Writing a children’s book is an exciting process – but it becomes even more thrilling when the story starts coming to life with illustrations. However, very often in my work, I discuss stories and ideas with various authors, and I’ve noticed that they frequently face different challenges such as: What’s the next step after I’ve written the story? Can we start drawing the project now?

In other words: When is the text fully ready to be handed over to the illustrator? If it’s too early, revisions may be needed. If it’s too late, time and budget could be wasted.

I love my work and constantly strive to help my clients so that our collaboration is smoother and more optimized. Therefore, if you are a children’s book author and are on this path, this checklist will be helpful to you:

Checklist for Children’s Book Authors:

1. Final Edit
   Before it reaches the illustrator, the text must be:
   

• Edited – for structure, clarity, language, and rhythm
  
• Proofread – for spelling, punctuation, and grammatical mistakes
  

✍️ Tip: If you’re working with an editor – great. If not, at least ask someone with language expertise to review it.

1. Page Distribution
   The illustrator needs to know where each scene starts and ends. So it’s very helpful if you consider how the text will be distributed:
   

• Text distributed across pages (for example, 32 pages = 16 double pages)
  
• Specify where you want illustrations, supplementary elements, or other details.
  

✍️ Tip: Create a draft with a description of the scene on each page – even if you’re unsure of how it will look, this will help the process immensely.

1. Characters – Are They Clearly Described?
   For the illustrator to portray the characters – especially the main one – in the best possible way, it’s good to know:
   

• How you imagine the appearance of the characters, their age, and personality
  
• Whether you have a specific style in mind for the illustration
  

✍️ Tip: Gather examples from other books or images that are close to your vision or examples you like from platforms like Pinterest and Behance. This will make your collaboration much smoother.

These are perhaps some of the most important things to consider before starting the actual work on the illustrations. Of course, the topic doesn’t end here, but I hope I’ve been able to shed more light on the matter.

If you’d like to discuss your ideas and turn them into a magical and beautiful children’s book, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me, and you can count on my professional approach throughout the process.

I wish every children’s book author success and hope they remain consistent and inspired on their journey to bring their ideas to life!