One of the most common mistakes I see children’s book authors make is concerning themselves with illustrations before the text has been fully edited. For children’s books, getting developmental, line, and copy editing is going to be ridiculously cheap compared to a book that’s tens of thousands of words long. So most authors will likely be able to afford the full suite of professional text development services. I encourage you to do this. I’ve seen children’s books that are just a random (confusing, honestly) collection of sentences. Others have a story of some sort to tell, but it reads more like a newspaper article than an engaging story for kids. Your beautiful illustrations will not save your book from a lack of development. If the kids don’t care about your characters, aren’t learning anything, and / or aren’t pulled into the story, having pretty pictures isn’t going to make all of those flaws irrelevant. Slow down. Take your time. Settle on your story. THEN worry about finding an illustrator from places like Volo Press Books or the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators.
Check out the lesson on developmental editing to learn more about finding, vetting, and hiring a developmental editor for your book.
