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Waiting to Get Your Dissertation Accepted?
Last Updated on: 29th August 2022, 08:28 am
Many PhD students believe that turning their dissertation into a book is a great idea. I’ve even run into some people who are counting on recouping some of the costs of their program by turning their dissertation into a book and selling it.
The first question I ask them is, “How many dissertations have you ever purchased?” There is a market for some research, but the way academics are trained is to get the article through a journal. If they want, they can get access to your dissertation through a library.
In order for a book to sell, it must be both accessible to a wide audience and be likely to sell a large number of copies (enough for the publisher to make a profit).
The point is, your dissertation alone is not the same as a book. Turning your dissertation into a publishable, marketable book is a massive undertaking. It essentially means starting the writing process over from Page 1. It is possible to do, and in some cases may be beneficial. But it’s not easy.
From Dissertation to Book: Should I Turn My Dissertation Into a Book?
There may be a market for taking what you’ve done and and turning it into a topic of broader appeal. However, you will have to “de-academify” it, or rewrite it in a way that’s accessible to people outside of academia.
Going from dissertation to book entails changing it from the format of a dissertation into a series of chapters and readable sections for the general public. This means a complete rewrite.
Finding a Publisher for Your Dissertation-To-Book
Even more important than rewriting is finding a publisher that will publish your book. Even if your rewrite is accessible and engaging, it’s still important that the book be marketable to enough people that the publisher will make a profit.
Self Publishing
The simplest publisher to convince is yourself. You can self-publish and do the marketing on your own. Many traditional publishers do minimal marketing anyway. However, be aware that without a strong grasp of how to market a book, you may only sell a few dozen copies (or less). Many self-published books go almost completely un-read.
There are many services that can help you self-publish and even market a book. However, there is an upfront cost and there is still no guarantee that you’ll make an income from it.
Traditional Publishing
A traditional publisher will pay you an advance upfront, so your income will be assured. However, it may be difficult to find a traditional publisher willing to take on your projet. You’ll have to market your book to the publisher and show them that there will be sufficient demand for them to take your book on.
How are you going to help them sell enough books to make it worthwhile? This is the question that you must answer. How can you show them that you have connections with enough people to have a built-in market for the book? That might mean having 10,000+ people in your network (social media, email list, or other networks) that you’ll be able to market to.
Another thing that you’ll have to show them is that you’re a credible expert. Fortunately, having completed a dissertation on the subject you’re writing about should establish your expertise..
Giving Up Control
It’s also important to be aware that when a publisher takes on a book, they may have ideas about what should be included in the book and what may not. So you may have to give up some control over the material. However, it may be worth it if the publisher can guarantee a wider audience and allow your material to get out in the world, and they take care of the upfront costs of publishing.
Shifting Focus
When you wrote your dissertation your goal was to answer your research question(s). It was not to solve a problem or change the world. While that question may be interesting, you might find a better market if you can turn your results into something that might help solve a problem or change the world. Essentially, you’ll have to broaden your scope.
From Dissertation to Book: How to Turn Your Dissertation Into a Book
Recognize the Scope of the Project
First, it’s important to recognize the large scope of the project you’re taking on. Writing a book is no small feat, even for someone who has already written a dissertation. Also, realistically evaluate your chances of getting your book published. Has a publisher already expressed interest? Will you be pitching publishers you don’t know? How much of a market is there for your topic? Have other books on the topic been published? These are all important questions to consider.
Read Recently Published Books Related to the Subject
This will help you get a picture of how people are approaching your subject for a general audience. Also, when you submit a book proposal, you will have to list comparable works, so this will help you get an idea of which books you’ll want to include. Finally, doing this will help you see how the books are organized and what the tone is, giving you a head start for your own outlining and writing process.
Read Books About Writing and Publishing
Equally important is to have a solid understanding of the book writing and publishing process. I recommend William Germano’s classic, From Dissertation to Book. However, don’t stop there. WIlliam Zinsser’s On Writing Well is exceptional and should be required reading for anyone who puts words down on paper.
Un-Learn Academic Writing
In order to take your research project from dissertation to book, you’re going to have to un-learn all of the academic writing skills you just perfected. For example, you can (and should) use things like contractions and parenthetical phrases when writing a book for non-academic purposes.
The average reader may not want to know that Scrum, Scrum, and Scrum (2014) said something tangentially related to what you’re doing. They don’t need to know what the P-value is. You’ll have to shift both the focus and style of your writing. The type of granular detail that’s required in a dissertation is rarely acceptable in a piece of nonfiction written for the general public.
Talk to People About Your Topic
Talk to somebody else about your dissertation. Have a third person outline what they would want to know about that topic. Talk it through casually with multiple people. This will help you get out of the academic mindset and into the mindset of communicating with the public.
Presenting on or teaching about your research can also help you get a better grasp of how to communicate to people about it. Teaching helps to “crystalize” the concepts you’ve lived with for so long into something you can communicate easily.
Make an Outline
Make an outline and write the first chapter. Show it to people who will give honest feedback, especially those with expertise in writing and English. The first concrete step in the process of going from dissertation to book is to organize your research in a way that’s accessible to a broader, non-academic audience.
Create a Proposal
Most nonfiction books are sold to a publisher before they’re completely written. Usually, this means submitting a proposal along with two or three chapters. Consult an expert for more information about submitting a proposal.
Be Engaging
it’s important to differentiate between what your committee wants when writing your dissertation and what a publisher wants when writing a book. Karen Kelsky of The Professor Is In says, “Presses are not interested in “solid scholarship.” They are interested in products that sell. Products that sell have to be differentiated from the competition–ie, they have to be exciting, new, and different.” She goes on to say, “Write with style and flair. Just because you *can* write clunky, graceless prose in academia, and get away with it, doesn’t mean you *should.* Be provocative. Be original. Be incendiary.”
Get an Editor
Think about finding an editor who edits popular nonfiction manuscripts, as opposed to an academic editor. It’s kind of like hiring a translate to put your work from one language into another.
Even if you’re used to writing for a general audience, the process of writing a dissertation may actually change how you write. It’s always a good idea to get an editor’s eyes on the manuscript to weed out habits that fit well for academia but not for the general public.
From Dissertation to Book: Should You Publish Your Dissertation as an Academic Article?
You should publish it as an academic article first, before you publish it as a book. If you have aspirations within academia, publications in peer-reviewed journals will be much more beneficial for your career than a publication by Simon and Schuster.
The other dissertation-to-book option is to write a textbook. You don’t have to “translate” as much from academia. However, you would have to do a lot more research–your textbook has to be much broader than the scope of a single dissertation. And you’ll still have to show the publisher that there’s a market, and why yours is better than those that are already out there.
Help Turning Your Dissertation into a Book
For anyone who intends to go from dissertation to book, the support of an experienced coach and scholar can be invaluable. My Academic Career Coaching services can help you turn your dissertation into a book and jumpstart your academic career.
