The University of Nebraska Press does not consider unrevised dissertations. Considerable differences exist between a dissertation and a book, and even the best dissertation will need to be revised before being submitted for publication. Most commonly, scholars seeking to publish their revised dissertations will need to do the following:
Eliminate or drastically reduce the “review of scholarly literature” section. While it may be a standard feature of dissertations, such a review is superfluous in a book. You are no longer writing for your committee in fulfillment of degree requirements; you are writing as an authority on your chosen subject matter.
Pare down your notes. Most dissertations have roughly twice as many notes as necessary. Again, you are now the authority. As such, exhaustive notation is overly defensive, not proof of sound scholarship.
Eliminate discursive notes. If the facts or details in a note are important, incorporate them into your text; if not, delete them. Too often, notes become places to park extraneous information. Resist that temptation.
Likewise, pare down and streamline your bibliography.
Weed out scaffolding. Many dissertations are highly structured: authors might begin each chapter with a statement of what is going to be argued and conclude with a statement of what has been argued, or they might divide each chapter into excessive headings and subheadings. Recast your manuscript to improve its narrative flow.
Cut, cut, cut. At every possible turn, tighten your prose. Sharpen your argument. Eliminate irrelevant detail. Trust your readers to remember previous content. Repetition and wordiness only weaken a manuscript.
Further Sources
Ideas on Fire: Turning Your Dissertation into a Book
The Stages of Revising a Dissertation into a Book
From Dissertation to Book, Second Edition, by William Germano
