Format/Structure for submitting a children's picture book

[thoughtsandall]

After braving the scary subbing process for my MG manuscript and finally picking myself up well, not fully standing tall yet, but getting there from a flurry of rejections, I have decided to get back on the proverbial horse. I can't quite face another re-write of my good-for-nothing ms so I am turning my attention back to a couple of picture book manuscripts that I wrote last year. They have been tweaked and tinkered with and are ready to be sent off, but I am a novice in the format of picture book submissions and I am not entirely sure what, if anything I need to include with the ms or in the covering letter.

Any advice or tips on this would be greatly appreciated and preferable to trawling the net only to find conflicting advice and be none the wiser?

You don't need to include anything with the ms or covering letter. If you're submitting a text, just format it the same way you would with any other ms (e.g. double-spaced, etc).

I usually put illustration notes in italics so it is clear what is part of the text and what isn't. Sometimes I suggest spread numbers, sometimes I don't bother.

Have you joined SCBWI?