deaf name "New York Literary Magazine" should've been a dead give-away. Like Disco Stu, literary magazines don't advertise--might as well have called it "The Prestigious Content Periodical."


So what you are saying is, I shouldn't rename _The Bards and Sages Quarterly_ the _Most Awesome Literary Journal of the Best Speculative Fiction_?


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## Valerie A. (Dec 31, 2016)

The Wyoming Kid said:


> Ogdensburg is a town in the northernmost extremities of New York State, way up on the Canadian border.


Then how come I never got my bloody email? I'm all the way IN Canada.


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## Valerie A. (Dec 31, 2016)

WHDean said:


> The tone-deaf name "New York Literary Magazine" should've been a dead give-away. Like Disco Stu, literary magazines don't advertise--might as well have called it "The Prestigious Content Periodical."


Or, the Monthly Periodical..?


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## Joseph Malik (Jul 12, 2016)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> So what you are saying is, I shouldn't rename _The Bards and Sages Quarterly_ the _Most Awesome Literary Journal of the Best Speculative Fiction_?


I think we're saying you totally should.


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

FlynnMcGuin said:


> I've dealt with a number of scammers in my lifetime. Here's a few things they all seem to have in common when confronted or questioned:
> 
> - Playing the victim, supposedly not understanding why anyone would "demonize" them (for no reason whatsoever except to be mean).
> - Blaming their failures on others (did you notice it was not just the "Asian" company that screwed up but also PayPal?).
> - Contradicting themselves--(they had to fire all their employees and shut down the business. Also, they are processing hundreds of service tickets.)


Yes, that's what scammers do. Think about it!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I feel like a lot of the most recent posts are just piling on . . . admittedly many with a level of humor. Still, if you have new, relevant _facts_ to share, please do. Otherwise, there are lots of other threads.

Thanks.


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