Pay to Play Publications

[lboocks]

So I get this email (below) and my web stats show this person was a legit visitor to my site. Has anyone ever worked with them?

I visited your portfolio and I liked your work, so I would like to invite you to submit art for inclusion in Volume VI of "International Contemporary Masters”, a leading juried annual art publication presenting noteworthy artists from all over the world.
 
Please note that this is not a free inclusion. If you are interested I will send you more information or you can visit the link: http://wwab.us/index.php/Masters-Application/
To get an idea of the quality of our publications you can view our previous books at the link above.
 
Artists who apply for inclusion in the Masters book can also apply for free inclusion in another juried publication of ours, "Important Artists of the World". Please do not confuse “International Contemporary Masters” with "Important Artists of the World". They are different books!

Participation Fees

    One page — US $985.00
    Two pages — US $1,485.00
    Three pages  — US $ 1,985.00
    Four pages US  — 2,485.00
    Five pages US — $2,985.00
    Six pages US — $3,485.00

APPLY NOW FOR VOLUME 6 AND PAY IN 10 MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS

[dbstovall]

I took a look and it appears to be the standard "pay lots of $ but get little exposure."  There is a discussion of this outfit here: http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=630593.  The key is to find out if anyone is paying any attention to this publication - if not, run.

[BarryS]

These guys are basically scammers that "harvest" artists and pitch them to be in a book that no one reads for an insane placement fee.  Always have your guard up for outright scams.  As it is, there are tons of questionable galleries raking in application fees with no prospect of any return for the artist.

[Jesse]

Wow.  Big bucks, sounds like you might be better off buying an add in a real publication. 

[lboocks]

Thanks, everyone! I was definitely suspicious. When Googling them, I saw conflicting info.

[ReneeW]

This reminds me of those 'Who's Who' books where you have to pay a fee to be included. I agree for that amount of money, you could get a lot more exposure elsewhere. There are also publications and sites that have juried publications both online and offline. And there are plenty of juried contests where the entry fee is no where near what they are charging.