The Chicago School Library: Scholarly Publishing: Publishing a Book

Whether to Write a Book

Should I Write a Book?, by Karen Kelsky
Kelsky, a former professor and academic career consultant, answers a question from an academic about whether to write a book.
Why Write a Book?, by David Perry
Perry, a faculty member at a teaching-oriented university who was not required to publish a book in order to get tenure, describes why he wrote his first book.

Selecting a Publisher

Find the right publishing venue for your book project:

Mine your sources to identify books on similar topics and note which presses published them.
Get advice from mentors and colleagues.
Research publishers' and editors' active interests and review their current catalogs.

Subject Area Grid from the Association of University Presses
The Subject Area Grid can help you identify presses that publish in your field.

Writing a Book Proposal

When preparing a book proposal, check for a proposal-writing guide on the website of your desired publisher. Many publishers provide guidance in this area, and following it will serve you well.

The articles below provide general advice on writing book proposals.

Writing a Book Proposal, by Lori Flores
Flores, a historian, shares advice about preparing a book proposal.
Crafting a Convincing Book Proposal, by Manya Whitaker
Whitaker discusses writing a cover letter, selecting a press, and writing a book proposal.

Peer Review in Book Publishing

Best Practices for Peer Review, Association of University Presses
While this handbook was written for and by scholarly publishers, the overview of the peer review process that it provides is valuable to all participants in scholarly book publishing.

From Dissertation to Book

Thinking about transforming your dissertation into your first book? Hardly any dissertations are published as books without significant work on the author's part to refocus the manuscript for an audience beyond the dissertation committee.

Here are a few resources to help you understand the process of reworking a dissertation for publication as a monograph:

https://chroniclevitae.com/news/529-dear-first-time-author-how-to-turn-your-dissertation-into-a-book
MacPhail shares advice from writing her own first book as well as advice from editors at university presses.

In reading some of the resources listed above, you might encounter discussions of how having your dissertation available online (for example, in Deep Blue) could negatively impact a publisher's willingness to look at your manuscript. Some authors assert that you should not put your dissertation online if you hope to sign a publishing contract. However, please note there is very little evidence to support this view. In fact, research has shown that publishers will indeed consider manuscripts that are revised versions of openly-accessible dissertations.

Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Social Sciences and Humanities? Findings from a 2011 Survey of Academic Publishers, by Ramirez, et al.