Opinions: Publishing

[wolven7]

Remember my talking about this:

http://www.vdm-publishing.com/

Opinions needed: Should I publish with them? Why or why not?

If I publish with them, I retain copyright and publishing rights for any aggregate 80% of the material (based on word-count), but that's still a limited option.

On the other hand, my thesis is widely available, online, for any and all to read (you have read it, haven't you? Good...), which allows me to retain a 100% copyright, in all ways. Not a limited option, at all.

Thoughts?

Comments

[nausved.livejournal.com]

On a related note, have you heard of Lulu? I know it's not the same type of publishing, but you would retain all rights to your work.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've heard of it. jenniebreeden was (is?) using it, for a while, there.

[davidsfoley.livejournal.com]

One of the big reasons why people want to get published instead of going the vanity press route is because a publisher will advertise your stuff.

They will

Pimp

Yo'

Paper!

Does this place do that, or are you just written into some catalog that no one will really read?

If you've gotta sell it yourself, you might as well print it yourself and cut out the middle man.

And what's this "percentage of copyright ownership?" You should own it outright. It is your intellectual property. You might sign over publishing rights to these people, but that should be all.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm saying: I retain publishing rights to any aggregate 80%. Any change amounting to 20% and it counts as a new work under German Copyright law (Germany being the relevant jurisdiction).

And they do, but... I don't know How Much.

Put it this way: I'd never heard of them, until last month, and they approached two people in the Religious Studies Department, and published one of them.

On the other hand, they do get Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Blackwell UK, and AbeBooks.

So. I'm trying to get other perspectives on pros and cons.

[raoin.livejournal.com]

are they paying you for it?
if no -> then forget about it.
if yes -> then i'll offer my opinion here:

they pay you for this work they publish, still, out of it you can send/publish/re-print/re-sell another 80% of it. that's no so bad. still, i had heard from you that you were under the impression these people werent reputable? or was it that they werent well-known/authoritative? at any rate if they dont seem on the level, or if they seem like the sort of company that would leave you with a black mark, then why bother since its probably not going to be all that much money any way?