Getting Your Dissertation Published

I have been asked several times these last few years how I got my dissertation published by de Gruyter. So here is how it happened.

How I got Gruyter to accept my dissertation

To be honest, it had not really crossed my mind to try to get my dissertation published until quite late in the process. It all really came together a little bit before the SBL meeting of November 2006 in Washington, D.C.

By that time, a few months before finishing my dissertation, I had seen quite a few dissertations published by major publishing houses and had come to think that mine was not worse (or as good) than some of them. So I thought, hey, let’s talk to publishing houses and see what happens. By then I had also decided that I would definitely go for the big names first.

During the SBL meeting, I had chatted with the people at the de Gruyter booth, who were quite nice, but had not talked to them about my dissertation. Reason is my thesis was written in French and I had not seen anything on their table in French. I talked to a couple of other publishers too (Brill, Cambridge, etc.). Several were interested in my work. Some would have required me to shorten it and/or translate it into English (it was written in French).

On the last day of the meeting, as I went back to de Gruyter, I saw a book in French in their OT series. So I asked them about publishing in French and whether they would be interested in looking at my dissertation. The NT editor, Carsten Burfeind, who has left since then, asked me to tell him about it. He said he would indeed be interested in looking at the thesis and that he would have no problem with the French and with its length (over three hundred pages plus bibliography and indexes).

Once back to civilization in Europe, I e-mailed the masterpiece to de Gruyter and wrote back to two other publishers about it too. Gruyter was the first one to answer. The other ones answered too. Since Gruyter answered first, they asked me to give them priority for three months (I had told them I had been in touch with other publishers). Given the time and cost of sending the text to reviewers, I understood and agreed.

Just after I had defended my dissertation de Gruyter contacted me to let me know that my thesis had been accepted for publication with just a few minor modifications suggested. They sent me a contract.

So it was decision time. Several factors led me to go ahead. Dissertations are usually shorter in the UK and the USA than on the Continent. This means that some publishing houses do not like dissertations that reach three hundred pages and over. I did not want to take the time to shorten my thesis to have it published. Second, a couple of publishing houses were interested in the dissertation if I translated it into English. I knew that if published in English my book would have a much wider readership and visibility. Still, translating a thesis is a major undertaking. Not only do you have to translate the text, but, whenever possible, all works quoted must usually be quoted from the English versions. With all my other responsibilities, that would have meant at least a year of work. I decided to go ahead with the dissertation being published in French. I could always write earth shattering career making articles in English after. Which I did, well at least the writing part. So I signed up with de Gruyter.

How I got the manuscript ready

Once your manuscript is accepted, things vary from one publishing house to another. Some will ask you to pay to have your work published. I did not have to pay anything. The downside is I did not keep the copyrights, which means no royalties. Since for some obscure reasons that may not be named I did not expect the work to sell like Harry Potter, that was ok. Some publishers do all the typesetting for you, others ask you to do it. You just send them a CRC (a Camera Ready Copy), basically a pdf that they can just send to the printer. I had to do the typesetting. I did not mind that since I am interested in typography and layout. Furthermore, I had already typeset my Greek course in Adobe Framemaker, the software I also used to write my dissertation with and which is used by many publishing houses to typeset books (that was before I started using L^aT_eX). It was no big deal to change the settings to the dimensions given by de Gruyter and setup the pdf in Framemaker.

Then there is the issue of indexes (of authors, references, subjects). Some publishing houses ask you to get them ready, others suggest a professional to do it and offer to split the cost with you. I imagine some will do it for you, but I have not heard of that for dissertations. I did my indexes. Framemaker handles multiple indexes no problem. I even included a list of tables. Still, indexing is a science and requires some skill. Don’t go for the idea that you can just do an automatic concordance with your word processor and then prune the results. That’s not the way to do it. I just went through the chapter on indexing in the Chicago Manual of Styles and through Indexing Books by Nancy Mulvany and put it into practice.

De Gruyter wanted my book fast to have it available for the SBL 2007. They needed about two months top between final delivery of the CRC and the printing. I reworked the text a little, except for the chapter on the use of the OT in Romans which I reworked more extensively, even though they did not require it. Eventually, it all went pretty smoothly. I got fifteen free copies, which is quite generous.

A concluding word

The first thing is to decide whether you want your thesis published (assuming it is of a publishable quality). In some cases you may decide instead to use your dissertation to write another book. Talk to your supervisor about it or to people who know what they are talking about. Getting your thesis published is often necessary to get a job, but not always. It depends on the kind of job your are considering.

You also have to decide where to get it published. I know, beggars can’t be choosers. But if you do have a choice, think about the reputation of the collection, about the amount of work that may be required if modifications are necessary, about copyright issues, etc.

If you think your thesis is of a good quality, don’t be shy. Talk to the big league publishing houses. Their business is to publish. If your thesis is good, they will be interested. Worse thing that can happen is that they’ll say no thank you. Maybe your supervisor can introduce you to people in these publishing houses. If not, take things into your own hands. But don’t let your supervisor talk you into getting your dissertation published in a secondary collection because the end product will be cheaper or within your confessional or denominational fold. How do you know you are dealing with the big league? The names should be household names in your field; the publishing house is not denominational; the quality of manufacturing is such that your grandchildren will still be able to use your book as a doorstop; your published masterpiece will cost at least close to $100! (Mine is about $180 and worth every single penny of it according to my teenage kids.)

If possible, talk to the people in person at a conference. Introduce yourself. Be ready to summarize your thesis in an interesting and brief fashion. Bring business cards. Bring a chapter or two with you (though I have not found that to be crucial since editors don’t have the time to read at conventions). If possible, make an appointment before the conference. Hopefully, I could have had my thesis published without being present at the SBL, but personal contact is always a plus.

Oh, by the way, if possible, write your thesis in English. Who reads French anyway.

There you have it. Hope it’s useful.