Guidelines for writing a book based on a thesis

Candlin & Mynard do not publish theses, but would be interested in receiving proposals based on thesis research for one of our series. Please keep the following in mind if you plan to submit a book proposal based on your thesis:
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  • Remove all mentions of the term thesis/dissertation.
  • Consider beginning with a personal narrative to frame the work.
  • You may need to greatly reduce your literature review and methodology.
  • The description of the theoretical framework may need to be reduced.
  • You may need to reduce your references.
  • There may be more of an emphasis on the context and participants’ stories, perhaps in separate chapters, in order to make the book an engaging read.
  • Title and chapter headings should be changed in order to make them more enticing to readers.
  • You may want to write in the first person throughout the book.
  • You may want to avoid extensive use of overly academic or unfamiliar terms and acronyms.
  • Keep your readers in mind, what could they take away from this work?
  • Think about how you might reorganize the book to make it an engaging read.
  • Take a look at other books in the field that you particularly like and get a sense of how the authors have structured them and made them engaging. [See our books by Diego Mideros and Sanae Oda-Sheehan for examples.]
  • Naturally, a thesis covers many areas, but think about what is the main theoretical area of interest in your work. Which areas are missing from current published works? How can you fill this gap? 
  • Readers are often looking for a pedagogical or practical application, so work that in if appropriate.
  • Think about how you can engage readers in dialogue. For example, can you embed reflective questions? Can you explicitly encourage readers to replicate, share, or apply the ideas and research to their contexts? Think about what tools might support this.

​Useful blogs and resources for potential authors

​Turning your Thesis into a Book by Louise Edwards
​[LINK]

Revising the Dissertation by Palgrave Macmillan
[LINK]

Turning your Thesis into a Book by MUP 
[LINK]

Watch a video interview with one of our authors Diego Mideros who turned his thesis into a book 
​[LINK]

Example books that are based on a thesis

Am I an Autonomous Language Learner? Self-Perceived Autonomy in Trinidad and Tobago: Sociocultural Perspectives by Diego Mideros (2021)

​This book explores sociocultural elements and conditions that enable individuals to see themselves as autonomous learners in formal educational settings. 

https://www.candlinandmynard.com/mideros.html
An Autoethnography of Teaching English in Japan: Bridging Life and Academia by Sanae Oda-Sheehan (2022).

In this book, the author shares her experiences in bridging problematic gaps hindering learning effectiveness in the Japanese EFL context by utilizing autoethnography.

https://www.candlinandmynard.com/odasheehan.html​