How to Publish Your Thesis as a Book

There are a variety of ways to publish an academic book, each one with unique benefits, requirements, and deadlines. Knowing what’s out there lets you make decisions about it, where to prioritize, based on how you want to move your career and how and where you want to reach people.

Academic Press Publishing

University presses are the gold standard for academic book publishing, because they convey prestige, undergo rigorous peer review and distribution within academic networks (Farrell, 2011; Fox, 2019; Fridlund, 2010). These publishers tend toward making decisions on scholarly contributions with strong research influence and well-known author (Smith & Felix, 2019).

Academic press advantages

  • Enhanced academic credibility and career advancement potential
  • Rigorous peer review process ensuring quality standards
  • Established distribution channels within academic institutions
  • Professional editing and production support
  • Long-term availability through academic libraries

Submission requirements typically include

  • Comprehensive book proposal with market analysis
  • Sample chapters demonstrating writing quality and approach
  • Detailed curriculum vitae highlighting relevant expertise
  • Letters of support from established scholars in your field

Commercial Academic Publishers

Commercial publishers such as Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge and Springer bring broader dissemination to the book and marketing support at the same time keeping its academic credibility (Harman et al., 2003; Kamler & Thomson, 2008; Normore, 2011). These publishers frequently publish books that have cross-over potential other than within tightly defined academic disciplines (Bangani, 2018; Cooley & Lewkowicz, 2003).

Commercial publisher benefits

  • Professional marketing and promotional support
  • Wider distribution through retail and online channels
  • Potential for higher royalty rates than university presses
  • Faster publication timelines in many cases
  • International reach and translation opportunities

Digital and Open Access Publishing

The new model of academic publishing is increasingly digital first and open access, which allows greater accessibility, the incorporation of multimedia and alternate measures of scholarly impact (Paltridge, 2016; Rudestam & Newton, 2014; Schubert & Crusius, 2002).

Digital publishing advantages

  • Reduced publication costs and faster time-to-market
  • Enhanced searchability and citation tracking
  • Multimedia content integration possibilities
  • Global accessibility without geographic restrictions
  • Environmental sustainability benefits

Also read Convert Thesis to Book 

Learn more in Publish a Book

See the Choosing Best Publisher  for more resources

Further Reading: Top Affordable Publishers 

References

Bangani, S. (2018). The impact of electronic theses and dissertations: a study of the institutional repository of a university in South Africa. Scientometrics, 115(1), 131-151.

Cooley, L., & Lewkowicz, J. (2003). Dissertation writing in practice: Turning ideas into text (Vol. 1). Hong Kong University Press.

Farrell, P. (2011). Writing a built environment dissertation: practical guidance and examples. John Wiley & Sons.

Fox, M. F. (2019). The transition from dissertation student to publishing scholar and professional. In Scholarly writing and publishing (pp. 6-16). Routledge.

Fridlund, B. (2010). The dissertation book; Should it be a monograph or a compilation thesis?. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 9(3), 144-145.

Harman, E., Montagnes, I., McMenemy, S., & Bucci, C. (Eds.). (2003). The thesis and the book: A guide for first-time academic authors. University of Toronto Press.

Kamler, B., & Thomson, P. (2008). The failure of dissertation advice books: Toward alternative pedagogies for doctoral writing. Educational Researcher, 37(8), 507-514.

Normore, A. H. (2011). The process of transforming the dissertation or thesis into publication. The handbook of scholarly writing and publishing, 75-88.

Paltridge, B. (2016). Publishing from a dissertation: A book or articles?. In Doing research in applied linguistics (pp. 244-252). Routledge.

Rudestam, K. E., & Newton, R. R. (2014). Surviving your dissertation: A comprehensive guide to content and process. Sage publications.

Schubert, T., & Crusius, J. (2002, October). Five theses on the book problem: Presence in books, film and VR. In PRESENCE 2002-Proceedings of the fifth international workshop on Presence (pp. 53-59). Porto,, Portugal: Universidad Fernando Pessoa..

Smith, I., & Felix, M. S. (2019). A practical guide to dissertation and thesis writing. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.