The fraudster in an F-Type accused of ripping off parents in child writer ruse
IT WOULD be a moment to make any parent proud: having a poem or story their child wrote selected for publication after entering a competition.
But the Young Writers scheme, which runs across 7,000 schools in Britain, has been branded a ‘manipulative, immoral’ ruse to part proud parents from their cash.
For it is claimed that sometimes almost every entrant is chosen, putting pressure on thousands of parents to buy £15.99 books containing the work.
The competition is run by a company owned by a convicted fraudster with an expensive taste in cars, fuelling parents’ suspicions.
Clare Mackintosh, herself a successful thriller writer, said her pride that her daughter had been selected turned to ‘alarm bells’ when she found out more.
Her ten-year-old rushed home excitedly brandishing a letter about winning a creative writing competition, but Ms Mackintosh, whose novels have sold more than two million copies, explained: ‘The letter stated my daughter’s story had been “chosen for publication” but the reality is that practically every entry is chosen.
‘All I have to do is sign the permission slip, on the reverse of which is a handy order form, with which I can order the finished anthology at an eye-watering £15.99 per paperback copy. Young Writers is not a scam in the strictest sense of the word, but it is unethical.
‘Relatives aren’t compelled to buy a vastly overpriced book, but the combined effects of peer pressure and emotional blackmail mean most of them will. There is little or no selection process – this is vanity publishing, not a competition.’
Hertfordshire father Steve Berry, 47, called the competition ‘manipulative and immoral’. He said: ‘My daughter came running home from school and said, “My poem has been published in a book.” I was delighted and said, “Well done, sweetie, that’s amazing.” Then she produced the order form which says that you can buy the book for £15.99.
‘I started thinking, “Hang on a minute…” I was furious when I discovered almost every other pupil in her class had also won. Out of 30, about 26 of them are published. The whole thing is just a ruse.’
Last night the National Association for Primary Education said: ‘We have some concerns that there are publishers who exploit parents’ goodwill for the benefit of selling their books.’
The company that publishes the children’s work, Bonacia, is run by Ian Walton, 69, who was given a suspended sentence of 16 months in Spain a year ago for fraud and instructed to pay back £150,000 to parents who had ordered books that never arrived.
He previously ran Young Writers through the company Forward Press, but that went into voluntary liquidation in 2010 owing £1.6million and leading to 70 redundancies. But just three days later, Bonacia controversially bought the rights to Young Writers for just £1. Bonacia has made £700,000 profits since it was formed in 2005.
Walton, who started Young Writers in 1991, lives in a £500,000 period cottage in rural Cambridgeshire, where he was recently seen driving a 2017 F-Type Jaguar, worth up to £50,000.
His daughter, Morgan, now runs the Young Writers scheme. She denied it was ‘immoral’, saying: ‘We try our hardest to make sure parents do not feel like they have to buy a book. However, as a parent myself, we feel pressure on a daily basis to spend money on our children.
‘I, for one, would much rather spend my £15.99 on something that encouraged my daughter over the latest fad item.
‘We are clear there is no obligation to buy the book and provide the school with a free copy of the book their pupils feature in so all children can see their work in print.’