After you have written your children’s books, you are now contemplating on your next action plan. How do you get your children’s book published? Well all know that there are a lot of publishers out there, but the question is, how do you get to them and turn that probably small chance to your advantage?

Since we have already talked about some ideas about writing children’s books, in this article, I will talk about basic ideas on how to publish children’s books.

What you need to do first is to seek out potential publishers. Now, there are a lot of houses that publishes children’s books but you can start with your research by checking out SCBWI or Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Just like how their acronym stands for, they are a professional organization for writers and illustrators. They provide suggestions, guidelines and information to illustrators and writers of children’s books. This should help you get started.

Once you have sought out the possible publisher/s for the type of children’s book you have written, verify if there is a need for you to hire a literary agent. Although not all, but many publishing houses do not accept manuscripts that are unsolicited. When you have determined their guidelines for submission, follow it. There’s a reason why it’s called guidelines.

You can write a query letter and book proposal that you can send either to your literary agent or publisher. For illustrations, it is usually the publisher who finds an illustrator for your children’s book. You can inform them beforehand if there is a need for your children’s book to be illustrated. The response will take some time. These houses get a lot of manuscripts, so you can’t expect them to get back with you immediately. If your potential publisher is OK with multiple submissions, you can freely submit your proposal to other houses, but if they require exclusive submission, wait first for their response before considering other publishers.

Let me tell you in advance that you will get rejection slips, but do not let that get you down. It’s normal. Even J.K. Rowling had received dozens of rejection slips but she did not give up, and look at where her unshakable determination got her. If ever you get rejection slips, work harder with your goal. Maybe, you need to do some improvement on your work. Whatever feedback you get from publishers, learn from it.

When a publisher decides to work with you and publish your children’s book, you have to review your contract. If you have an agent, he or she will help you with it. Make sure that both parties understand the parameters and agree to everything before making any decisions.