Формат за разпечатване

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Information for Authors
This is the basic information that an author needs to work with us. Here you will find
answers to the most frequently asked questions we encounter.
¬ What is in it for me if my manuscript is published?
For every copy of your book sold by us, you will receive royalties. Perhaps more
importantly, having a book published is a major professional asset to the author. More
often than not, it can open up career opportunities and lead to new contacts and/or
invitations to lectures or conferences.
¬ Do I have to pay to publish my manuscript?
No. You pay nothing to publish your work with us. VDM believes that the risks of
publishing a book should be borne solely by the publisher. However, since we are
assuming all the risks, we will always be completely honest with you regarding the
quality of your manuscript. It may sound harsh, but we will only publish texts and
topics we can fully support.
¬ Will I receive a free copy of my work?
You will receive 1 free copy of your book.
¬ What rights do I give up to the publisher?
By publishing with VDM, you will thereby give up the rights of use for the duplication
and dissemination of your work. However, as the author, you will retain ownership of
the copyright to your work, even after entering into an contractual agreement with
us. You will also retain the right to have portions of your work published in other
forms (e.g. as a technical paper, online publication, etc.); also, you may disseminate
the complete work through full text servers (e.g. of scientific libraries) at no cost.
¬ What do I have to keep in mind when quoting from other works?
Plagiarism is a very serious issue in the literary community. As such, the use of any
verbatim (as well as altered and/or paraphrased) passages from other works must be
done very carefully. As a rule, short quotations from other works are permitted if
necessary for the paper (e.g. in order to support a statement), but only if the quote
is cited fully and correctly. Adopting large portions of text such as passages, figures,
tables, etc. from other works is strictly prohibited for copyright reasons. This also
applies to any text appendices. If there is any doubt, the parts of the manuscript in
question must be removed. Finally, 'US-fair use regulations' (see: 'fair use' at
wikipedia.org) must also be observed.
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¬ What are the steps for the publication of a specialist book?
First, send us your work/manuscript—in PDF (or Word) format, if possible—for
review. In about two weeks, you will receive feedback as to whether we are
interested in publishing your work and any changes that we would suggest (if
necessary) to make your work more successful. If we are interested and you still
want to publish your work with us, you must then accept our Terms & Conditions
before you can upload all the necessary information to VDM Online (your manuscript
in PDF format, a suggested title, back cover text, a short summary and a few
keywords). VDM Online allows you to easily create your own book cover in a few
simple steps, which we will then review and approve. After approval by our Print
Management Team, the production and marketing phases begin.
¬ Am I allowed to mention my professor/advisor in my book or have him/
her as a co-author?
You need to ask for permission beforehand in order to have your advisor as a coauthor
or mention him in your book. The same rule applies for naming your
university/faculty.
¬ What is the preferred file format for creating the manuscript?
We would best like your manuscript in a ready-to-print PDF format. We suggest not
using freeware when creating PDF files and ensuring that all the necessary fonts are
contained. Otherwise, problems may arise in the printing phase that are not visible
on-screen. Please remove the cover, title and similar pages from your PDF file. We
will later add four pages that include the title page and imprint.
¬ How much influence can I have on the cover design?
While most publishers do not allow authors to participate in designing the cover, VDM
leaves this very important step to you, allowing you to create your own book cover in
a few simple steps on VDM Online, with only a few layout specifications to be
considered. First, choose a cover image from our image database, a background color
and then a title. The back cover contains a content-related description of your book
that is written by you, which will later appear in various bookselling trade catalogues.
It is also possible to include a photograph of you, the author, along with a short
summary on the back cover. The only way in which VDM is involved in the cover
design process is to verify that your title does not conflict with any other published
works and to make sure the cover picture relates to the content of the book. Your
unique design will be approved by our editorial office and then released for
production.
¬ How long does the production of the book take?
After all the steps are complete and you have uploaded your files at VDM Online and
designed your unique cover, you will receive your free copy about six weeks later. It
will then still take some time before the first bookseller can stock your work.
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¬ What is Print-To-Order (PTO)? Why does VDM use this method?
Traditional publishing uses what is called the “offset procedure.” This means that the
publisher makes an initial estimate as to how many copies will be printed: should the
estimate be too optimistic, the publisher will be left with the excess books, and if the
estimate falls short, the title will eventually go out of stock. In addition, there are
high forerun costs the publisher must cover using this method. PTO, on the other
hand, allows a book to be produced according to demand, successively and highgrade,
and then introduced into the market and supplied to the reader—e.g. via book
wholesalers. It also becomes possible this way to publish niche topics targeted to a
smaller audience. For VDM, PTO technology and the underlying logistics system have
become the impetus for tapping into new topics and authors.
¬ Where will my book be available?
Every title published by VDM is assigned an ISBN, by which it can be located
anywhere in the world. After completion, the publisher will enter the title into a
number of catalogues and offer it to the leading book wholesalers in the US and
Europe. Each of these catalogues is printed at a different time, so it will usually take
a while before the new title is fully catalogued and available.
¬ What will be the anticipated retail price of the book?
The binding selling price determined by the publisher depends on various factors,
including the estimation of the marketable circulation, the specification and
evaluation of the respective audiences, the variable production costs depending on
the text volume, the project-related fixed costs, the anticipated marketing measures
and the distribution channels and, more than anything, our experience and a pinch of
‘publishing feeling’. For these reasons, the price is only determined at the end of the
production phase. You will receive a notification regarding the final selling price
together with your free copies.
¬ Is my book going to be at the local bookstore?
Maybe. Even the largest bookstores only stock a limited number of the books
available on the market. Specialty books, however, are usually only ordered at
customer request.
¬ VDM pays a royalty fee of 12% of the publisher’s proceeds for a sold
book. What does this mean?
For many academic publishers, the authors of research monographs are required to
make (direct or indirect) payments to the publisher before the publishing process
begins. Printing cost allowances, for example, or clauses that oblige the author to
purchase a certain quantity of their own book(s) from the publisher are not
uncommon. We have chosen to do things differently, and do not ‘pass the buck’ on to
the authors (directly nor indirectly) for the costs of printing their work(s). Thanks to a
streamlined workflow combined with other efficient practices, we are in a unique
position to grant our authors an outstanding royalty fee which is unrivalled in the
research industry. However, it is wise not to think that the publication of your
monograph will make you rich. Having your own book is priceless.
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¬ The VDM Terms & Conditions specify that a royalty fee is only paid when
a certain amount is reached. Can you explain how remuneration in book
vouchers works?
Due to the administrative expense for the continuous provision of the print data for
your title, we cannot pay out royalty fees below a threshold of €10/month. If your
work earns you an average monthly royalty fee of €10.01 to €50, you will receive a
book voucher equaling the value of your royalty fee, with which you can purchase any
item from our extensive portfolio; you can pick any book (including your own). If
your royalty fee exceeds €50/month, you will receive the payment on your account at
the agreed time.
¬ Is there a discount when I purchase copies of my own work?
The author can purchase copies of their work(s) from VDM at the following discounts
(applies once per order): 1-5 copies: 20 %; 6-10 copies: 25 %; 11-15 copies: 30 %;
16-24 copies: 35%; 25 copies and more: 40% of the net retail price + shipping costs
+ VAT.
¬ How is the settlement carried out and what do I have to do?
Settlement for the previous year takes place on June 30th. That means if your title
has been available on the market since August 21st, the first billable period is from
August 31st to December 31st of that year—the author will receive the agreed royalty
fee for all copies sold within this period, and your royalty fee (or book voucher) will
be sent to you by June 30th of the following year. Why such a wait, you ask? Simple:
very long terms of payment tend to prevail in the bookselling trade. From this point
on, you can expect regular annual payments on June 30th over the agreed term of the
book based on the number of copies sold.
¬ What can I do to promote the sales of my book?
A large number of specialty journalists are alerted to new titles through the various
catalogues available and may be enticed to write a review of your work. If that isn’t
enough, you can always inform journalists of the release of your book. When we
receive requests for review copies from the press, we always send free e-books to the
person. In addition to that, word-of-mouth advertising always helps; you can always
just ask friends and acquaintances to write and publish positive reviews of your book
on online bookstores like amazon.com.
¬ Can I also sell my book?
Of course! You can order copies of your book from us and benefit from the author
discount mentioned above. You are free to sell these copies to generate additional
income.
¬ Why can't I reach you by phone?
Being available by phone is actually one of the largest expense factors in a company.
Taking into account the effect it would have on the workflow of tightly priced
products, telephone availability is basically unjustifiable. Many successful companies
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have recognized this and have reduced their telephone availability or charge the
caller excessive minute costs to cover this service. But don’t think this means we
don’t want to talk to you! We have decided to rely exclusively on e-mail for
communication to benefit you, and we will be happy to respond to all your questions
online. However, we also understand that sometimes a phone is absolutely necessary,
so we will be happy to call you back to answer to your request if you really need it.
¬ My question is not here...
If this document hasn’t answered all your questions, please contact us by e-mail.
VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG
Dudweiler Landstr. 99
66123 Saarbrücken
Germany
www.vdm-publishing.com