A clear guide to transforming a dissertation into a book by shifting structure, clarifying the central argument, and reframing academic research for a broader scholarly audience.

When you propose a standalone book to a university press, you have to specify the audience yourself. This can feel daunting - or like overreach. Here's what I learned about the audience section across four book proposals, and why it's not as hard as it feels.

Academic recognition is not incremental. Work advances only after crossing specific institutional thresholds that make it legible, comparable, and actionable under constraint.