Although I’m pretty sure most self-publishers en up not doing so well. It’s a bit like publishing an iPhone game: easy to focus on the ones who succeed, forgetting how many apps never make any money.
Another argument you could have come up with is that we do not actually pay per se, since page charges and conference fees often come out of research grants. Hopefully.
But the main point is that we mostly publish for the prestige of being published. Academics are pretentious and marketing-oriented folks. I hear some professors even have huge egos.
Itmansays:
Writing a good book is hard, irrespective of how you publish it…
It is a lot of fun too.
The same is about blogging: if several thousand people are following you, it is if your blog is a newspaper of a small town.
Sureshsays:
Technically, we do get paid to publish, because if we don’t publish, we eventually won’t get paid 🙂
These days, there are a lot of vanity publishing in academia. The other day, I was very surprised to see a friend of mine boasting his “book” being published by a publisher. A few days later, I got the form-letter email from VDM Verlag, which feigned to have interest in my PhD and MS dissertations, and expressed their intent to “publish” them. Needless to say … my friend’s “book” was just his PhD thesis published by VDM Verlag.
It seems that these publishers either crawl university webpages to find list of dissertations, or get the list from some place else. Then they send out thousands of emails to the students … often taking advantage of their ego by addressing their emails to “Prof. A” or so. The royalty deals are designed to give the author royalty only if a certain number of books are purchased by people.
What is interesting is the ego boost many smart people get from these “books”. If you google, you’ll see many people boasting of these publications in their CVs (along with the ISBN numbers etc.). And there are enough gullible people out there who fall for these “books” as big achievements … without realizing these “books” are just vanity publication of theses.
It is unclear what value such a publisher is providing in this scenario. You can sell your thesis on Amazon, with an ISBN, with CreateSpace in minutes. Assuming your thesis sells at all, you will make more money on your own. But more importantly, you will keep control.
Publishers are going to have to be clear on what value they are offering if they are to remain relevant. Thankfully, many of them are aware of this challenge.
Sylvie Noelsays:
But the main point is that we mostly publish for the prestige of being published. Academics are pretentious and marketing-oriented folks.
Really? I thought the main reason we publish is because it is the #1 way that we get assessed for promotion.
Although I will admit that I get a little thrill when I know that one of my papers has been quoted by somebody else 🙂
Swellheadsays:
It seems that these publishers either crawl university webpages to find list of dissertations, or get the list from some place else. Then they send out thousands of emails to the students … often taking advantage of their ego by addressing their emails to “Prof. A†or so. The royalty deals are designed to give the author royalty only if a certain number of books are purchased by people.
Although I’m pretty sure most self-publishers en up not doing so well. It’s a bit like publishing an iPhone game: easy to focus on the ones who succeed, forgetting how many apps never make any money.
Also, in another case of serendipity, I stumbled on this funny extranormal video yesterday: “So You Want To Write a Novel?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9fc-crEFDw
@Beaudoin
Although I’m pretty sure most self-publishers en up not doing so well.
Writing a good book is hard, irrespective of how you publish it…
@Suresh
Another argument you could have come up with is that we do not actually pay per se, since page charges and conference fees often come out of research grants. Hopefully.
But the main point is that we mostly publish for the prestige of being published. Academics are pretentious and marketing-oriented folks. I hear some professors even have huge egos.
Writing a good book is hard, irrespective of how you publish it…
It is a lot of fun too.
The same is about blogging: if several thousand people are following you, it is if your blog is a newspaper of a small town.
Technically, we do get paid to publish, because if we don’t publish, we eventually won’t get paid 🙂
I hear some professors even have huge egos.
ROTFL here
These days, there are a lot of vanity publishing in academia. The other day, I was very surprised to see a friend of mine boasting his “book” being published by a publisher. A few days later, I got the form-letter email from VDM Verlag, which feigned to have interest in my PhD and MS dissertations, and expressed their intent to “publish” them. Needless to say … my friend’s “book” was just his PhD thesis published by VDM Verlag.
It seems that these publishers either crawl university webpages to find list of dissertations, or get the list from some place else. Then they send out thousands of emails to the students … often taking advantage of their ego by addressing their emails to “Prof. A” or so. The royalty deals are designed to give the author royalty only if a certain number of books are purchased by people.
What is interesting is the ego boost many smart people get from these “books”. If you google, you’ll see many people boasting of these publications in their CVs (along with the ISBN numbers etc.). And there are enough gullible people out there who fall for these “books” as big achievements … without realizing these “books” are just vanity publication of theses.
@Hasan
It is unclear what value such a publisher is providing in this scenario. You can sell your thesis on Amazon, with an ISBN, with CreateSpace in minutes. Assuming your thesis sells at all, you will make more money on your own. But more importantly, you will keep control.
Publishers are going to have to be clear on what value they are offering if they are to remain relevant. Thankfully, many of them are aware of this challenge.
But the main point is that we mostly publish for the prestige of being published. Academics are pretentious and marketing-oriented folks.
Really? I thought the main reason we publish is because it is the #1 way that we get assessed for promotion.
Although I will admit that I get a little thrill when I know that one of my papers has been quoted by somebody else 🙂
It seems that these publishers either crawl university webpages to find list of dissertations, or get the list from some place else. Then they send out thousands of emails to the students … often taking advantage of their ego by addressing their emails to “Prof. A†or so. The royalty deals are designed to give the author royalty only if a certain number of books are purchased by people.