I'd like to turn your Powerpoint into a book

As this is the second time VDM Verlag have requested that I turn a Powerpoint presentation they found on my ePrints site into a book, I feel happy to share the email with you.

I pointed out after the first request that, had they opened the file, they would have found a Powerpoint presentation. For those PhD students who are approached by VDM Verlag about turning their thesis into a book, you may want to consdier this in terms of the amount of attention they pay to the contents of their products. Others have discussed this online.

Dear Flew, Terry,

I am writing on behalf of the international academic publisher, VDM Publishing House Ltd.

In the course of a research at the Library of QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, we came across a reference to your thesis on "Communication for the 21st Century, or, How to have your blog and read it too!".

As we would like to make your work available to a larger audience, I am wondering if you may be interested in publishing your thesis in the form of a printed book.

Your reply including an e-mail address to which I can send an e-mail with further information in an attachment will be greatly appreciated.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely yours,
Kumar Dhora

Acquisition Editor

VDM Publishing House Ltd.

17, Meldrum Str. | Beau-Bassin | Mauritius

Tel / Fax: +230 467-5601

k.dhora@vdm-publishing.com | www.vdm-publishing.com

Business Registration No.: C07072290

Board of Directors: Benoit Novel , Saleem Chotoye

The Espresso Book Machine

Launched in London today at Blackwell's Charing Cross Road shop (where I was in February), this is going to have a big impact on book selling and book publishing:

It's not elegant and it's not sexy – it looks like a large photocopier – but the Espresso Book Machine is being billed as the biggest change for the literary world since Gutenberg invented the printing press more than 500 years ago and made the mass production of books possible. Launching today at Blackwell's Charing Cross Road branch in London, the machine prints and binds books on demand in five minutes, while customers wait.

Signalling the end, says Blackwell, to the frustration of being told by a bookseller that a title is out of print, or not in stock, the Espresso offers access to almost half a million books, from a facsimile of Lewis Carroll's original manuscript for Alice in Wonderland to Mrs Beeton's Book of Needlework. Blackwell hopes to increase this to over a million titles by the end of the summer – the equivalent of 23.6 miles of shelf space, or over 50 bookshops rolled into one. The majority of these books are currently out-of-copyright works, but Blackwell is working with publishers throughout the UK to increase access to in-copyright writings, and says the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

For more read here.