{"id":45501,"date":"2018-10-02T13:21:16","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T20:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=45501"},"modified":"2018-10-02T13:21:16","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T20:21:16","slug":"how-to-turn-your-phd-into-a-book-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-to-turn-your-phd-into-a-book-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"How to turn your PhD into a book \u2013 part two"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you missed the last installment; step one can be found\u00a0here \u2013\u00a0<\/a>I recommend reading this post first<\/p>\n

Step Four: Don\u2019t be an academic asshole about it
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It\u2019s highly likely, unless you did the slightly less cold call approach descibed in my\u00a0previous post<\/a>, that you won\u2019t get a fast answer to your initial pitch to an academic publisher. Expect weeks, even months, between emails. In my experience, people behind the scenes in scholarly publishing are stretched for time, just like academics. Publishers are probably working on multiple projects or even multiple roles; many are working part-time. Factor the realities of their day to day work situation into your communication strategy. Don\u2019t be pushy. Give people at least a month to respond to your initial pitch before following up to see if they got the letter.<\/p>\n

Respect that publishers know how and what to publish \u2013 this might seem obvious, but it\u2019s surprisingly easy to ignore. Good publishers, like good bloggers, know their audience. Publishers target specific markets; they know how to reach, connect and sell to certain bookstores and online distributors that supply these markets. They have past sales figures to guide their future decisions. Just because they have published similar books in the past does not mean they will want to print yours. Sometimes publishers just aren\u2019t interested in your pitch \u2013 even if you think they should be.<\/p>\n

For example, I was so convinced our book\u00a0\u2018Postgraduate study in Australia: surviving and thriving\u2019<\/a>, an edited collection of students writing advice for others, would be such an easy sell that I let the whole thing be written before I tried to pitch it. Big mistake (and one I will never make again!). I could not get a single Australian publisher interested, even with the figures about the reach of this blog, an obvious publicity vehicle. As a consequence, the project languished for ages and I was professionally very embarrassed at my overconfidence.<\/p>\n

In the end, my colleague Chris cut a deal with a European publisher, with a much bigger price tag than I would like. I\u2019m totally grateful to him for his efforts and admire his \u2018never give in, never surrender\u2019 approach because I am glad this book is in the world. I\u2019m still convinced\u00a0Survive and Thrive<\/em>could have been a good buy for an Australian publisher. Colleagues have told me how they keep a copy of this book to give to prospective students considering doing a PhD. Other students have written to me to say how much they love the book, but it didn\u2019t work out.<\/p>\n

If this kind of bewildering rejection happens to you, don\u2019t be an\u00a0academic asshole<\/a>\u00a0about it. The temptation is to try and persuade the publisher they are wrong\u2026 It\u2019s not a great idea. Academics are trained to argue, but outside of academia, people can find our style of arguing annoying. Don\u2019t make the mistake of thinking arguing with a book publisher is the same as arguing with journal editors. It\u2019s worth having a go arguing with a journal editor; my philosophy in that case is \u201cif you don\u2019t ask, you don\u2019t get\u201d. BUT, journal editors are usually academics; publishers are not. Trying to persuade a publisher they should publish (and probably lose money on) your book is probably a waste of time. Worse, if you end up on someone\u2019s shit list for being a pain in the ass about it, you have burned future opportunities too.<\/p>\n

I try to keep in mind my father in law Steve\u2019s best piece of child raising advice: \u201cgood manners cost nothing and buy a lot\u201d. Thank the publisher for bothering to respond to your email and move on to your next prospect. Shaking off rejection is a skill and you will get better at, I promise.<\/p>\n

Step Five: A decent proposal
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A publisher might see your dissertation as a good enough starting point and you will skip this next step, but in the conventional academic publishing business, you will need to do some form of proposal. A proposal is basically a long pitch document, guided by a series of questions. The questions will probably include, but not be limited to, the following:<\/p>\n