Hi, I would really appreciate any advice here. I have submitted my thesis to quite a few publishers now (single author monograph) and each time the response has been that although the work is interesting, they do not feel that they could sell enough books on this author to make it worthwhile financially. I'm now thinking that I should just get on with trying to publish the individual chapters. I've waited a long time to hear back from each publisher and I'm aware that the more time that passes since completing my PhD and I have no publications to my name, the harder it will be to get a job. Also, there is very little critical writing on this particular author and I'm keen to get mine out there. My question is does anyone have any advice about how to go about this and in particular, my thesis followed a particular theoretical framework which I set out in the introduction; I then use this framework throughout to analyse different texts/themes in the work. If I submit chapters to journals, I'll need to set this framework out each time at the introduction, but couldn't that get repetitive? Do you think this is ok? I might be having to say something very similar in the introduction of each chapter. Thanks again for any help.

I suspect most theses don't get published as monographs, but you definitely need to disseminate your findings. I can't see why it would be a problem having to write the same stuff about your methodology.

Journal articles sound like the way to go. How about trying to think in terms of target journals and looking at the type of article they publish and then work out which argument (it might not be each chapter as it now stands) might fit best there? Depending on the journal you'll probably find that you end up emphasising a different aspect of the theoretical framework. Did your examiners / supervisor have any suggestions about publishing? If not, it might be worth asking and they will have the outside perspective on your thesis and might be able to see more easily than you are, how best to break it up. Also think strategically - what elements are most likely to be appealing to an employer or get accepted by a better journal? Start with those to get the maximum benefit on the job market.

Hi Lucifer
I think you should publish your thesis online, there also you can get popularity after that publisher may help you.

Publishing the thesis online will jeopardise the prospect of future articles based on it.

Hi Lucifer (now there's a greeting...)

I'm also in English Lit and have published a couple of pieces from my thesis during the PhD. I know what you mean re. the need to get that theoretical / methodological scaffold in place, but it seems to be par for the course. Most single-author folks I know tend to point their work at topics that author's work can speak to - might require a bit more re-writing, but could also increase exposure.

I guess another route might be to try for an edited collection? You'd need other scholars with work relevant to your author (or their network?) but it could be a way to stamp your name on the subject with something more substantial than an article and build from there. It seems that publishers are more likely to go for edited collections on 'niche' authors, though my experience of that is fairly anecdotal.

Drumming up business?

Thanks, all, for your help...I really appreciate it. Having done my PhD part-time and at an institution far from where I live, I think I missed out a bit on chatting to other research students and staff, sharing ideas/getting advice etc. Thanks again.

Hi Doc. Sorry if I'm being a bit dim, but could you elaborate on this a little? I understand that you can't publish the same thing twice (obviously), but does it mean that if you make your thesis available online that you then may have issues with publishing future articles from that thesis?

Any info greatly appreciated.
Thanks
G

It depends on what sort of publishing of the thesis you do, I think. Making it available in the usual way via the university's electronic repository is not a problem, but I wasn't sure what proofreadmyfile was talking about.

Ok, thanks for your reply, Doc :)