Illustrations? I'm not very good!?

Question

I have been writing childens fiction (unpublished) since I was about 12yrs old and have over 20 manuscripts that I have never sent to publishers because I never thought they were good enough. A few friends have encouraged me to approach publishers with them which I am considering, but what about illustrations? I am not good at drawing, will publishers expect me to include character sketches along with the stories? I have detailed pictures in my mind of all of my characters but getting them down on paper is difficult because of my poor drawing skills. How does it all work?

Answer 1

Publishers (or agents if you choose to go through them) do not expect drawings. Some may not even accept that if you have loads of drawings as they are very exact on what they want you to send. All the illustrations and so on are all done afterwards and don't involve the author doing any of them. All you need is to have the written work (not in book form, just set out how you want)

Answer 2

You could get an artist to draw them for you.

Answer 3

I agree with the other posters - publishers won't expect or want illustrations.  But if you self-published them, you would need to find an illustrator - there are plenty of talented artists around.  

Answer 4

If a publisher likes your story and wishes to publish it then they will suggest artists who can consult with you and do the drawings.

Answer 5

The publisher chooses the illustrator, not the author. The story comes first--as the author, you're selling them the text, and that's all they want to see.

You won't be asked for input on what the characters might look like until a publisher has bought your first book and hired an illustrator for it, so don't worry about it right now. Don't hire someone to do drawings for you--they won't get used, and it will be a waste of money.

So get your stories ready, sit down with a copy of Writers' Market, and start start looking for agents you can submit your work to (because you'll need one in order to get published).

Good luck!

Answer 6

Most publishers will pick a well known artist to illustrate a potentially sellable childrens book by a new author. They hope the name of the illustrator will help sell the book. So don't worry that you can't draw.

Answer 7

hire a artist then go to the people that make books