Q: I wrote a bilingual children’s book and could use some guidance on gaining an illustrator and moving forward with publishing. What’s steps should I take? Thank you in advance.
A: It’s a common misconception that picture book manuscripts need to be paired with an illustrator at the querying stage or even the submission stage. Unless the author has been working with an illustrator in a team effort early on or the author will also be illustrating, children’s editors commonly review picture book manuscripts without any art on hand.
If the editor connects with the manuscript and is able to offer and acquire it, it is once the manuscript has already found its publisher that the illustrator search will begin. This is all to say that in completing your picture book manuscript, you’re well on your way in your publishing journey! It would be advisable to consider beginning to query agents for representation for your work as your next step.
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