UKC

I just had this email and am not sure if it's a wind up/scam etc:

Dear ME
I am writing on behalf of the German publishing house, VDM Verlag Dr. Müller AG & Co. KG.
In the course of a research on the Internet, I came across a reference to your thesis on "Military and civil implications of a UK civil-military culture gap : culture, values and belief". We are a German-based publisher whose aim is to make academic research available to a wider audience. VDM Verlag would be especially interested in publishing your dissertation in the form of a printed book.

Your reply including an e-mail address to which I can send an e-mail with further information in an attachment will be greatly appreciated.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely yours

NAME REMOVED
Acquisition Editor

VDM Publishing House Ltd.

17, Meldrum Str. | Beau-Bassin | Mauritius
Tel / Fax-publishing-house.com | www.vdm-publishing.com

In reply to hindu:

Quickly set up a hotmail account. Send them that, if its dodgy, close it down.

In reply to hindu: I suspect it may prove to be a vanity publishing house. Legit, as far as it goes, but will suddenly expect you to pay for the publishing

Have a look at this forum page

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,45997.0.html

Looks like they are legit, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't bin the email anyway.

In reply to hindu:

http://www.vdm-publishing.com/ and there's quite a bit on other fora if you google VDM Verlag Dr. Müller

In reply to toad:

Spot on!

There is no money in thesis publishing though - tiny print runs and few paying customers - however I am still gob-smacked by how bad the contracts usually are. However, assuming you are interested in getting your thesis published, then you may not have any other option. Be very careful with the small print on the deal though since the amount you pay varies from publisher to publisher. Also, my wife informs me that there is a very definite and crucial kudos attached to who the publisher is, hence going cheap sometimes isn't advisable either if it is with some cowboy outfit that doesn't cut the mustard in the academic circle.


Alan

In reply to hindu:

Having worked in academic publishing, I'd say it's possible way for editors to acquire new titles and authors. However, I always thought that PhD theses were a particularly poor source of new titles, as they are, by definition, very specialist and hence have a very small market.

If you're keen to see your thesis published, this might be a route. However, if they even hint at asking you for money, terminate the correspondence.

In reply to hindu: Did you write said paper and why do they need your email address if they managed to send you an email?

In reply to Jon Dittman:

I did write the thing and it was bad enough writing it let alone expecting anyone other than the marker to read it!

I've given them my gash gmail account and will see what they send through. Limited research makes it look legit but not a very good deal.

Thanks for the replys.

In reply to tony:

The market is the person who wants to have their work published.


I'm not sure about that. As far as I can tell a lot of academic publications require at least some cash up front from the author yet they are perfectly reputable.

Alan

In reply to hindu:
The other thing that baffles me is how they got my work email address!

I haven't had any contact with the dept i was in when i wrote the thing or my supervisor there since and have changed jobs twice! The guy clearly has good research/stalking skills!

In reply to hindu:

Got to be a vanity publisher. The best way to get your thesis to a wider audience would be to publish it on the web and try to work it up the Google list, not print 50 copies and charge you a small fortune for it.

In reply to Alan James - UKC:
No, VDM Verlag use print-on-demand and sell primarily to university libraries.

Some journals have page fees. These would be paid from departmental/university funds, and individual researchers don't make personal contributions.

In reply to hindu:
Most PhD theses submitted to my university are scanned and the digital copy is sent to the british library in boston spa. I doubt sheffield is unique with this approach so most modern these could be quickly found so there wouldn't be much point someone spending cash on printing hard copies.

In reply to gethin_allen: Worth remembering that the British system of only printing and binding a handful of copies is not followed in many other countries where many copies are usually produced. This is the case in countries such as Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands & no doubt elsewhere - its just I have PhDs from those countries on my bookshelve after being given copies by the author (or in some cases the supervisor).

I've also recently stumbled on a website which will put your thesis abstract on line together with a means to access a pdf version. Can't remember the URL but think it was Spanish