After a number of our students were contacted by VDM, I did a bit of research on this. As far as I can determine, this is the deal:

VDM routinely contacts authors of dissertations using information they get through ProQuest, the university, or whatever source they can find. They indicate that there is a market for whatever this topic happens to be and offer to publish the dissertation “to a wider audience.” The author gets to design the front cover himself and gets one free paperback copy. As far as I have been able to discover, they do what they claim they will do. I have found no reports of students not getting their free copy or of having to put up additional money, except for the additional copies they order for themselves, family, friends - at $50-$60 a copy. VDM does put the book on Amazon etc., probably printing it only if/when they receive an order. I assume that they would also follow through with the royalties on any additional sales, but I haven’t found evidence that that has ever actually happened.

My guess is that they make their money on the additional copies the authors buy for themselves. So, basically it’s a vanity press which has found a lucrative market in thesis/dissertation authors. The disturbing thing is that as part of the sign-up process authors are requested to supply banking information – so royalties can be automatically deposited. To my amazement, they are apparently getting enough takers to continue the practice.

Jan Baird

University of Alabama at Birmingham