diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 84ec294..7d40b05 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -406,6 +406,37 @@ Django admin classes:
 
     admin.site.register(Photo, PhotoAdmin)
 
+To use specs defined outside of models:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+    
+    from django.contrib import admin
+    from imagekit.admin import AdminThumbnail
+    from imagekit import ImageSpec
+    from imagekit.processors import ResizeToFill
+    from imagekit.cachefiles import ImageCacheFile
+
+    from .models import Photo
+
+    class AdminThumbnailSpec(ImageSpec):
+        processors = [ResizeToFill(100, 30)]
+        format = 'JPEG'
+        options = {'quality': 60 }
+
+    def cached_admin_thumb(instance):
+        # `image` is the name of the image field on the model
+        cached = ImageCacheFile(AdminThumbnailSpec(instance.image))
+        # only generates the first time, subsequent calls use cache
+        cached.generate()
+        return cached
+
+    class PhotoAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
+        list_display = ('__str__', 'admin_thumbnail')
+        admin_thumbnail = AdminThumbnail(image_field=cached_admin_thumb)
+
+    admin.site.register(Photo, PhotoAdmin)
+
+ 
 AdminThumbnail can even use a custom template. For more information, see
 ``imagekit.admin.AdminThumbnail``.
 
diff --git a/imagekit/pkgmeta.py b/imagekit/pkgmeta.py
index 9a389ab..6c9eefe 100644
--- a/imagekit/pkgmeta.py
+++ b/imagekit/pkgmeta.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 __title__ = 'django-imagekit'
 __author__ = 'Matthew Tretter, Venelin Stoykov, Eric Eldredge, Bryan Veloso, Greg Newman, Chris Drackett, Justin Driscoll'
-__version__ = '4.0'
+__version__ = '4.0.1'
 __license__ = 'BSD'
 __all__ = ['__title__', '__author__', '__version__', '__license__']
diff --git a/imagekit/utils.py b/imagekit/utils.py
index 27902c9..ca6727a 100644
--- a/imagekit/utils.py
+++ b/imagekit/utils.py
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ def autodiscover():
         _autodiscover_modules_fallback()
     else:
         autodiscover_modules('imagegenerators')
+    _autodiscovered = True
 
 
 def _autodiscover_modules_fallback():
@@ -91,11 +92,6 @@ def _autodiscover_modules_fallback():
 
     Used for Django versions < 1.7
     """
-    global _autodiscovered
-
-    if _autodiscovered:
-        return
-
     from django.conf import settings
     try:
         from importlib import import_module
@@ -103,8 +99,6 @@ def _autodiscover_modules_fallback():
         from django.utils.importlib import import_module
     from django.utils.module_loading import module_has_submodule
 
-    _autodiscovered = True
-
     for app in settings.INSTALLED_APPS:
         # As of Django 1.7, settings.INSTALLED_APPS may contain classes instead of modules, hence the try/except
         # See here: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/releases/1.7/#introspecting-applications
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 8244049..2af1ad5 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 import codecs
 import os
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import sys
 
 # Workaround for multiprocessing/nose issue. See http://bugs.python.org/msg170215
 try:
-    import multiprocessing
+    import multiprocessing  # NOQA
 except ImportError:
     pass
 
@@ -19,13 +19,15 @@ if 'publish' in sys.argv:
 
 read = lambda filepath: codecs.open(filepath, 'r', 'utf-8').read()
 
+
 def exec_file(filepath, globalz=None, localz=None):
         exec(read(filepath), globalz, localz)
 
+
 # Load package meta from the pkgmeta module without loading imagekit.
 pkgmeta = {}
 exec_file(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
-         'imagekit', 'pkgmeta.py'), pkgmeta)
+          'imagekit', 'pkgmeta.py'), pkgmeta)
 
 
 setup(