There is nothing wrong with a vanity press…as long as they don’t try to pass themselves off as something else…and unfortunately, this company tries to do just that. One man sent in a poem generated with random words and received the same reply. It is unfortunate that they have gone in this direction, because they started out as a publisher who actually held contests and judged poems on their merits. However, they discovered that since everyone wishes to be published, they could make more money by just publishing collections of poems to everyone who submits them.

If you order a book that contains your poem, I will just about guarantee your poem will be found on page 1. If you order multiple copies, you’ll get multiple copies of the same book. However, if your neighbor orders the same book (assuming they too submitted a poem), you’ll find that "their" poem is on page 1 and your poem might not even be in the book.

I have submitted poems to this company early in my career…so I speak from experience. Now that I understand how they work, I try to let others know what’s going on. However, if you want a very nice, hard bound book with your poem on page 1, then by all means order one. They are printed on demand, so there is no "stock" of books. You’ll also note that there is no library of congress number associated with their books, and that you’ll never find their books "in stores", because there is no stock of books. This reduces their costs, provides you a handsome book with your poem in it at a reasonable cost to you.

So, that’s the long and short of it. Poetry.com is the publisher’s clearing house of poetry…sad, but true.
References :
Edtior, New Poets Press