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How to Turn Your Dissertation Into a Book: A Step-By-Step Guide for New Authors

Whether you are just starting graduate school, writing your dissertation, or the proud recipient of a recent Ph.D., you may be thinking about turning your dissertation into a published book. There are many reasons why this might be a good idea. In some fields, a published scholarly book is a preferred method for presenting a comprehensive view of pivotal research. A book gives you the space to discuss details, complications, connections, and ramifications in a way that is not possible in a journal article. In these fields, a well-reviewed book gives you instant credibility when applying for faculty positions, tenure, and related positions. A published book also has a much longer shelf life than an unpublished dissertation, and will occupy a respected place on your CV or resume for years to come.

In other fields, good dissertations are expected to produce one or more published journal articles, and many tenured faculty at top research institutions never publish a book. In these fields, publishing a book may still be an asset for those pursuing a traditional academic career, and can be a great way to transition into other careers such as science communication, education, or public policy. So if turning your dissertation into a book is something you are considering, here are some steps to get started.

Step 1: Identify your audience

Publishers are businesses that make money by selling books. This is true of "trade" publishers that sell books for the general public, and "academic" publishers that sell books primarily for students and scholars. Therefore, in order for a publisher to consider publishing your book, there must be a sufficiently large audience to buy your book. This audience will strongly influence how you organize and write your book, and may cause your book to be massively different from your dissertation. After all, the purpose of a dissertation is to show that you are knowledgeable about your field of study, and have made a significant contribution to it. In contrast, the purpose of a book is to serve a need for the reader.

Some dissertation topics may work well as required reading for college and university courses. In that case, you need to identify the types of courses that would be appropriate (e.g. courses in sociology that cover gender identity), and develop an understanding of how many students take such courses. For example, you might find that almost all colleges in the California State system have a sociology department. At California State AnyTown, there are 20,000 undergraduate students, and 400 students a year take a sociology course that focuses on gender identity. Other dissertation topics might appeal to people in specific professions (e.g. people who work with children who suffer concussions), and you might look at the number of people in relevant professional organizations (e.g. associations for coaches or pediatric nurses). At the other end of the spectrum, you might imagine a book that appeals to a fairly wide audience (e.g. a book that addresses recent events linked to gender identity, or a broader discussion of concussion in youth sports). For these books, the intended audience may be harder to define, so you can estimate its size in the next step.

Step 2: Identify competing books

Once you have identified a potential audience, you need to familiarize yourself with the books they are reading. Your book will be competing with these books, so you need to determine how your book will fill a gap for this audience. Here you have the opportunity—and the obligation—to read widely in your intended niche. If this opportunity doesn't excite you, do not try to write a book for this niche. The process of writing a good book is laborious and time consuming, so if you are not interested in exploring similar books for what works and what doesn't, you will not enjoy writing your own book for this category.

As you identify and read competing books, you should pay attention to the topics that they cover, and how the author writes about these topics. Consider whether the text is instructive or narrative, what details are included, how the text is organized, and whether visual aids such as photographs, diagrams, or tables are included. Also find out when the book was published, how long it is, how much it sells for, and how many copies have been sold (or at least what its Amazon sales rank is).

You may find books that are very similar to your book, or that are different in significant ways (such as the specific topic) but that have characteristics you want to emulate (e.g. a good strategy for presenting technically challenging research to a broad audience). As you gain a good understanding of related books, you'll need to develop a list of 3-10 books that will compete with your book. You will use this list to support two points:

• Books similar to your book have been successful with your intended audiences; and
• Your book fills an unmet need for this audience, so they will buy it.

That unmet need might be a more recent book that incorporates new knowledge, or a book that takes a different approach to a question that has already been addressed.

This survey of related books will also help you plan your book. If you find that multiple books already exist for your intended topic, you may need to shift your emphasis so that your book offers something new. If you find that there are few successful competing books, it may be that your intended audience is too small, and that you need to shift your emphasis to fit into a more productive niche.

Step 3: Create an outline for your book

Once you have an intended audience, an excellent understanding of successful books in the same category, and an idea for how you can fill a need in that category, you can start planning your book in detail. Put together an outline, starting with the major topic for each chapter, and thinking about how the overall theme will progress through the entire book. Even for a purely academic book, there must be an overall arch to your story.

While it may be tempting to slip into the same mindset that you used for planning and writing your dissertation, remember that the purpose of your book is to serve a need for the reader. So rather than focusing on your specific research contributions (which is essential for a dissertation), focus on what the reader needs to know. To facilitate this mindset, it may be useful to put away your dissertation for a bit (assuming that it is already complete) and focus on other projects. Then revisit your dissertation topic when you have fresh eyes and a better understanding of what would be useful for your intended audience.

As you flesh out the details for each chapter, set a target word count and think about any images or tables that should be included. Keep in mind that book publishers must pay for every page, image, and footnote to be edited, prepared, and printed. Books that are only available electronically still have most of these per-page expenses. Therefore, use successful books in your category as a guide for how long your book should be, and how many images should be included. Color images also add significantly to the production costs .

As you are preparing your outline, you will likely reach a point where you are unsure if the details of your plan will work. Then it is time to write.

Step 4: Write a sample chapter

If you want a publisher or agent to consider your book, you will typically need to submit a sample chapter or two. You may be asked to submit your first chapter or your "best" chapter, so I recommend starting with your first chapter and making it excellent.

While there are many different approaches to successful writing, one common theme is that the first draft is usually terrible. So write the first draft of your first chapter and let it be terrible. Then read and revise, and repeat. As you are writing and revising, I recommend regularly taking time to read some of your competing titles. How do they deal with some of the challenges you are facing? Are their approaches successful or can you envision a better way?

As you write your first chapter or two, you may find that you need to revise your outline. Pay attention to what you can effectively cover for your audience in the space available.

Step 5: Identify appropriate publishers or agents

Once you have a strong plan and a sample chapter or two, you need to identify potential publishers. Start by looking at your list of competing titles, and learn about those publishers. Also talk to colleagues who have published books, and ask if they would be willing to put you in contact with their publisher or agent. The process can be quite complicated, and for a comprehensive guide I recommend The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published by Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry. Many publishers also post guidelines for potential authors on their websites. For most publishers, you will need to show that you understand your audience and competing books, and provide a detailed book outline and convincing sample chapter.

Here is an infographic that breaks down all of these major points:

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How to Turn your Dissertation into a Book

You finished your dissertation and want to turn it into a book? Then don’t let the revision process scare you – we've got you covered with helpful tips and tricks on the way.

This post is part of a series, which serves to provide hands-on information and resources for authors and editors.

After years of hard work on their dissertation, more than a few Early Career Researchers consider turning their PhD research into a monograph. While this is great to reach a whole new audience, the process of getting there can seem complex and daunting at first.

But we’re here to help!

The first and most essential step is to decide whether your dissertation should become a book at all. For many scholars this is a no-brainer, especially in the humanities and the social sciences, where the publication of books is crucial for getting professional recognition, climbing up the career ladder, and eventually gaining tenure.

Your dissertation could also be published in the form of one or several journal articles. Or something you just want to upload on a university server and be done with.

However, let’s say that you do want to convert your thesis into a publishable book, here are the general steps of this exciting undertaking:

• Find your match
• Build your confidence
• Get down to the nitty gritty
• Pitch your work
• Respond and revise

1. Find Your Match

The process of revising a dissertation goes hand-in-hand with the search for the right publishing house. The question what kind of book you want or need will influence your choice. Vice versa, the publisher shapes what kind of book you will be rewarded with.

Publishing with an established publisher is still considered as a sign of quality. They take care of things like quality control and peer review, and they select their titles carefully, so they fit their lists. This also means the books will sell better. Moreover, and most importantly: a publisher makes your work visible, be it online, in catalogues, on conferences, book fairs, or by distributing your book among libraries and universities.

Are you looking for the right press to publish your academic work? Find out here whether De Gruyter might be the right partner for your project!

Ask yourself this: Where do you want to see your book? Where have your favorite publications been published? Browse bookshelves, and visit book exhibitions at conferences . Talk to editors, approach them, ask for their conditions; check websites.

But whilst you do all of that: Please never submit to more than one publisher at the same time. Wasting editors’ time is frowned upon and doesn’t bode well for future publication with the house.

2. Build your Confidence

Once you decided on which press would be a good choice (from university presses, independent academic publishers, trade publishers etc.), there are a couple of things you need to take into consideration.

First and maybe most importantly: Be kind to yourself. Acknowledge what you have already accomplished. This has been a huge effort, and you have earned every right to be proud of yourself! Then, get to work.

Be prepared to invest time and nerves into reworking your dissertation. Focus on what you have already done, and build from there.

Remember, a book is not a dissertation. You do not need to convince anyone anymore that you are the expert and that you have done your reading. The reader of your book trusts that you are, and that is why they bought it.

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3. Get Down to the Nitty Gritty

• Envision your audience. This will help you give your dissertation a makeover.
• Your viva was probably a while ago, so lots of new and interesting research has been published since then that could potentially influence your work. Do the reading.
• Go over your literature review and see what is not needed anymore for your argument. Do not quote other people as much – the reader wants to know what you think. The reader of your book is also not hugely interested in all of the methodologies out there. Tell them what you used and why, but cut everything else.
• Tell the reader in the introduction what the book’s central argument is. What is your contribution to the field? What’s new? In the conclusion, tell them what the consequences are. What difference do your findings make? How do they help the field?
• Try to stay close to the 100,000 word threshold (=300 pages), including notes. Keep the manuscript sleek, limit the apparatus. Try to have chapters of equal lengths.
• Sure enough, images are nice and often help the reader get a sense for the text, but do not forget that you have to clear rights for most of them, and get all the technicalities for print sorted.
• Use simple wording. Be on point. Always remember your audience needs to understand you, and not all of them are experts.
• Go easy on the footnotes: Resist making them a container for all of the brilliant thoughts that don’t quite fit in the flow or argument of your book. If a remark doesn’t belong in your text, it might not belong in your book altogether.

Bear in mind: With a dissertation, you have something to prove. With a book, you have something to say.

4. Pitch Your Work

After revising, you need to prepare a pitch: Sell your book! Let the publisher know why your research is important and how it changes the field. What’s the unique selling point of your book, what sets it apart from others?

To get started, check the publisher’s website. Usually there is a proposal form hidden away somewhere. Try to find information on the submission process and/or a personal contact. Follow the guidelines, and write an e-mail to the responsible Acquisitions Editor.

Indicate that you are familiar with the scope of the publisher’s list. Maybe you know of a book series of theirs, where your work might fit in. Let them know you did your homework, and that you are invested. Describe how your book complements other titles in the series and why it would be a great fit.

Learn more about book proposals in our blog post “How to Write an Academic Book Proposal: 6 Questions for Laura Portwood-Stacer” .

Be concise. Your proposal should demonstrate not only that you are an expert on the topic, but that you can condense and synthesize what you know, that you can share it concisely, and that you can present your research in a way that is stimulating and thought-provoking.

Usually, the more material you send, the better. Being able to read a sample chapter of the dissertation, in addition to the proposal, makes it much easier for the publisher to get a sense about the writing style of an author, who is still unknown to them.

5. Almost There! Respond and Revise

After you submitted, and heard back from the editor of the press, you can relax a little. Your manuscript is now either under consideration with the editor or already sent out for external peer review. This might take a while.

Chances are, when you hear back from the editor the next time, the reviewers will have criticized parts of your manuscript and are asking for improvements. Hence, you will need to get back into the text once again. This can be a hard moment, but remember: you are so close now! Revise one last time and at the end of the road, you might already see the light of your shiny new author contract.

Good luck – you got this!

If you are interested, check out this related blog post

[Title image by hanna grace via Unsplash]

Rabea Rittgerodt

Rabea works as Acquisitions Editor at De Gruyter. She is specialized on 19th & 20th century social, cultural, and global history. You can follow her on Twitter via @RabeaRi .

Sophie Wagenhofer

Sophie Wagenhofer works as Senior Acquisitions Editor Islamic & Jewish Studies at De Gruyter.

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Turning Your Dissertation into a Book

Interested in publishing your dissertation as a book? You will likely need to revise it extensively so it will appeal to a wider audience and compete in the literary marketplace. Here are some guidelines to help you in this process.

• Allow plenty of time!
• The review process can easily take up to a year, as it entails a peer review of your manuscript, potential revisions, further peer review and then approval.
• The editing process can easily take a year to a year and a half as it entails copyediting, design, typesetting and proofreading, preparation of the index, printing and binding.

Dissertations differ from books in several ways

• Dissertations are highly specialized, while books are geared to general readers.
• Dissertation audiences are usually fewer than 100 readers — books are about 500 or more, in general.
• In a dissertation, the author’s authority must be proven; in books, it is assumed.
• Dissertations contain extensive documentation (to prove authority), while books document to credit sources and help the reader.
• Dissertations can run long; books are often far shorter.

Elements that make a good book

• A concise, memorable and intriguing title that includes essential key words
• Clear and effective organization
• A succinct introduction
• Illustrations that enhance the text
• Sections that are meaningful either alone or as part of the total book
• Navigational aids, such as chapter titles, running heads, subheads, notes, bibliography, index
• A voice (relationship of author to reader) that functions like an invisible tour guide or creative storyteller, and avoids sounding like a lecturer at a podium

The revision process

• Forget your dissertation. Forget your committee.
• Clarify your modified topic and audience.
• Determine how to present it in a dynamic way.
• Remove unnecessary references to yourself.
• Delete conspicuous chapter intros and summaries.
• Make style parallel in chapter titles, captions, chapter openings and closings, subheads.
• Revisit the introduction and conclusion.
• Remove unnecessary notes; condense or combine others.
• Eliminate most cross-references.
• Cut unnecessary examples and data.
• Make chapter openings strong, clear, and inviting.
• Add definitions of jargon, foreign terms, biographical and historical dates.
• Brainstorm several possible titles and subtitles.
• Tighten prose.
• Use active verbs.
• Begin and end sentences with words you want to emphasize.

The Chicago Manual of Style . 15th ed. (2003). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

German, William. (2005).  From dissertation to book . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Harmon, Eleanor, et al., ed. (2003).  The thesis and the book: A guide for first-time academic authors. 2nd ed . Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Lucy, Beth, ed. (2004).  Revising your dissertation: Advice from leading editors . Berkeley: University of California Press.

by Lorri Hagman, executive editor, University of Washington Press

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Dissertation vs book

This section explains how one can approach revising their dissertation into a book. There are many differences between a dissertation and book, which often include differences in purpose, audience, voice, structure, and length.

• Purpose: A dissertation provdes that the author has earned the PhD degree; a book disseminates new knowledge and solidifies the author's credentials.
• Audience: A dissertation's audience is a committee; a book's audience is a community of researchers and/or the public.
• Voice: A dissertation's voice is the student; a book's voice is the expert.
• Structure: A dissertation is usually divided into multiple arguments (e.g. chapters) to fulfill multiple requirements; a book is united under a main argument and each chapter is articulated under the main argument.
• Length: A dissertation's length is determined by degree requirements; a book's length is determined by the audience and market.

Adapted from "Dissertation to Book" by University of Illinois Library licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license . 

Resources for revising a dissertation into a book

• Dissertation to Book guide: For more information on the steps for the process of revising a dissertation into a book, please see " Dissertation to Book " from University of Illinois Library.
• Turning your dissertation into a book (University of Washington)
• Turning your PhD into a successful book (Taylor & Francis- major publisher)
• How to turn your dissertation into a book (Chronicle of Higher Education)

From UC Berkeley licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0.

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Scholarly Publishing at Georgetown: Submitting Your Manuscript

Choosing the right publication venue for your completed manuscript is as important as the research and writing that went into it. An appropriate publisher can make sure your manuscript is published with minimum delay and maximum impact, giving your work broad notice and allowing you to move quickly to your next research project. 

Book publishing is a much different process than journal publishing: few publishers produce both books and journals, and those that do tend to have completely separate divisions. This section focuses primarily on book publishing although we have incorporated information about submitting to journals when appropriate. This section covers:

First Books & Revised Dissertations

Selecting a publisher, book proposals, contacting an editor, publisher decisions and rejections.

Main Campus faculty may contact  Carole Sargent , Director of the Office of Scholarly Publications, for guidance on selecting publishers, submitting a book proposal, and finding an agent. 

Many first-time authors would like to publish their dissertation as a book; however, there are significant editorial and economic challenges to publishing a revised dissertation, and extensive revisions will be required by your editor. In some cases, these challenges may be so significant that you will find the wiser course is to publish one or two solid scholarly articles based on your dissertation, and move onto your next book.

For more information:

• Revising Your Dissertation for Publication
• The Future of First Books ( video and reports and articles on scholarly monograph publishing)

The first step in seeking a scholarly publisher is to identify presses that are currently publishing works like yours. Simply scanning your bookshelves (and those of your colleagues) may yield the names of several presses that publish in your subject area. The American Association of University Presses (AAUP) maintains a very helpful subject area grid listing university presses and their subject areas of interest. 

For journal articles, three sites that rank high-impact journals are Journal Citation Reports (Web of Science), Google Scholar Journal Metrics , and ScImago Journal Rankings . Each site uses different methods to calculate rankings, so it can be useful to compare a journal’s rank in multiple sites. Although journal rankings are an imperfect measure of quality, be wary of journals that seem completely unknown to you or faculty colleagues. See our Journal Quality page for more information.

Even if one press is clearly your top choice, we recommend identifying and contacting multiple publishers about your manuscript.

Publishers’ guidelines for manuscript submissions vary widely -- use this chart to link directly to guidelines of university presses of special interest to Georgetown faculty. When you contact a publisher about your book, you won’t submit the entire manuscript. Even if you’ve already written the book and are ready to publish, an editor will want to see your book proposal, not the complete manuscript. 

Your book proposal should include a short description of you and your manuscript, a table of contents or detailed summary of each chapter/section in the work, and your manuscript’s intended audience (e.g., general readers, scholars in particular fields, or students). It’s also helpful to include an estimate of the book’s length and any special features (e.g., how many images or illustrations you will need) and an estimated delivery date.

The editors who read your proposal will be evaluating it based on several criteria. Here are a few tips from university press editors on writing a strong proposal:

• Each university press has its own culture, character, and subject areas. In your proposal, you should address why the press you have chosen is the right publisher for your book and how your book will complement the other books published by the press.
• A critical issue that editors will consider when reading your proposal is what how your book will contribute to scholarship in the field. Your proposal should clearly state why your book is important and how it builds on, fits in, and differs from the existing literature.
• Editor will also want to know why you are the right person to write this book, so you should document your expertise and authority in the subject area. Include a brief narrative biography, highlighting your qualifications for writing this book, such as your previous publications, professional talks, conference presentations, media coverage, and scholarly blogs.

Recommended resources on the book proposal:

• Get Known Before the Book Deal: Use your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform by Christina Katz (PN161 .K37 2008 LAU Stacks)
• Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write by Elizabeth Lyon (PN161 .L96 LAU Stacks)
• Thinking Like Your Editor by Susan Rabiner (PN161 .R28 2002 LAU Stacks)
• Interview with Sara Cohen , Editor at Temple University Press

When you are ready to send your book proposal, you must first pick an appropriate editor. While some presses have a general contact for all submissions, most publishers have assigned an editor to each subject they handle. Contact information and subject areas for editorial staff at selected presses are available in this chart . For other presses, try a search for "[press name]" editors or look for contact information on the publisher's homepage. After reviewing the subject areas for the editorial staff, submit to the most appropriate editor. If your manuscript is interdisciplinary and might be handled by multiple editors, pick a single editor to contact. Most editors would prefer to forward a submission to a colleague rather than have an author independently contact multiple editors at the same press.

Learn more about the acquisitions process from university press editors:

• Talk at Georgetown University by Kate Marshall, Acquisitions Editor, on the acquisition and publication process at the University of California Press.
• AAUP video, It's Not Scary: The Art of Getting Published with a Scholarly Press , with tips from university press editors on how to select an appropriate publisher and editor.

Publishers normally take several weeks or more to respond to a book proposal, and an editor may ask you for more information about your book during the review process. In addition to the proposal being reviewed by an editor, he or she will often send the proposal out to one or more consulting scholars before making a decision. Even if the decision process is handled entirely in-house, your proposal will likely be read and reviewed by several individuals before an offer is made.

If you receive an acceptance, don't sign the book contract without reviewing and negotiating the terms! Read more about book contracts in the next section .

If your submission is rejected, thank the editor and move on to another press. There are many reasons a publisher might reject a submission. An editor or editorial committee considers questions of sales (the economics of scholarly publishing today demand attention to the bottom line), other books recently published or forthcoming, titles already accepted and under contract at the press, production costs, and many other factors beyond a manuscript’s scholarly merit.

Occasionally an editor will reject a submission in its current form, but suggest revisions and invite a second submission. If possible, revise and resubmit your proposal according to the editor’s directions--and do so in a timely fashion. Although a resubmission may still be rejected, demonstrating your willingness to take suggestions and turn projects around promptly will be respected by any editor and may help with later submissions.

An agent (specifically, a literary agent) acts as your representative and advocate with publishers. Agents can help you identify appropriate publishing houses for your manuscript, assist you in tailoring your work for a particular market, handle initial contacts with editors, and negotiate contracts, royalties, and rights on your behalf. Agents are paid by commission (usually 15% of sales).

Having an agent is essential for certain types of publications. Most trade presses, for example, categorically refuse manuscripts unless they come from a reputable agent. However, academic publishers typically do not require agented submissions, and most agents will be reluctant to consider placing journal articles, short works, poetry, or anything else with narrow sales potential.

Carole Sargent , Director of the Office of Scholarly Publications, advises main campus faculty who are looking for an agent. The Association of Author’s Representatives (AAR) , the professional organization for agents, is a good starting point for finding an agent. Most agents require an introductory letter describing your work, and some also ask for a sample of your manuscript.

Publishing Your Research  /  Writing  / Submitting Your Manuscript Copyright  /   Publication Process  /   Promoting Your Work

9 Effective Tips for Publishing Thesis As a Book

While they may look alike, a thesis is not a book! The process of publishing thesis as a book is different right from its conception to completion. Created with an intent to target a specific audience, a thesis differs from a book in multiple aspects. Although your thesis topic would surely be relevant to your field of study, it perhaps, can be of interest to a wider audience. In such a case, your thesis can be turned into a book .

In this article, we will shed some light on the possible ways of publishing your thesis as a book .

Table of Contents

What is the Difference Between a Thesis and a Book?

Researchers spend years working on their thesis. A thesis focuses on the research conducted, and is thus published as journal articles . However, in some cases, it may also be published as a book for a wider readership. While both thesis and book writing require effort, time, and are equally longer versions of documents, they are different in several ways.

• A thesis always begins with a question or hypothesis. On the other hand, a book begins with a series of reflections to grab the reader’s attention. To a certain extent, it could be said that while the thesis starts with a question, the book starts with an answer.
• Another major difference between the two is their audience. The content of a thesis, as well as its format and language is aimed at the academic community. However, since the book is written with an intent to reach out to wider audience, the language and format is simpler for easy comprehension by non-academic readers as well.
• Furthermore, thesis is about documenting or reporting your research activities during doctorate; whereas, a book can be considered as a narrative medium to capture the reader’s attention toward your research and its impact on the society.

How to Turn a Thesis into a Book?

The structure of your thesis will not necessarily be similar to the structure of your book. This is primarily because the readership is different and the approach depends on both the audience as well as the purpose of your book. If the book is intended as a primary reference for a course, take the course syllabus into account to establish the topics to be covered. Perhaps your thesis already covers most of the topics, but you will have to fill in the gaps with existing literature.

Additionally, it may be so that you want your book to be a complementary reference not only for one course, but for several courses with different focuses; in this case, you must consider different interests of your audience.

The layout of most thesis involve cross-references, footnotes, and an extensive final bibliography. While publishing your thesis as a book , eliminate excessive academic jargon and reduce the bibliography to reference books for an ordinary reader.

Key Factors to Consider While Publishing Your Thesis as a Book

• Purpose of the book and the problems it intends to solve
• A proposed title
• The need for your proposed book
• Existing and potential competition
• Index of contents
• Overview of the book
• Summary of each book chapter
• Timeline for completing the book
• Brief description of the audience and the courses it would cover

With all of this in mind, here are 9 steps to successfully turn your thesis into a book .

9 Steps to Successfully Publish Your Thesis as a Book!

1. Establish Your Target Audience

Based on the topic of your thesis, determine the areas that may potentially rise interest in your book’s audience. Once you establish your target audience, figure out the nature of book they would like to read.

2. Determine the Objective of Your Book

Reflect on the scope of your book and the impact it would have on your target audience. Perhaps it can be used as a textbook or supplementary for one or more courses. Visualize what the reach of your book may be; if it is a book with an identified local market, an interest that arose in your educational institution, which can be traced to other similar institutions, or if it can have a national or even international reach.

3. Identify Your Competition

Find out which books are already on the market, what topics they cover, what problems do they solve, etc. Furthermore, ask yourself what would be the advantage of your book over those that already exist.

4. Define the Structure of Your Book

If the book is written as part of a curriculum, use that program to define its structure. If it covers several programs, make a list of topics to focus on individually and sequence them in an order based on educational criteria or interest for the potential reader.

5. Identify Potential Publishers

Search for publishers in your country or on the web and the kind of books they publish to see if there is a growing interest in the book you are planning to develop. Furthermore, you can also look at self-publishing or publishing-on-demand options if you already have a captive audience interested in your work.

6. Plan a Schedule

Based on the structure of your book, schedule your progress and create a work plan. Consider that many topics are already written in your thesis, you will only have to rewrite them and not have to do the research from scratch. Plan your day in such a way that you get enough time to fill in technical or generic gaps if they exist.

7. Follow a Writing Style

The writing style depends on the type of book and your target audience. While academic writing style is preferred in thesis writing, books can be written in simpler ways for easy comprehension. If you have already spoken to an interested publisher, they can help in determining the writing style to follow. If you’re self-publishing, refer to some competitor books to determine the most popular style of writing and follow it.

8. Incorporate Visual Aids

Depending on the subject of your book, there may be various types of visual and graphic aids to accentuate your writing, which may prove lucrative. Give due credit to images, diagrams, graphical representations, etc. to avoid copyright infringement. Furthermore, ensure that the presentation style of visual aids is same throughout the book.

9. Review Your Draft

Your supervisor and the advisory council review and refine you thesis draft. However, a book must be proofread , preferably by someone with a constructive view. You can also use professional editing services or just go ahead with an excellent grammar checking tool to avoid the hassle.

Do you plan on publishing your thesis as a book ? Have you published one before? Share your experience in the comments!

good article

Hello. Nice to read your paper. However, I fell on your article while browsing the net for the exact opposite reason and I think you can equally give me some insights. I am interested, as I earlier said, on how to transform my book into a thesis instead, and how I can defend it at an academic level. I am writing a research work on financial digital options trading and have done a lot of back testing with technical analysis that I explain, to rake thousands of dollars from the financial markets. I find the technical analysis very peculiar and would like to defend this piece of work as a thesis instead. Is it possible? Please you can reply me through e:mail thanks

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Scholarly Publishing

• Introduction
• Choosing Publishers - Considerations and risks
• Thesis to book?
• Vanity Publishers
• Presenting and publishing at conferences
• When choosing a journal
• Journals selection/ evaluation
• Open Research guide
• Publisher resources
• UOM Researcher publishing support
• Author Profiles
• Checklists and resources

My thesis to a book?

• Quite frequently early career researchers are approached to consider publishing a thesis as a book. If you intend to publish your thesis in this way considerable editing and reformatting will be required first.
• Often examiners’ reports suggest publishing options.
• Books published by print-on-demand and vanity publishers may often not be eligible for categorising as an A1 (authored) book for internal institutional auditing purposes.
• If you are approached by a publisher please refer to our  What if you are approached by a publisher? Consider asking some of these questions  section.
• Also consider contacting the  faculty or liaison librarian  for your discipline to explore options and considerations further.

Is re-purposing of text acceptable?

Israel, M. (2018, January 20). Self-plagiarism? When re-purposing text may be ethically justifiable. Research Ethics Monthly . https://ahrecs.com/research-integrity/self-plagiarism-when-re-purposing-text-may-be-ethically-justifiable

Mark writes up some tips for those considering re-using text that they have previously published.

Roig, M. (2016). Recycling our own work in the digital age. In T. Bretag (Ed.), Handbook of academic integrity (pp. 655–669). Springer.

Miguel helps to define self-plagiarism within science and scholarship and review its common forms - duplicate publication, augmented publication (when a dataset is republished with additional observations), salami publication (creating two or more publications from the same study), and text recycling (re-using substantial parts of your own previously published publications). He discusses the reader-writer contract and some scenarios of re-use in books (e.g., new editions, re-using portions of chapters from one book to another, from journal articles to book), , conference presentations (e.g., presented at more than one conference, conference presentation to journal article) and doctoral dissertations and theses (e.g., dissertation/thesis to publication, publications to dissertation). He explains why authors should be concerned about re-using previously published work.

Vanity publishers

Vanity publishers are publishing houses which charge authors to have their works published without the selection criteria usually used in hybrid publishing models.  Protect your future academic credibility and ensure maximum prospects for future publishing of your work in credible journals by carefully evaluating the credibility of these publishers BEFORE accepting any offers. Refer to our Choosing publishers section in this guide.

Torres, M.R. (2012, June 24). Advice: Dissertation for sale: A cautionary tale [Blog post].  Retrieved from http://www.chronicle.com/article/Dissertation-for-Sale-A/132401/?cid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en

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From Dissertation to Book, Second Edition (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) Second Edition

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• ISBN-10 022606204X
• ISBN-13 978-0226062044
• Edition Second
• Publisher University of Chicago Press
• Publication date October 18, 2013
• Part of series Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing
• Language English
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; Second edition (October 18, 2013)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
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• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 022606204X
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William Germano is professor of English literature at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, where he has also served as dean of the faculty of humanities and social sciences. Previously, he was vice-president and publishing director at Routledge and editor-in-chief at Columbia University Press.

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"You wrote your thesis, you earned your PhD degree. Now you have to publish your paper to advance your academic career. Although publishing is a must for professors (particularly those seeking tenure), it is not a straightforward process. . . . William Germano’s aim with From Dissertation to Book is to help academics understand why their work might be rejected by publishers and how to make it more attractive to them."

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Meta ‘discussed buying publisher Simon & Schuster to train AI’

Audio shared with the New York Times appears to record executives discussing purchase of the US books giant to feed into its large language models

Staff at technology company Meta discussed buying publishing house Simon & Schuster last year in order to procure books to train the company’s artificial intelligence tools, it has been reported.

According to recordings of internal meetings shared with the New York Times , managers, lawyers and engineers at Meta met on a near-daily basis between March and April 2023 to discuss how it could get hold of more data to train AI models. From the recordings, which were shared by an employee of the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company that owns Facebook and Instagram, the New York Times found that staff had discussed buying Simon & Schuster and some had debated paying $10 per book for the licensing rights to new titles.

Simon & Schuster is one of the English-speaking world’s major book publishing houses and is part of what is referred to as the “Big Five”, along with Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette and Macmillan. Simon & Schuster’s authors include Stephen King, Colleen Hoover and Bob Woodward.

In March 2020, Paramount Global, the parent company of Simon & Schuster, announced its intention to sell the publisher. After a much-criticised planned merger with Penguin Random House was blocked by US courts , Simon & Schuster was eventually sold to private equity firm KKR in August 2023.

According to the recordings, Ahmad Al-Dahle, Meta’s vice president of generative AI, told executives that the company had used almost every book, poem and essay written in English available on the internet to train models, so was looking for new sources of training material.

Employees said they had used these text sources without permission and talked about using more, even if that would result in lawsuits. When a lawyer flagged “ethical” concerns about using intellectual property, they were met with silence.

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Staff also discussed having hired contractors in Africa to aggregate summaries of fiction and non-fiction texts, which contained copyrighted content “because we have no way of not collecting that”, said one manager.

Maria A Pallante, president of the Association of American Publishers, does not believe that Simon & Schuster would have agreed to such a sale. “The fact that Meta sought to purchase one of the most important publishing houses in American history in order to ingest its venerable catalogue for AI profits is puzzling even for Big Tech,” she said. “Did Meta plan to trample the primary mission of Simon & Schuster, and its contractual partnerships with authors, by sheer power?”

In November, California federal judge Vince Chhabria dismissed part of a copyright lawsuit brought by comedian Sarah Silverman and other authors against Meta over the use of copyrighted books in training its AI system LLaMA. Chhabria cast doubt on the argument that the models’ outputs resemble the authors’ works.

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Noteworthy Picture Book and Novel Sequels: April 2024

The spring season brings plenty of exciting shifts in nature, and young readers can rely on their favorite series to deliver new additions, including a potato’s tale of humility, a spy’s battle against worthy competitors, a new addition to a BookTok series sensation, and more.

Picture Books and Graphic Novels

Archie Celebrates an Indian Wedding by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, illus. by Parwinder Singh (Charlesbridge, Apr. 30 $17.99; ISBN 978-1-62354-418-8). In the follow-up to Archie Celebrates Diwali , Archie teaches her friend Emma all she needs to know about Indian traditions in time for her uncle’s festive wedding.

Butt or Face? Volume 2 by Kari Lavelle (Sourcebooks eXplore, Apr. 2 $14.99; ISBN 978-1-728-27120-0). The second volume of Butt or Face? challenges readers to figure out which part of various animals they’re looking at.

I Survived the Battle of D-Day, 1944 by Lauren Tarshis, illus. by Grian Churilla (Graphix, Apr. 2 $12.99; ISBN 978-1-338-88304-6). French tween Paul encounters an American soldier who brings him into a secret resistance plan in the ninth book in the I Survived graphic novel series.

Katie, Batter Up! The Graphic Novel by Coco Simon, illus. by Glass House Graphics (Simon Spotlight, Apr. 9 $11.99 paper; ISBN 978-1-665-94371-0). The fifth graphic novel adaptation of the Cupcake Diaries follows Katie as she tries her hand at a new extracurricular: softball.

King of the World! by Ben Clanton (S&S, Apr. 2 $12.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-9321-6). Rot the potato struggles with newfound power after discovering a crown in the second book in the Tater Tales series.

Officer Clawsome: Crime Across Time by Brian “Smitty” Smith, illus. by Chris Giarrusso (HarperAlley, Apr. 23 $15.99; ISBN 978-0-06-313639-7). In the second book of the Officer Clawsome series, the titular star and his partner dive into a portal to the past to find a villain.

Too Many Villains! by Max Brailler and Joshua Pruett, illus. by Jay Cooper and Douglas Holgate (Viking, Apr. 30 $14.99; ISBN 978-0-593-52679-8). Jack, June, Quint, and Dirk race to find the mastermind behind all supervillain plans in the second book in The Last Comics on Earth series, a spin-off of The Last Kids on Earth.

Two Together by Brendan Wenzel (Chronicle, Apr. 23 $18.99; ISBN 978-1-797-20277-8). Dog and Cat must utilize their unique set of skills to get them back home in this companion picture book to They All Saw a Cat and Inside Cat .

You Are Brave: A Book About Trying New Things by Margaret O’Hair, illus. by Sofia Cardoso (Scholastic, Apr. 2 $18.99; ISBN 978-1-339-02644-2. Inspired by actor and advocate Sofia Sanchez comes a companion picture book to You Are Enough and You Are Loved , highlighting the importance of embracing one’s unique qualities and standing up for others.

The 169-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths, illus. by Terry Denton (Feiwel and Friends, Apr. 2 $16.99; ISBN 978-1-250-85021-8). In the 13th and final installment of the Treehouse Books series, Andy, Terry and Jill must deal with evil doppelgangers creating chaos in the treehouse while trying to finish their book. See our interview between Griffiths and Jeff Kinney [here] https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/94723-in-conversation-jeff-kinney-and-andy-griffiths.html

Blood Justice by Terry J. Benton-Walker (Tor Teen, Apr. 23 $19.99; ISBN 978-1-25-082595-7). In the sequel to Blood Debts , Cristina and Clement Trudeau have taken back their family’s throne, but at the cost of making a powerful enemy who will do anything to have revenge.

Charlie Thorne and the Royal Society by Stuart Gibbs (S&S, Apr. 23 $18.99; ISBN 978-1-665-93489-3). CIA spy Charlie Thorne faces off against a group of fierce competitors in the race to find a secret left behind by Isaac Newton in the fourth book in the Charlie Thorne series.

The Dark Times by Tim Probert (HarperAlley, Apr. 2 $19.99 paper; ISBN 978-0-06-308090-4). In the third book of the Lightfall series, Bea and Cad must leave their team behind and trust new allies on their journey to the Citadel of Knowledge.

Friend or UFO by Julie Buxbaum, illus. by Lavanya Naidu (Delacorte, Apr. 16 $14.99; ISBN 978-0-593-42954-9). Sky and her friends must find and infiltrate Area 52 when Sky’s grandmother is taken in the third book of The Area 51 Files series.

Merciless Saviors by H.E. Edgmon (Wednesday, Apr. 16 $20; ISBN 978-1-250-85363-9). In the second book of The Ouroboros series, Gem, Rory, and Enzo face the consequences of taking another god’s power and set out to restore balance among the gods.

Saint-Seducing Gold by Brittany N. Williams (Amulet, Apr. 23 $19.99; ISBN 978-1-4197-5866-9). Joan is forced to work for the Fae queen while trying to orchestrate a new treaty between humans and Fae in the second Forge & Fracture Saga book.

Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger illus. by Rovina Cai (Levine Querido, Apr. 16 $19.99; ISBN 978-1-64614-379-5). In the prequel to Elatsoe , Shane is used to investigating the disappearances of those in need, but the stakes are raised when her latest case is her own mother.

Sound the Gong by Joan He (Roaring Brook, Apr. 30 $19.99; ISBN 978-1-250-85536-7). Zephyr pledges her allegiance to see Ren rise to the throne of the three kingdoms in the finale of the Kingdom of Three series.

Starling and the Cavern of Light by Aisling Fowler (HarperCollins, Apr. 16 $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06-299677-0). In the Fireborn series finale, Phoenix ventures into the dangerous Cavern of Light for a weapon that might be the only hope in a battle against the Master.

Survival by Skye Melki-Wegner (Holt, Apr. 2 $17.99; ISBN 978-1-250-82773-9). Capping off the Deadlands series, Eleri and her fellow exiles return to the home they were kicked out of as a rival prepares to make one final attack.

Taming 7 by Chloe Walsh (Bloom, Apr. 16 $14.99 paper; ISBN 978-1-4642-1605-3). Class clown Gibsie hides his emotional wounds from everyone but his friend’s sister Claire, in the fifth installment of the Boys of Tommen series.

Whisper in the Walls by Scott Reintgen (McElderry, Apr. 23 $19.99; ISBN 978-1-665-93046-8). The second in the Waxways series finds Ren making an alliance with siblings who share the same hope of bringing down the House of Brood.

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