When publishing a children’s book with illustrations you have two options, illustrate or don’t. Most of the time a Traditional publisher will pick an illustrator for you. If you are an unknown, they may be inclined to pick a popular illustrator to help drum up interest, however, that is an additional expense that may not be willing to invest in and gamble upon. Most authors would say this is a good problem to have – of course, you have NO Say on what your story will eventually LOOK like….
A picture is worth a thousand words – You’ve heard it and know it’s true. When submitting your manuscript adding in some well-illustrated images can be the eye-catching aspect you need to get your book noticed. Your story may be good, but your illustrations make it great. Plus, a complete manuscript with no work needed to get it running can be a lot more enticing to a publisher. Of course, then, if the Traditional publishers bow out of doing business with you, you are ready to go the self publishing route.
I can’t draw! Neither can I. Hire an illustrator. Many can be found involved in writers and illustrators groups, or maybe an unknown is looking for exposure. Throw out a classified ad in the newspaper. See if there is someone on social media. The opportunities are out there, you just have to look for them. Plus, being a part of a writers groups is good exposure for you and provides perfect networking possibilities.
I can’t afford to hire an illustrator. Do you know any high school or college students that have talent and need something to add to their portfolio? They may be willing to work cheap in exchange for credit on a published book.
Do we supply illustrators? We can point you in a number of directions but we won’t illustrate your book for you (in most cases). Authors are parents of their book ‘baby’ and the parents know best how to ‘dress’ that baby for the big bad world. You have a look you are going for in your head and since there are so many illustrating options out there to choose from, we’d prefer you work out those details with your illustrator yourself. Of course, we can do the formatting and layout of those illustrations and would be more than happy to help you from there.