Inappropriate Icon Is Inappropriate

[ajnabieh]

I love this icon; it isn't true; I can't bear to give it up. Sniff.

***

Recs needed: blog posts, articles, books, ANYTHING on:

1) How to choose a publisher to pitch your dissertation-book (or any academic book) to;
2) What the structural differences are between a dissertation and a book (which I struggle with, because I see 275 pages of prose and think "book," yes?)'
3) How to write a book proposal (apart from "to the tastes of the particular press/editor you're pitching to").

Guess what my summer project is.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

Writer's Digest, Writer's Market, on academic publishing.

Also take a look at Transformative Works and Cultures and ask some of the writers there for advice. The acafans there are generally quite helpful and approachable. They have a blog, too, called Symposium.

Also, are your advisers at your school of any help? They'd be front and center for this.

I know McFarland publishes fan/cultural studies books.

[sheddingkhawatir.blogspot.com]

When you find this out, please share, because this is my summer project too!

[(Anonymous)]

Wait, what happened with the icon? What was the problem?

Every academic (and non-academic) publishing house is a little different in terms of the works it seeks. Start pounding the digital pavement to see who is looking for what. Have a look at the books you have found most inspiring and citable in your own work, and see who published them. That'll do for a start. Once you've done that, spend some time combing each press' catalog to get a sense of what they publish within your field of knowledge.

As for the diss-to-book business, the best advice I've gotten was from Dr. Crazy, who recommended From Dissertation to Book, by William Germano. It's well worth a read, especially when you're at the point of "275 pages...prose...must be a book, amirite??"

Book proposals are a little tougher, since they're discipline-bound, to a degree. Hit up your colleagues in your native discipline for models to work from. I can send you mine, if you like, but of course I'm still gunning for a contract myself, so I won't pretend it's a reliable model.

[jae]

1. I turned my dissertation into articles, so I don't have any advice on looking for publishers for dissertation books specifically. But for the books I wrote/edited as a more senior academic, I essentially chose by looking at which publishers were marketing their books to the audience I wanted to read mine, and pitched it to them.

3. I asked someone else who'd pitched their book successfully to the same press to show me his. ;)

-J

[loveanddisdain.blogspot.com]

Long story short, have a look at Dr. Crazy's advice to me, when I asked similar questions about the diss-to-book process.

http://loveanddisdain.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-cant-get-started.html