Well, I'll be damned.

[truepenny]

My dissertation is available for download from Amazon.

[N.b., in all honesty, I don't think it's worth $55 for the privilege. I'm just sayin'.]

Comments

[libskrat]

Holy heinous markup, Batman! Get it from ProQuest for $28.

(Though that may be the academic price; I'm not sure. If so, shame on ProQuest for creating the distinction! I'm so glad MPOW is starting an ETD program soon.)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I poked at it, and it seems to be $33 if you're not affiliated with a university. Which I would still consider embarrassingly overpriced.

[ombriel.livejournal.com]

I hope you get some of that $55? Did you permit them to do that???

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Assuming anyone actually bought a copy, some infinitesimal amount would trickle down to me as royalties, and it is, yes, part of the machinery. Actually I think it's really cool that UMI is taking advantage of available technology to make dissertations accessible like that--though it would be cooler if they were doing it as a free serrvice. Because no one's going to pay that much money (even at ProQuest's rates) for a dissertation--not when, if you really need it, you can get it from the library.

And in any event, dissertations are not designed or intended to be read; the common phrase is when you turn your dissertation into a book .... Welcome to Cognitive Dissonance Land Academia.

[libskrat]

You didn't hear this and I didn't say it. But.

ProQuest is putting out feelers to allow open access to ETDs. Catch is, it'll cost the institution, which of course will pass on the cost to the submitter.

Me, my Evil Plan is to offer open access free as long as the submitter can make me a PDF.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

What a gorgeous topic.

[heathwitch.livejournal.com]

Oooh, your paper's topic sounds great! *hearts* I'm very tempted to read it :)

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to read the dissertation ever since reading the progress reports you used to post in between the DLS analyses :-)

HLC in NYC
(thinking of checking out that $33 ProQuest version --
'cause I s'pose it'd be too tacky to have my friend
the tenured art history professor at an Ohio liberal
arts college buy it for me at $28 :-p )

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

Unless of course you WERE planning on turning it into a book -- but it seems to me that it's OTHER things you're turning into books these days ;-) (Got the first one, with the second pre-ordered)

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

Unless of course you WERE planning on turning it into a book, in which case I'd wait for the book to appear -- but it seems to me that it's OTHER things you're turning into books these days ;-) (Got the first one, with the second pre-ordered)

HLC (who thinks she posted this before, but it seems to have disappeared)

[orangemike.livejournal.com]

Damn, those slime at Amazon have to take their slice of the entire sphere of human endeavor, don't they?

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

You know, I was looking at http://www.sarahmonette.com/writing.html the other day and and idly wondering if your discertation was available... but I don't think it will be joining my leaning tower of to-be-read books soon ;)

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

"dissertation" (I don't know how my keyboard comes up with half the things I type. :sighs:)