[Sr. Mints]

Bear with me here as I have trouble writing now (cruel irony)

Before illustration, really focus on the writing stage and don't be afraid to let an editor break down your work.

Ideally you'd want to find a developmental editor familiar in creative children's storytelling or speculative fiction to go over your manuscript. Traversing the worlds of speculative fiction is entirely different than copyediting a news piece or performing heavy line editing or a substantive edit on web copy or academic work.

There's a real art to editing a piece of creative storytelling, but the fundamentals and technical skill have to be there. There is a lot of bleed over, and I'm certain there are editors out there who can switch gear. I suppose medicine is a good analogy: an orthopaedic surgeon could probably take a peek at your sinuses, but wouldn't an ENT be better?

If you go the self pub route, I'd say this is a must. But going that route is going to present you with a number of challenges:

The support or backing from a publisher is crucial to your book's success. Not just in terms of editing, illustrating, and publishing--all of which you can set up on your own--but marketing and distribution. It's difficult to get self-published work into national book stores. There's a rightly deserved snobbery surrounding self pub.

Amazon's changed the game, mind, but even if you do find your way onto Amazon or into Chapters, it's even more difficult to get any sort of media promotion with a self-pub piece. Independent book stores would be your target.

Finally, when you're ready to approach publishers (illustrated or not), you're going to need thick skin. Be prepared for a pile of rejections letters - and don't take them personally.

edit: Any specific Q's, PM me