Anyone know VDM Verlag?

confusedlinguist · Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Posts: 1954 Location: Limbo

I got an email today from VDM Verlag, saying they had seen my dissertation abstract and would be interested in publishing it as a book. Since they addressed me by name and mentioned the title of the diss, I assumed it was legit. Then over coffee I heard from a colleague in another department that she got the exact same email (only addressed to her and with the title of her diss). So we googled them, and found their website.

After looking at their list of titles, we began to wonder why they had solicited dissertations from a linguist and a historian, since most of the books we were seeing were in business or in engineering -- we had to search long and hard to find one linguistics title, and a couple history titles. So this started to seem a bit fishy.

Anyone know anything about this or have any experience with them? Though it's really a moot point for me, since the dissertation is already under contract with another publisher, but my colleague is wondering.
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Buzznoise · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 2244 Location: Scotland

I got the same email, from the same bunch. It was sent as a Facebook message, which made me most suspicious. Though they listed my d**********n by title, I didn't get the impression that they actually knew anything at all about it. Anyone else?

monamipierrot · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 8 Location: Ferrara, Italy

Hello Buzznoise,
I'm new to the forum.
You're talking about phishing, so I'll try not to look like I'm phishing you! anyway, I'm only trying to contact you (out of the thread) because I found out (googling, of course) you can perhaps give me some advices with my music thesis and LaTeX. But since direct messages are disabled... here I am, begging pardon for my intrusion.
My thread is here:
http://www.phdcomics.com/proceedings/viewtopic.php?p=351933#351933
I would appriciate your help!!!
Thanks in advance,
H.

psychgirl · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 103 Location: Canada

I've been approached by them twice- and once they emailed me at my work address, which I only use internally, so they must have done some searching. They've approached a bunch of people in my department, but I've just ignored them. It's kind of weird to me.

svm_slave · Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 5266 Location: Australia

Anne O'Nymus · Joined: 29 Apr 2008 Posts: 363

There's really nothing fishy about them apparently, I know people who have published their thesis with them. This is how it goes: you send them your manuscript, pick a cover design from some online picture database they have, and boom, it's published (Oh yeah- you can get your picture on the back as well). Apparently there's no proofreading or editing of any sort, basically it's published just as you send it to them. You get some free copies (not sure how many... 3?5?) and they try to sell it. You then get some compensation based on sales. The books seem pretty expensive, so I wouldn't count on a lot of people buying them unless you have a really interesting topic. But it really doesn't cost anything, you get a "real" book for your (or the parents' Wink

shelf out of your thesis or whatever, and have a publication with an ISBN number. So if that's what you want there doesn't seem to be any risk.
That said, I decided against it as well because I was afraid someone might actually read it! Wink

Anne O'Nymus · Joined: 29 Apr 2008 Posts: 363

sorry, double post

Krosigk · Joined: 02 Feb 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Mauritius

Hello,

VDM does indeed actively contact potential authors – which is something other publishing houses hardly ever do. The reason for this is that we are continuously identifying scientific work developing from the multiplicity of universities and colleges of further education due to their suitability for publication, quality and practical orientation. In this way we would like to quickly convey the latest scientific knowledge and also meet the demand from the respective specialized public. We can only really judge the quality of the requested manuscripts after we have appraised them.
We do not find anything “wrong” with this approach unless the author has a problem in principle in being contacted.

Esther von Krosigk, VDM

bratisla · Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 151 Location: Orleans, France

And why would a german editing house have an address in Mauritius ?

I advise others to be cautious about that - IP rights can be easily forgotten when crossing the borders.

Krosigk · Joined: 02 Feb 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Mauritius

Hi,

have you ever heard about globalization...? If you sign a book contract with VDM, the German copyright (which is very strict) is valid. In Mauritius we have only a service company.
Regards,

E. v. Krosigk, VDM

bratisla · Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 151 Location: Orleans, France

I heard about globalisation, yes - that's why I was concerned about the IP rights. So, you confirm that these rights follow the german law ? And what are they ?

/edit and Mauritius, home of Farlan/Dark&Light ... it ringed a bell in my gamer memory.

sparks · Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 4462 Location: Trieste, Italy

I just saw this thread after I posted this.

confusedlinguist · Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Posts: 1954 Location: Limbo

Oh wow, I totally forgot I started this thread.

VDM has been contacting me regularly every couple months since I first started this thread offering to publish my dissertation. I haven't bothered to check whether the emails are all coming from the same person. I keep responding with the same answer: "My dissertation is already under contract with another publisher and please stop contacting me, because my answer is not going to change."

I understand aggressively pursuing authors, but this is getting ridiculous. If anything, the fact that one acquisitions editor can't talk to another (or that they can't do a quick google search for my real name, which would reveal that my dissertation is being published in a series from another press) makes me want to run very far away from VDM.

baerski · Joined: 03 Feb 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Germany

Some of my colleagues have been asked to publish their diploma theses as well.
So at out Chair we ordered a student to find out, if this publishing is okay. Smile

Summarising the results:
It is a serious offer to publish and it appears to be less expensive than most other publishers. Yet, printing and binding quality is comparatively poor and there is no support for envelope layout and so on.

Also, there already have been some complaints about problems with copyright, but not regarding thesis printing but a re-publication of books printed by other publishers.
Please notice, that we could not find any good evidence, if the complaints were justified.

In the end, none of my colleagues wanted to publish their work at VDM.
But one has to evaluate the pros and cons in any individual case...