Mistakes that will make you look inexperienced to a children’s picture book editor.

1. Having a friend or relative illustrate your manuscript prior to sending it in.
2. Using cheesy, predictable rhyme.
3. Submitting a book “dedication” with your prospective manuscript.
4. Putting a copyright notation somewhere in the manuscript.
5. Using titles like “Timmy the Turtle,” “Lucy the Ladybug,” or “Sammy the Snake,” etc.
6. Writing a very long cover letter that says silly things like, “I read this story to some children in my neighborhood and they just loved it,” or “I predict this book will be a best seller,” etc.
7. Using a funny text font that looks “child-like,” writing the envelope in crayon, doodling on the manuscript, or other silly gimmicks.
8. Sending it in without having serious writers (not family members) critique it, and without revising it.  
9. Making the manuscript very long, with lots of description and dialogue and not enough action.  Illustrations are not required to make the story “work.”  
10. Sending the manuscript to a publisher who does not print that kind of story.  For example, sending a fantasy story to a non-fiction publisher.
11. Making unreasonable requests, like asking the publisher to call you, or giving a specific deadline for them to respond by.
12. Spelling or grammatical errors in the text.