A bit of a newbie question about author/illustrator submissions...

Did you try to sell your self-published book, and if so, how, to whom, and what kind of results?

Since you've read numerous books about publishing you probably know that the chance of getting and agent to represent a self-published book, or a publisher to contract for same is almost impossible (yes, we all know about those handful of extremely rare exceptions).

Assuming you self-published a few copies for personal use only, you could send the book but then you have to explain that you never attempted to sell it. At best I could see where this approach would be dicey. You might be better off sending a query letter, and all or part of your work in typed form -- no book -- where the guidelines say they accept same.

As you probably know, publishers decide who will illustrate a book. Tat doesn't mean you can't say in your letter that you are an author/illustrator and accordingly have enclosed a few sample illustrations (look at the guidelines).

The layout and the look of the finished product won't mean all that much to a publisher. That's what they do. However, if they like your manuscript and your illustrations you may have an opportunity to pitch your ideas in the future. But for now I wouldn't even think about it.

There has to be a way for you to get you point cross with your manuscript. Or better yet, you have to find a way.

I'm not an illustrator, but I do read the SCBWI newsletters, and from what I've seen, illustrators get started by building a portfolio of work, not by producing a single book. Agents and editors want to see samples of a variety of art, so they can look for possible fits with other writers' work. Like scope said, submitting a published book isn't the usual way things are done.

If you haven't joined SCBWI yet, do so. They are the best source of information for illustrators.

Generally, from what I've seen, if it is a small press they may like the fact that you can illustrate the book. On the other hand, big presses see it as a big no-no to sub art with an ms. My first (and only so far) published kids book was one that I wrote and illustrated. Of course, I am both a professional writer and illustrator with a portfolio to prove it and this was a small press.

As an author-illustrator I can offer two things:

1) I have found there are a number of publishers/agents who are not accepting work from anyone but ARE interested in author-illustrators.
I can give you the name of none offhand but I recall it from my own research.

2) I had practically zero luck getting anything illustration related in front of any editor until I had an agent to do it for me.