I finally have a couple of children's books that I would like to submit to a few publisher's. I had a question and thought I would ask you all first!

If I submit a manuscript for a picture book, what do I do about illustrations? Leave a spot with a note about what type of illustration I was thinking for each page? Have it illustrated before sending it in?

 Most all of my questions have been answered, but this one stumps me!

Any suggestion?

Thanks!

I have six published children's books (one of which was on the CBA bestseller list).  So, I'm not a big expert, but I do think I pretty much know what I'm doing, so feel free to pm me.

As to your question...publishers generally choose their own illustrators for their books.  Unless you are yourself an illustrator, you would simply say what you envision for the illustrations, but don't include them.  Sometimes you can suggest an illustrator though if you know of someone professional who has work similar to what you have in mind.

Most publishers I've submitted picture books to prefer you simply submit the text in typed double-spaced format, and only indicate what the picture would look like if the picture fills in a gap in the story that the words do not describe.  Publishers are all different in their preferences, however -- so the first step you should take is to have the publisher send you a copy of their Writer's Guidelines.  The guidelines can sometimes be found on the publisher's web page, and they always give you any particular formatting requirements.  They're also very helpful in determining whether your manuscript is right for this particular publisher -- some don't publish picture books with animals, some prefer certain subjects, etc. 

Good luck!

Lisa

I have typed a short, rough draft of a children's book and I need to know where I can send it to get it published - does anyone have any  suggestions about how to do that?  Thanks so much!

Never send out a rough draft.  Once your manuscript/proposal is ready, get a Writer's Market and research the markets to send to.

Thank you!  I had never heard of a Writer's Market but now I see it's exactly what I need!