Australia's First University Press
Melbourne University Publishing

Submissions

Melbourne University Press publishes authoritative scholarly and trade non-fiction works of quality.  

We publish books that align with Melbourne University’s academic strengths and reflect our place within Australia and Southeast Asia. Through our Miegunyah Press imprint we publish books that document our national story and history, and lavishly illustrated books in art, photography, architecture, gardens and more.  

All scholarly MUP titles undergo two blind peer reviews and are evaluated by an Editorial Advisory Board. 

MUP does not publish short stories, poetry, how-to guides or textbooks. 

Do not send us hard-copy proposals – they will not be read. MUP is not responsible for any lost or misdirected manuscripts, photos or artwork.  

Please allow three months for our team to review your proposal.  


We are currently CLOSED for new submissions. Submissions will reopen on 1 July 2025. 


 

Submission Guidelines 


Submittable will guide you through the submissions process. The information you provide will give us a sense of your work. Please also include with your submission:   

  • a detailed chapter breakdown 
  • a sample chapter, preferably an opening chapter or introduction 
  • samples and details of illustrations, if relevant 

We receive a high volume of submissions and cannot provide detailed feedback or editorial advice. If you do not receive a response from us after twelve weeks, please pursue other publishing opportunities for your work. 

You are welcome to send us a proposal that is under submission elsewhere, but please advise us of that in your application. 

 

Getting Published  

 

Many organisations offer advice and professional development opportunities for aspiring authors. For invaluable support, advice, workshops, events, seminars and resources, we recommend contacting the Australian Writers’ Centre or the writers’ centre in your state.  
 

 

For further advice, support and information, we recommend the Australian Society of Authors, the Australian Publishers Association, the Copyright Agency and Creative Australia.  



Turning Your Thesis Into A Book 


Tips and tricks to rewrite for a different type of reader, from Teresa Pitt, a legendary former Senior Commissioning Editor and Publisher with MUP. 

MUP publishes books that have begun their lives as theses and academic research projects; recent examples include Shannyn Palmer’s Unmaking Angas Downs, Susan Carland's Fighting Hislam and Rebe Taylor's Into the Heart of Tasmania.

Rewriting a thesis is not simply a matter of making revisions to existing text. Here are some tips and tricks to help turn your thesis into a book (or perhaps a manuscript you can submit to publishers – including us. 

An original thesis should be regarded as the basis for an entirely new work, written with a new audience in mind. This new work will address intelligent general readers who seek to be provoked, engaged, intrigued and/or seduced into reading your book. General readers do not expect you to prove to them how thorough your research has been or how many other texts you have consulted. They simply want to know what you have found out and what you think about it. 

The most important tasks in rewriting a thesis are to: 

Remove academic scaffolding 


In a thesis, the examiners expect you to explain what you are setting out to do, and how you are going to go about doing it, before you actually do it. Then, after you have done it, you are required to restate or summarise your methods, findings and conclusions. 

In a book, these preliminaries and wrap-ups are superfluous. They get in the reader's way, become repetitive and obscure the impact of the real subject matter. They also take up valuable space. The Abstract and Introduction that are both essential in a thesis are not needed in a book. Neither are the usual chapter Introductions and Conclusions. 

Ordinary readers want you to get straight to the point. Delete anything that sounds like ‘In this chapter I will argue’ or ‘In this chapter I have shown’. 

Reorganise the material 


When writing for the general reader, you should introduce the most arresting, intriguing or unusual aspects of the work the heart of the matter early on. 

The background information and theoretical discussions should come later. As a rule of thumb, start from the particular, and work to the general, rather than the other way around. In journalism, the rule for any story is always to grab the reader’s attention in the first paragraph – indeed, in the first sentence. The best serious non-fiction writers follow a similar principle.  

The most interesting, arresting or unusual parts of the story or argument should come first to attract the interest of the general reader. You can go back later to provide the necessary background and interpretation. 

Refocus clearly on the heart of the story 


You are writing now for non-specialist readers. Be aware both of what you want to tell them and of what is going to catch and retain their attention. 

‘Pick the eyes’ out of your thesis. Decide on the most interesting or important issues or themes, and concentrate on these, ruthlessly discarding the more peripheral material. Background material such as surveys of previous literature, historical background, discussions of earlier and current theories, arguments, methodology, if retained at all, can be moved from the beginning to the end of the book, or incorporated in a much condensed form into the relevant sections of the main text. 

Reduce the scholarly apparatus 


Most theses have an enormous number of footnotes and an exhaustive bibliography, all designed to impress your examiners with the breadth and depth of your research. For a book, you need to cut or condense your notes ruthlessly, and to reduce your bibliography to a reasonable size. Keep only what will be genuinely useful to an ordinary reader. 

Any discursive or explanatory notes should either be incorporated back into the text or deleted altogether. Notes should be restricted to sources only, and be turned into endnotes. 

Rewrite 


Rewriting and new writing will be necessary. Having sketched out a new structure and focus, you now have to start writing all over again to create a completely new work. 

As you rewrite, move away from the usual impersonal, abstract academic style. This means hunting down and expunging instances of academic jargon. Find a way to express the concept in plain English, especially the first time you introduce it, and target: 

  • long, complex, convoluted sentences – no sentence should contain more than two ideas, which should be expressed as directly as possible 
  • inordinately lengthy paragraphs – break up your paragraphs 
  • abstract nouns – use concrete nouns wherever you can 
  • the passive voice – don't say ‘Similar observations were made by Johnson and Smith’; say ‘Johnson and Smith made similar observations’ 
  • the third person used for yourself – don't say ‘In the present writer's opinion’, say ‘I think’. 

Direct your writing to an imagined non-specialist reader, using a natural, personal and unpretentious voice, and in plain English.  

Being aware of a real, actual person to whom you are talking/writing is one of the most useful communication skills you can develop. Try to imagine that you are talking about your work to a friend over the kitchen table or in the pub. Your friend is in another field altogether and knows little or nothing about your particular speciality, but is curious. It is this friendly, straightforward, conversational style that you need to develop for your book. 

Many academics who have become successful writers for a general audience have gained great benefit from joining a writing class to develop their writing skills, to enhance their audience awareness and to unlearn the writing habits instilled during their academic training. Courses in creative writing and non-fiction writing are widely available, and we recommend you give this option serious consideration. 

Kevin Brophy's Explorations in Creative Writing is an excellent place to start.