My first children’s book | Publishing Part 1

A selection of my short stories is published in various magazines, but this is my first children’s book. I think some of you will find the process interesting so I'll share what I learn along the way. 

It is difficult to get a publishing contract and I am thrilled to have this opportunity. There is a lot of work involved including submissions, contracts, illustrator choices, edits, media, and sales. 

I submitted this story to various publishers in August and received interest in the manuscript from Lilac Arch Press, a Saskatchewan publisher. In January I signed a contract with them to publish my book. 

The publisher narrowed the illustrator applicants from fifty down to six. I was able to review samples of the amazing work of these six artists and we are now down to two. They will do a sample illustration of the main characters and then we will make the final choice. The front cover will be completed first so it can be used for media. 

My contract requires me to do a minimum of two rounds of edits if needed and we will start that soon. The editor they use will send the edits to them to review and they will send them to me to work on.