Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world and publishes in all academic fields from multiple offices across the globe. Here, they share their 5 publishing Top Tips…….
1. We are always glad to hear from prospective authors. We offer both general guidance on submission and a set of relevant contacts as it is sometimes best to send the relevant subject editor a brief email describing the project.
2. The hurdles at which most first-book proposals fall is a) suitability (for the list) and b) likelihood of achieving a sufficient level of sale. An initial email may help signal a project’s chances of clearing those particular hurdles. If an editor can encourage a submission, he or she will advise what should be sent.
3. Studying the relevant OUP list is, then, a good investment of time. Although what you will see is not invariably a guide to our future priorities, it none the less gives a good indication. (But note that some lists have Oxford Monograph series attached to them. These titles, clearly identified in the catalogue, are published by OUP on behalf of the relevant faculties in the University of Oxford and are restricted to the most highly regarded Oxford DPhils. The Press’s own commissioning priorities may be a little different.)
4. Almost no PhD dissertation can translate unproblematically into a book: the needs of examiner and reader are different. Anyone thinking of publishing their dissertation as a book might with advantage read one of the good guides now available, eg William Germano, _From Dissertation to Book_ (Chicago, 2005).
5. If you hope to publish your dissertation as a book, do not agree to its inclusion in an institutional or commercial online repository. Online delivery is an increasingly significant way of disseminating academic monographs and OUP could not take on a book substantially based on a dissertation already available online.