Most authors write to me too early. Not too early in their writing, but too early in their thinking. The manuscript is finished, the excitement is real, and the email says something like “I have written a children’s book and I would love to work with you, how do we start?”

I always write back. But that email costs both of us about three weeks, because everything I need to give you a real answer is still missing.

So here is what to have ready before you contact anyone. None of it is difficult. Most of it takes an afternoon. All of it will get you a better quote, a faster schedule, and a book closer to the one in your head.

This is the one that surprises people. Authors often send a paragraph describing the story, worried that the full text is too much to ask someone to read.

It is not too much. It is the entire basis of the quote. I cannot tell you what your book costs from a summary, because the summary does not tell me whether your rabbit spends the whole story in one meadow or travels through six countries.

Finished also means finished. Not “mostly there, I am still tweaking the ending.” Once illustration begins, changing the story is expensive in a way that changing a Word document is not. If you decide on page eighteen that the grandmother should be a grandfather, someone has to repaint every spread she appears in.

Tweak now. Send it when it is done.

There is a large difference between a book for a two year old and a book for a seven year old, and it affects almost every decision.

Books for the youngest readers use simpler shapes, bolder colour, fewer elements per page, and very little text. Books for five to eight year olds can carry visual jokes, background detail, subplots happening in the corner of the frame, and more complex compositions.

If you say “children’s book” without a number, an illustrator has to guess, and if the guess is wrong you will feel it at the sketch stage and wonder why the artwork feels off.

You do not need a professional page plan. You need an approximate answer to how many illustrated spreads you imagine.

If you have no idea, that is genuinely fine. Say so and ask for a suggestion. Most picture books land at twelve, sixteen, or twenty four spreads, and there are printing reasons for those numbers rather than artistic ones. A good illustrator can look at your manuscript and tell you which shape it wants to be.

What does not work is leaving the question entirely open while also asking for a fixed price. Length is the single biggest factor in cost, so somebody has to decide it, and it is better if that somebody is you with advice rather than an assumption made silently.

This is the most useful thing you can send and the thing authors most often skip.

Go to a bookshop or a library, or scroll through illustration accounts online, and find two or three books whose look you respond to. Photograph the pages. Send them.

Then, if you can, find one you actively dislike. Authors resist this because it feels rude, but it is often more informative than the ones you like. “I do not want it to feel this soft” tells me something precise. “I want it warm and friendly” tells me almost nothing, because every illustrator thinks their work is warm and friendly.

One caution. Sending references does not mean asking for a copy of someone else’s style. What you are communicating is direction, mood, and level of detail. A professional will absorb that and answer in their own voice, which is the thing you are actually hiring.

Give the date you want the book in your hands, and say why that date exists.

There is a difference between “sometime next year would be nice” and “my daughter’s birthday in April” and “I have a school reading booked for October.” The reason changes how the schedule gets built and what can flex if something slips.

Be aware that illustration is slower than most people expect. A full picture book usually takes eight to twelve weeks of illustration alone, and that is after the quote, the agreement, and the deposit. Then you still have typesetting, proofing, printing, and shipping. If you want a book for December, you should be talking to illustrators in the summer.

Authors hide their budget because they worry the price will expand to fill it. I understand the instinct. In practice, hiding it wastes everyone’s time.

If your budget is CAD 1,500 and the project as described costs CAD 4,000, I want to know at the start so I can tell you honestly whether we can scope it down to something excellent at a smaller size, or whether you should wait and save. Both of those are better outcomes than a quote that lands in your inbox and quietly ends the conversation.

You do not need an exact figure. A range is enough. “Somewhere under two thousand” is a perfectly professional thing to say.

Before you sign anything, know what rights you are buying.

Commissioning illustrations does not automatically mean you own the artwork outright. You are buying a licence, and licences vary. Some cover a single print run. Some cover print but not ebook. Some are limited to a number of years.

Ask directly. What can I use these images for, where, and for how long? A clear answer is a good sign about everything else in the working relationship. A vague one is worth paying attention to.

This sounds soft, but it matters. Tell the illustrator a little about why this book exists.

I have illustrated books written for a specific child, books written to explain a difficult thing to a class, and books written because someone had carried a story for twenty years and finally sat down. Knowing which of those I am working on changes the choices I make. It is the difference between illustrating text and illustrating a book.

Before you send that first email, have these ready. The finished manuscript as a document. The age group. An approximate spread count, or a note that you would like advice on it. Two or three visual references, ideally including one you dislike. Your target publication date and the reason for it. A budget range. Any printer you have already chosen, if you have one.

That is one afternoon of work, and it turns a three week back and forth into a single exchange.

If you have all of that sitting in a folder already, send it over. If you have most of it, send that. The remaining questions are usually quick, and I would rather start the conversation than have you wait until everything feels perfect.