Participants:

Jean Garrison, Boston University (co-chair)
Steven Hook, Kent State University (co-chair)

Steve Smith, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Patrick James, Iowa State University
Donald Puchala, University of South Carolina
Bridget Julien, Lynne Rienner Publishers
Charles Myers, Princeton University Press

This panel, held during the ISA conference in Los Angeles, provided a range of advice and publishing strategies for dissertations.  The following are some of the highlights from the roundtable discussion:
 

• Be very clear on what niche your work is intended to fill.  This is important when identifying an appropriate publisher. Are the publishers you are considering appropriate for your work?  Are they competitive and well regarded in your area?  One way to answer these questions is to use conferences like ISA as opportunities to discuss your work with publishers and academic colleagues.

• Is time an important consideration?   Be aware of the tradeoffs in your decision making.  Is a quick publication most important or will you be willing to make changes in response to the publisher and reviewers suggestions?  Some publishers may consider a manuscript for several months before making a decision, and this can have important consequences for you. Responses to these questions varied among the panelists. Some suggested not to rush your work, pointing to a tradeoff between a quick publication and the quality of the work. Others made the point that it was important to take advantage your immediate familiarity with your subject matter and move toward a more rapid timetable. Strategic considerations also matter regarding where you are in your job search.

• Presentation and audience.  The larger question your work addresses is important when you consider the potential audience and how market pressures influence scholarly publishing.   The project itself should be approaches a work of creative writing for a broader audience than your dissertation committee.  Present your material as a narrative, not in terms of hypothesis testing. Be aware of the potential gap between the technical complexity of your work and the potential audience.  Bring out the larger questions that can attract a wider audience.  Seek advice on the manuscript as widely as possible before submitting it for review.  Change the tone of the manuscript from a work that is too derivative of your thesis adviser's work.  For the purpose of the book prospectus, make sure the purpose of the work is clear in the first three pages. In response to reviewers, remember the tone of your response will help persuade the editorial board.

• Dissertation to articles.  Smaller ideas from the thesis can be made into specialized articles. Before submitting, get to know the targeted journal by pulling past issues and reviewing their content. Articles may also help you establish a name for yourself before you publish you  book. (Be aware that if you publish too much of your work in article form publishers might hesitate to publish the book). Be straightforward in your presentation. The title and abstract are very important because they gain attention for the study but also help the editors choose who to send the manuscript to for review.  Follow the guidelines put forth by each journal in terms of manuscript length and citation style. Remember that persistence pays off and if your submission is rejected, try again with other journals.

• Another question: Do you work, or intend to work, in a "book" or an "article" department?  Depending on your department, a few articles in the "right" journals may be just as important as a book.  Always keep tenure expectations in mind.

What do publishers look for in a book proposal? This outline is a sample of the information publishers might want to see to determine the suitability of a book for publication. Some publishers might have additional guidelines for prospective authors and should be consulted directly.  The following sample guidelines were provided by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.
 

• Proposed book title.

• Information about the author(s). An up-to-date c.v. should be included for each author or editor--but please keep in mind that edited books are harder to "get right"; most edited collections fail to achieve a cohesive approach and level, and thus are not likely to be accepted.

• Outline.  Chapter titles plus a 1- or 2-page summary of the contribution of the material.

• Target audience.  Is your book a monograph reporting the results of research; a reference book (bibliography, dictionary, etc.); a synthetic analysis; or a textbook (if so, for what courses and at what level? competition?)?

• Estimated length in characters of double-spaced manuscript pages (if the latter, indicate the number of lines and characters per line on a typical page, or include a sample page) as well as the anticipated number of figures, tables, photographs, etc.

A frequently asked question is, "What is the right length for a book?"  It is true that the longer the book, the higher its price will be, and high prices can be a problem.  Ultimately, though, the "right" length depends on the specific project.

• Expected manuscript completion date.

• How much material is available for review?  The more you can provide now, the firmer the commitment can be.  Bear in mind, that if a commitment is made based on a proposal, your final manuscript will still be subject to an external review process, and the work will not proceed if unresolvable problems arise at that stage.