Pls forgive such a basic question

[2bayumimum]

I have what I believe is a great idea for a children's book(s), but that may not be the case when I come to write and have to go beyond the idea stage....the book I know has to have pictures... But if the story was good would an agent/publisher help find the illustrator, or would I have to do that upfront before submitting anything ? As u can probably tell I have no experience of doing this and whilst I can get down on paper the story, don't want to waste time, if I need an illustrator on board too. Thanks for any advice

You don't have to illustrate if you're not an illustrator, you can send just the text as the publishers like to chose their own. Just say it's text only. There are word counts for all books, if it's a picture book then it needs to be approx 800 words, Little Tiger Press will only accept manuscripts with a word count of under 750. They do vary so you need to check their web sites. The writers and artists year book is very helpful and has all of the publishers and agents details in there, look for the children's version though. Amazon sell this. Hope this helps.

That is really helpful, thanks very much ! Can now seriously ponder how to take the whole book forward, thanks again x

Good luck

The Children's Writers and Artists Yearbook, as already mentioned, is a good investment as it has a listing of all the UK publishers accepting picture book submissions. It's also worth checking out the websites of literary consultancies who specialise in children's books for free info. Try googling:
Cornerstones
The Writers' Advice Centre for Children's Books
The Writers' Workshop
Good luck!

The word count really really depends on the type of book, age it is aimed at etc.

As belle said a lot of publishers are happy to put writer and illustrator together.

I believe publishers actually prefer to match author and illustrator themselves, unless you happen to do both.

That's also my experience. Good luck.

Thanks everyone, u have inspired me to crack on !