Read on Twitter
Because this is always a burning question for first-time academic book authors, here are some red flags that the book you’re proposing hasn’t yet evolved away from the dissertation:
You’re trying to make all the claims and cover all possible aspects of your topic.Compelling books usually make one main argument and see that argument through multiple angles or layers in the chapters. They don’t exhaust all possible interest areas of a given subject
You’re still focusing inward on the specific procedures and findings of your research.You do need to communicate what you found and how, but it should be in the interest of illuminating some broader dynamic in the world, because that’s what readers will care most about
You’re too bogged down in the literature and what others have argued.Your ideas should be the star of your proposal & book, bc that’s what your readers are there for. If ppl want to engage deeply with what other scholars have said, they can go read others scholars’ books!
Re: previous tweet — this doesn’t mean not citing appropriately or claiming all ideas as your own. It means weaving in previous scholarship thoughtfully, in service of communicating what you want readers to understand and recognize as important about your own work
You can’t state succinctly what contribution your book is making and who it will matter to.This is understandably really hard to get a handle on, especially when you’re close to the diss! This piece might help: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2019/08/06/why-you-shouldnt-immediately-try-convert-your-dissertation-book-opinion
Your writing style feels defensive or tentative, as if you’re worried about proving you’re smart enough, you’ve done enough research, fending off all possible critique.At some point you just have to own your ideas and put them out there.
Understanding who you’re writing for and why they’ll think your work is important will go a long way toward giving you an easier, more confident voice in your book. I think I said this a few days ago on here, but I’ll say it again: write for the fans not the haters
I’ve had clients tell me that editors have said their citation style made their work feel too dissertationy.Valid point but kind of feels like a distraction to me? Try to cite in the way the published bks from yr target press do, but honestly, the other stuff matters more
I hope it’s clear that none of these revisions are random hoops a publisher wants you to jump through just for the sake of doing something different than your diss. Changing all of these things makes your manuscript more readable and appealing to ppl who buy books
