Most university presses will not publish an unrevised dissertation, so the first step is to think about how to revise a dissertation into a finished scholarly book. There are a number of helpful guides to revising a dissertation into a book that you might consider reading as you make a plan for revision. Such guides include William Germano’s From Dissertation to Book, Beth Luey’s Revising Your Dissertation: Advice from Leading Editors, and Katelyn E. Knox and Alison Van Deventer’s The Dissertation-to-Book Workbook: Exercises for Developing and Revising Your Book Manuscript.
One of the biggest hurdles for an author looking to transform a dissertation into a book is the ability to speak with authority. In some ways, a dissertation is a very long written exam—a display of knowledge for which a PhD student must show mastery. That is not what a book is. A book is meant to provide a sustained argument that provides insight to the reader. The author of a book is already understood to be an expert; that’s why a press has agreed to publish their book. The audience of a dissertation might be a committee of three people, whereas the audience of a book is (hopefully) hundreds or thousands of readers. Many of the conventions of a dissertation, such as literature review, use of jargon, methods review, study design review, etc., are not necessary to include in a book (or, in the case of the methods, can be put into an appendix). A dissertation usually ends with an original argument whereas a good book should begin with a novel argument. Finally, a dissertation does not need to be written with readability in mind, but a book should be crafted to be an engaging read. In other words , if you write a boring dissertation you can still get your degree, but if you write a boring book no one will read it. If you write a dissertation, you think of yourself as a graduate student (and you are), but when you write a book you can and should think of yourself as an author, an expert on a given topic with something original, even exciting, to say.
—NYU Press and AUPresses Faculty Outreach Committee
See also: “How should I prepare to meet editors while finishing my dissertation?”, “How do you find publishers for a particular topic or field of study?”, “How should I approach a publisher?”, “When should I approach a publisher?”, and “What can authors do to promote their books?”
Also of interest: “Turning Your Dissertation into a Book,” the recording of a webinar organized by the AUPresses Faculty Outreach Committee and sponsored by Rutgers University-New Brunswick Graduate School of Education; Samuel Dewitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice; and Center for Minority Serving Institutions, October 2025.