Publishing with VDM Verlag

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Monday, 19 May 2008 14:35

(ATTENTION! Please feel free to comment of write your own article about VDM Verlag here at Kirnu.)

Last month I got email from Katharina Neises, (www.vdm-verlag.de), where Katharina wanted to know, if I was interested in publishing my master thesis at VDM Verlag.

In the course of my research on computer science and information systems I came across a link to your dissertation: "Groupware support for operational management ". VDM Verlag would be especially interested in publishing your research on this subject. We are a German-based publisher whose aim is to make academic research available to a wider audience.

Now days we should be careful in Internet, when strangers contact us for any reason. However, I did not see anything alarming here, and sending my master thesis to them, was not that great effort, so I did it. Then few days afterwards, I got new email from Alyssa Lambrecht.

Thank you for submitting your manuscript. VDM Verlag believes there is a market for your work, so I am happy to inform you that we will publish it in the form of a monograph.

In addition to this email, you will be receiving an automatically generated email from VDM Online with a link for registration. To register, please click on the link. After entering your personal data, you can accept our general terms and conditions (see attached).

I read the general terms and I had few questions and some technical help was needed and Alyssa helped me. I had to register at VDM. The connection was protected and improper information was not collected. The interface was easy to use.

preview of book cover with VDM

Then it was time to upload my work and write, titles, subtitels, bio etc. I uploaded my work and wrote presentations, then I chose a picture and colors for the book cover. After the work was done, I saw a preview about the book cover. Then I accepted the work and I received a notice, that my free copies will arrive in 6-8 weeks, so now I'm waiting.

Vdm online interface

If there is someone else, who has received mail from VDM, and are not sure, if you can trust them, I can say at this point, that I have nothing to complain. And if something exist in the future, I promise to add the information here.

Pasi Hakkarainen, pasi(at)kirnu.com

Latest Updated 11.8.2008. (my three free copies arrived)

I got email 10.6.2008 from Anke Bauer:

Dear Mr. Hakkarainen,

Please find attached three files (information about recommendations, an
order form and some general information). I am pleased to inform you
that your book has been sent for printing. And you will obtain your free
copies within 4 or 6 weeks.

I also Googled it and book seems to be for sale: Groupware Support for Operational Management.

Updated 24.6.2008

According to Google, my book is for sale:

Target ($)
Books on Demand (€)
Kalahari (R)
Sorbok (Norway Kr)
Gnist (Norway Kr)

2.7.2008, few stores more:

IBS.it (€)
Buy Some Books ($)
Amazon.co.uk(£)
Penelope Bokhandel (Norway Kr)
Akademika (Norway Kr)
BoD (CHF)

4.7.2008
TSO online (£)
Booktopia ($)

8.8.2008

Free copies arrived. It took long, but it was summer, so that's OK.

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Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 August 2008 05:19

Comments (42)

It seems that VDM publishes books as cheap as possible. They do not do editing- the author uploads the complete manuscript, chooses cover design from their database etc. After they have accepted the dissertation for printing, the author has to pay quite a lot (more than 100 eur) if further corrections are needed, so the author has to be very careful to upload fully finished manuscript.
Also only 1 free copy is offered to the author and the book is sold at ridiculously high prize (50-100 eur). I did not recieve my free copy, because they claimed I have sent them wrong address and asked for money to send the book again. When I asked for official invoice, the communication stopped. You can do your own conclusions.

The way to become a published academic is to gradually have excerpts of your thesis published in journals relevant to your field. Then, perhaps eventually, your book will be published. I doubt anyone would take this this kind of "spammed to everyone" publication opportunity seriously. I thought grad students were smarter than being flattered by spam, but...

Has anyone of you guys who had their work published with VDM received any kind of royalties?

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JUST BE CAREFUL! ITS AN OFFSHORE COMPANY! EXPLOITS PEOPLE IN MAURITIUS - ANQUISITION EDITORS ? THEY PAY PPLE TO SCAM AND THTS IT.

CRAPPY PUBLISHING HOUSE I WONDER HOW THE HELL IT CAN OPERATE!

AMAZONE IS TO B BLAMED! ITS THEIR PARTNER!

I am about to send my thesis to Tabassum Dowlut to have it published through VDM. I don't have a problem with the conditions of publication, but would like to hear of anyone who has had experience working with the Mauritius office.

I decided to publish my dissertation with VDM. They sent one book to me in 4 weeks that was my cover and title page on someone else's book inside. My dissertation is about education, not dairy farms. The publisher agreed it was their printer's error and asked me to photograph the book and email the image to prove the error. I will report the results when it resolves. As far as giving bank info....I had my bank set up a separate account only for VDM royalties if any materialize. I have published books before with other publishing houses and have had different experiences with each, mostly good. I think they farm out the manuscript solicitor's job (acquisitions editor)all over the world. My solicitor (Tabassum Dowlut)did not even have access to microsoft word. Hardly an editor. I would be happy to discuss this experience if anyone wishes to email me at astrid88@aol.com

Without doubt it is a good opportunity to have our thesis get published.

Hi,
I wanted to ask how long did it take for VDM VErlang representative to contact you since the time you sent them your thesis materials? I sent them my dissertation on August 26 and never heard from them since that time. I asked them to acknowledge that they received my materials twice and then asked them to let me know of their decision since they wrote in their information package that it takes them aobut 2 weeks to decide. So, is it normal that they dont write back to you or should I be alarmed by it. I find this type of behavior unprofessional.
Thank you,
Masha

From My experience with VDM, I was quite satisfied as it is free of charge for the authors compared to other Publishing-houses, which make you pay for the publication of your work, and the steps online are easy to complete.
Please don't listen to others' bad comments but do your own experience as you've got nothing to lose, but you'll have your work published worldwide. You'll also receive a free copy of your book.
If you have any inquiry, don't hesitate to contact your editor.

Simple question: Has anyone ever been paid royalties by VDM or do you personally know anyone thats actually been paid?

I had my book published by VDM Verlag last year but did not receive a sales report due July 1 2009.

My enquiry was replied in 1 week stating "database problems" and "please be patient". Friends who also were published last year have also not received any payment or report.

In consideration of the fact that most of those receiving the publishing offer from VDM are recipients of post-graduate degrees, it's astonishing how many are unable to pick up on all of the significant, telling, red flags in this scam:

1. This company is engaged in bulk solicitations. In the email world, most of us call this SPAM.

2. VDM does a good job of hiding its actual terms and conditions.

3. VDM asks for your bank account number. THIS ALONE merits closing the door!

4. VDM offers "payment" only once a year.

5. VDM is offshore (another issue that alone merits a big "No Thanks").

6. VDM has responded to others' negative online comments with poorly-written English. This is a publishing house?

BE REASONABLE, FRIENDS. Don't let your egos or your finances make you blind! Caveat Emptor.

I am the Author of the book "Wildflower" The Barbara Crawford Thompson Story, which was popularized on the BBC's Ray Mears Goes Walkabout Show.

I am self-published and have only managed to print 2000 copies which have almost sold out in twelve months on the Internet alone. This is despite the fact that I have had nobody advertising my Blog site or my book [other than Amazon who started advertising it without stock and World wide in December 2008] I am desperately in need of a quality publisher to take over the sales of this book because I am not able to print the numbers needed for the British book store market. Can someone assist me in this are, if there are doubts about the book's popularity, please Google the full title or my name Raymond J Warren or go to my Telstra Big Blog site after googling the full title.

I received my free copies last August. Now I'm waiting to get my first payment in July.

Hi everyone
i got today (May26, 2009) an email from Melissa in VDM publisher asking me to publish my PhD thesis in Electrical Eng. which i had completed in the UK.
1. is it safe to go ahead?
2. i'd like to know do they actually publish any thesis they come across? or
3. how they select the thesis to be published?
many thanks
Maher

i upload my phd work on 1-5-09.

and received a mail regarding book sent to printing

now i am waiting for free copy

Please be careful. This site asks that you provide your bank information. This is a BIG red flag. I teach for the University Honors College and several of my students have received this "incredible" offer. I'm pretty sure this stinks on ice.

I'm waiting for next summer, when they pay, and I'll report then, how it went.

But at the moment, I cannot say for sure. I think the "payday" was in June.

Is there anyone who could really get some money from this publisher regarding the book they sell.

Also received the offer from VDM. I have uploaded my work as requested some 8 weeks ago.Hope to receive the copies but time will tell.

I have just gone through the VDM publishing process and have no worries. It's a good thing to get something published without any charge to yourself. Also you can still publish journal articles from your thesis and you can call yourself an author. As to the bank details - don't give them your main account. Set up another account with minimal funds just for your royalties!
Now I wait for my free copy - that was the only disappointment - they said only one copy. But I will buy friends and family copies for presents and perhaps use my royalities to buy copies. I will also send the ISBN number to all local libraries in the hope that they will buy it.

I decided to go ahead and accept VDM's offer. My PhD was in art history and I had already moved on to pubish my next research project with another publisher, so I thought it wouldn't do any harm. The process was quite painless. By late 2008 their offer for free copies had been reduced to only one copy per author, whereas I knew of peope who had received five free copies earlier. So I decided to pay for two extra copies so as to forward them to the artists whose work I had discussed. It's been seven weeks since I paid for the books and have not heard anything. I've sent several emails asking about the order and none have been answered. I'm getting anxious that I might have lost my money.

I have just turned down the same opportunity for a very critical reason. The web page that the Acquisition Editor sends for registration simply says Please Accept Our Terms and Conditions and does NOT point to a hyperlink to the actual terms and conditions nor are they actually listed on the page.Attorneys have stated that for an electronic agreement to be considered legal in the United States, the terms and conditions must be on the same webpage or there must be a hyperlink pointing to the terms and conditions. In addition, the terms and conditions that they sent as a pdf file mention their name as hereafter referred to as the publisher but NOT the authors name anywhere as the author. How will the legal paperwork know who exactly the author is ? To add to this, they do not answer calls in Germany at the sole phone number provided and it is a pain to deal with them when they are so adamant to be reached by phone.
Multiple Attorneys in the United States have stated that the legal documentation that they are providing online may be insufficient. Simply putting it, there is a doubt if everything that the terms and conditions state even holds true given that the authors name is not even mentioned in the agreement. Also, no one signs anything and the online confirmation from the author is everything. This is a very strange way of operating. Take a look at one of the book publishers in the US and how the deal should be at this link:

http://www.wheatmark.com/publishing-agreement.cfm

I have seen their books on amazon and barnesandnobles but decided to take the humble approach and not publish my thesis as a book. Many years later with plenty of experience any of us can write a book and publish it. Unless they send an author contract form or with written laws of Germany and their publishing places like Mauritius, which verifies their method of operating to be suficient, I will strongly discourage anyone from working with them. It is a no-brainer that the book will be out there, afterall that's what will get them business. But if the paperwork has loopholes in it, then what does that mean for the author ?

Hi,

I have been approached at the end of 2007 by VDM for the publication of my PhD thesis in anthropology. Since my research dated from 2000-2004 I thought it could be a good opportunity. I've send the request to my professors to get their advice and they thought of it as trustworthy and interesting. So I reviewed it with some friends (I am not a native english speaker so some extra syntax corrections had to be made to facilitate the reading of it). few weeks after uploading, my parents called that three copies were delivered in august. I live abroad (africa) and only gor to see the copies later. I must admit that albeit it all went fluently I was dissappointed on two points: the lay out and quality of the copies is poor (my photographs are all black and white because it is copied, the letters are very small and difficult to read) and secondly, I was really upset by the high price they are selling the book at on the Internet. At that price, even my best friends won't buy it...so...
Anyway, I can't complain because I know that these are the risks when publishing via the Internet but I doubt I will follow the same procedure with possible future work since you don't get any control over the finished product nor its price.

Kind regards,

Marie-Christine Lammers, Ph.D Anthropology (Port-Gentil, Gabon)

Hi guys!

Got the same offer last week. I haven't had the chance getting into it yet but i have actually decided pushing through. I can see nothing much for us to lose since most of our thesis are anyway published. Having it pprinted as a book is just a plus! Great we have this forum so that we can get updated! Cheers!

I think it was about 12% from net yield. So it is not much from a book, but you'll earn something.

They will pay only once in year, and if I remember correct, it was June or July.

Hi,

I also just received one of VDM email!

I am glad but still suprise to read that it actually seems a serious proposition.

However I would be glad if we could have the comment of someone who did it quite some times ago.

And also, what about the percentage of publication work the published book?

Best wishes,

Timmy

I received an email yesterday, saying they want to publish my diploma thesis. I was not sure about and regulations concering my former universityand so on... so I phoned a collegue. she said that all students who graduated with us (about 40 people) got the same mail and also the students from previous year got it. So now it seems a bit fishy and I don't know if I woll send vdm an anwear or not. What if nobody wants to buy my book do I then have to pay for everything ???

I recently published a book with VDM. I prepared the manuscript in PDF format, along with the book title and a brief bio for the back cover and submitted it. I was then able to select from several thousand pictures for the front cover and select a color scheme. Overall, the process was quite painless.

I had previously published peer-reviewed articles based on my research (and included the references in the book). The publishing agreement allows you to publish up to a certain percentage of the work in journals, so it was not a concern.

As far as publishing with no cost to the authors is concerned, that means that VDM does not charge any up-front fees from authors (many other print-on-demand publishers require authors to pay fees for the first printing and then will send the royalties to the authors based on sales). It is my understanding that after a certain number of copies are sold (so that VDM can recoup the costs of printing my book), I will begin to receive royalty payments.

With regards to setting up the bank account for royalties, I gave VDM the number of a savings account that has minimal funds so that they can deposit royalties. I give not give them my checking account number. You can also set up a separate account at your bank for this.

I am still waiting for my three free copies to arrive (I went ahead and bought a copy of my book from Amazon, but if you buy your book directly from VDM, you get a 20% or greater discount). VDM is, apparently, using a new distributor, so it is taking longer than the 3-6 weeks for my books to arrive.

Unless you have a better book publishing offer, I see no reason not to publish with VDM. My contact, Melissa Corlett, has been very responsive and nice and my book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble's websites. Having a book on my curriculum vita has not hurt my career at all!

Thanks for your reply, Pasi. Now i have another concern. If most chapters of my Ph.D. thesis have been published in peer-reviewed journals, Can I still do this book publication? I think all journals requires the transferrance of copyrights of the papers to them. So, in this case, is copyright a problem? Thanks,

I gave my account number.

I also got this request today. The only concern I have now is that they require the bank account number to deposit the annual fee. Even it is for deposit, I am not quite sure on it. How did you guys deal with this? Thanks.

I also had completed necessary protocols and am still awaiting receipt of the complimentary copies. Hopefully it may eventually arrive

I think it was about 12% from net yield. So it is not much from a book, but you'll earn something.

They will pay only once in year, and if I remember correct, it was June or July.

I also received an email from VDM today. Their webpage says that they publish with no cost to the authors, so I guess the only payment you get (as an author) is the free copies. Is that correct?

I just received the same email from VDM offering to publish my thesis. Would you recommend this publishing opportunity?

I received a similar email. I'm glad to hear that everything went smoothly, and that the publisher is legitimate.

I received the same email for my thesis, and I'm glad you shared your experiences online so I know that it's not a scam.

Bossman Asare, USA, introduced me to VDM. I have since had smooth cooperation and assistance with Pravin Nuckched. I am at the stage of choosing the colors etc having uploaded my work etc. I can trust VDM and I am waiting for the publication.

Hi Mona

I have not received the books (3), but it has not taken 4(-6) weeks yet.

They did not mention exactly where the book will be distributed, and I think that they offer it to several places, but the shop makes the decisions, if they want to sell it or not.

I have also received an email from VDM and Katharina Neises, and I am considering what to do about it. Have you received any books? Anw how many copies are you supposed to receive? Did they say anything about where the book will distrituted?

Kind regards,
Mona

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