bantorb

Thanks, @dagnabbit! That also sounds like I should emphasize how the book was research-focused, and use a chapter as a writing sample to illustrate that. That makes sense about "mini-celebrity" as a term. I was just trying to concisely describe where I'm at right now (I'm not sure if there's a better word to use) but I would not consider myself superior to the rest of my cohort. I just have a unique situation given I've just done much more public-facing research, writing, interviewing, etc. than most applicants have, so that's left me wanting to solicit advice from some strangers on the internet =] I'll also be careful with the wording of my application itself, and I would definitely not say "mini-celebrity" in that context.

Thank you for the reply, Neo_Institutionalist! The book was on a contemporary political issue. I'd rather not say more for reasons of anonymity, but I'm confident if I explained the book in a few sentences to you, you wouldn't be able to tell it was not written by a political scientist writing for a popular audience. That makes sense about the academic press issue. One idea there is that by including a book chapter as a writing sample, it could show how the book was an example of rigorous research (though not primary research for the most part, as is the case with most books whether at academic or trade presses). Thanks for the blunt feedback. It's made me think I should do more to emphasize the rigor of the book and my related research. While I don't know if it would qualify for, say, a top poli sci journal, I think I can certainly make the case that it's unusually rigorous for a PhD applicant. If you have time, I am curious about your suggestion for independent research, as I'm currently considering whether to pitch a project to a political scientist at a top university, asking if I could do most of the work for the project but have their supervision (and if a paper comes out of it, co-authorship). And if that doesn't work out, I was hoping to provide volunteer RA work for that academic, doing whatever at all they need me to do. I didn't think academic scientists would take a fully independent research project very seriously, even if it were rigorously conducted.

I am a few years out of my undergrad degree, and in that time I worked as a writer and researcher. I published a pretty successful serious nonfiction book during this time, and I'm wondering how that will look to PhD admissions committees. It's a very research-focused book, with hundreds of citations, but it's not published by an academic press. I also have a large social media following and lots of media coverage of my research. For example, I'm not sure if admissions committees will see this as unacademic and take me less seriously, or if they'll be excited that I have already completed a disseration-length research project and have a lot of experience communicating research findings with the general public. Or they might be excited to have a mini-celebrity in their program. I was also wondering if it would be reasonable to use a chapter from the book for my writing sample, since it is my most polished intellectual writing to date.