The Australian Association of Writing Programs

Agree 100% Janene, it is a form of vanity publishing however many academics are choosing this way ahead. Another of same ilk is Verlag publishing in Germany. I feel that we would all be wise to consider a different form of publishing for material in our theses/exegeses... what about publishing the academic component as another 'artefact'. Maybe when we have all gotten our act  together  (submission and passed) we could look at co-editing a volume of exgetical writings for the wider student market... sort of hard copy book inspired by the creation of TEXT journal but be a total Post Grad content driven book? Now for the funds for editing and the editorial through commentary... Talk in a few months, hey Janine?

I'm reading but being a little quiet in print. How unusual I hear some of you  Well the opportunities for procrastinating writing my academic commitments are becomming minimal.. as that completion deadline looms. Heaven help me when it is July and the last half of the year... watch for newspaper report of failed author stabbed to death with sharp nib on quill! (That's how slowly I feel I am progressin at present). And as for the editor-hatred... forget it. Without you guys I would never get a chance to see my words in printed published text.
I had the same concerns when I was editor of the month in February, so nothing has changed. Given you can Create Content... why not opt for a Public Blog as I did with my early Blogitorial and the other editors did just make sure you allow 'public' viewing.
 
 

 
In a previous post, I concluded that the unsolicited email I received from LAP offering to publish my master’s thesis was not a scam, but it was a kind of vanity press.

However, because I considered the thesis a ‘dead’ document (five years old and already fully worked over to yield a crop of seminar presentations, conference papers and a journal article); and as it seemed that the only commitment required from me would be a few hours of my time; and being animated by the purest spirit of disinterested academic inquiry (and not at all by the prospect of a paperback listed on Amazon with my name on it), I decided to go ahead and see what happened.

After all, I reasoned, it wasn’t going to cost me anything and if the publication proved embarrassing, I could always leave it off my CV.

So far, things have gone surprisingly smoothly. The hardest bit was rediscovering how the Microsoft Word master document and sub-documents feature works, so that I could reformat my page numbers as centred instead of right-aligned. The only other changes to the manuscript were tossing away the Title, Abstract, Declaration and Acknowledgements pages and rejigging the Table of Contents to fix the page numbers. And checking my Bibliography – I almost got caught on this! You’d think that if EndNote detected a missing library when it was regenerating the bibliography, it would complain, wouldn’t you? Well, it didn’t. All the references from my Methodology library (which I am currently using for my PhD) were nicely formatted in the bibliography, but the library containing my E-commerce references wasn’t open, so they were just quietly absent.

I should point out that once you’ve submitted your publication-ready document to LAP’s online system, that’s it. If you’ve made a mistake and left off one-third of your reference list (as I almost did) they impose a hefty fee for having to intervene to make corrections.

Apart from tweaking the document, my other tasks were choosing a front-cover picture from website of stock images, providing a photo of myself, and writing the back cover blurb and author’s bio (see below).

I’ve been told the book is on its way to the printers to produce my single free copy, and will be on sale for 68 euro (over $100). Ridiculously expensive.

I’ll let you know if anyone buys it.

Author bio:
Janene Carey has extensive work experience as an IT professional and is co-owner of Hutchinson Software, a software development business located in Armidale, Australia. Her Master of Economics dissertation was awarded two university prizes. She is currently completing a PhD in Writing.

Back cover blurb:
Brochureware and Beyond examines how small business owners work with web development consultants during the process of designing and implementing a web site. Four engagingly written, detailed case studies illuminate how roles and responsibilities are negotiated between business owner and web developer, and analyze the influences shaping the content and functionality of the end-product. The author argues that to get beyond brochureware with their web sites, small business owners and their web development consultants need to think more strategically and work more collaboratively.

I may have the wrong end of the stick but just wondering if publishing through these kinds of companies may hurt future publication opportunities for yout thesis. If you take up one of these offers may you in effect be selling yuorself short?

Yes, you wouldn't go down this route if you thought there may be better publication options available for a particular work. But as I said, I'd already presented the (modest) findings of my master's at conferences and in a journal article. There wasn't enough substance to think about transforming it into a commercial book. And it is five years old (wonder what that is in internet years?) It's not the thesis I'm currently working on - I still have high hopes for that!

First, I would like to say how excited I am to have stumbled onto this website (blog).  Second, the reason I did was because of the publishing company above mentioned.  I too, decided to throw caution to the wind and have my thesis published.  It was exactly as you described.  The only difference between my experience and yours . . . your book is offered on Amazon.com and mine is not.  Like you, I wonder if anyone would truly purchase my book, but as a long time dream of someday becoming a published author, I am hopeful. How long did it take from the point of receiving notice of publication to actually seeing your work offered on Amazon?

My LAP published book is on amazon (UK and US) now, but wasn't last time I checked. So in answer to your question, about a month after publication. It did appear on the German sites earlier. My personal copy arrived last week. Looks just like my thesis (but with less expensive paper, a smaller font and packaged as a paperback!)