‘Can I turn my dissertation into a book? And if so, how?’ are questions that acquisitions editors are often asked by doctoral graduates. Since virtually all of the dissertations that get published in book form do so as monographs, these questions are essentially about a particular section of the monograph market. In Part I above, this book considered the monograph market in general and took a rather bullish view of it. In the special case of monographs based on dissertations, however, a more nuanced view is called for.

First, let's consider the context. This in fact varies hugely between disciplines. In some disciplines there is little call for monographs, whilst in others the market is strong. Generally, Humanities, Arts, and Social Science subjects tend to be more hospitable to monographs than do ‘STEM’ (i.e. scientific, technical, engineering, and medical) disciplines. There is also a strong monograph market in professional subjects (tourism management, for example), not least because business school libraries and professionals in the corporate sector provide additional markets.

The context for monographs also varies between territories. In the German-speaking world, for example, there is a tradition of publishing books based directly on research dissertations. Though not perhaps as robust as it once was, the tradition remains strong, not least because monograph authorship still functions to some extent as a passport for obtaining tenure. Imprints specialising in such publications remain an important part of the Germanic publishing landscape.