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Important Children's Book Publishing Points

After finishing writing a children's book, it's time to decide whether you want to be self-published or find a company to take on the project for you. Authors are confronted with challenging decisions, and people with various expertise are needed to get your book published. Groups and professional books are key to explaining what needs to be done to fast-track your manuscript into bookstores.

Publisher
- Determine whether you want to publish the book yourself or find a professional publisher to do it for you. Self-publishing a book will give you a higher percentage of the profits, but you will have to pay for printing costs and for an illustrator. Printing the book yourself at a printer will cost roughly $1 per copy if you are printing 5,000 copies or more. This would be for a simple paperback book. For 1,000 copies, the price is roughly $2.75 per book, according to Publishing Basics &Selfpublishing Inc. This size and quality of book would sell for about $6. Buy a copy of the Children's Writers and Illustrator's Market for a list of prospective publishers, or visit an online list (see Resources).
Materials
- Find out what the publisher wants you to send. Some want a simple query letter, while others want the entire manuscript. Ensure that all materials you send are easy to read. Send them in double-spaced clear font. According to PublishingCentral.com, most publishers who want to see your manuscript request it through the mail. The publisher will let you know if it wants to see any illustrations you may have already purchased.
Illustrator
- Many publishers want to use their own illustrator. In fact, when selling the concept of your book to a publisher, it is often akin to selling them on the writing as well as the illustrations; they need to be convinced of both. You are better able to sell one concept to a publisher instead of two. Many publishers have particular illustrators that they go to on a regular basis. While this would save you the cost of hiring an illustrator, you will have to give the illustrator a percentage of the book's profits.
Research
- Researching the children's book publishing market before you search for a publisher will help you save time, money and effort because it will make you more efficient at pitching. Join the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (see Resources) for contacts and information about the best ways to get your manuscript read. Even by just attending conferences put on by the group in your area, you will learn information that can make the difference between being published and getting rejected.

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