If you have an agent (or at least a good one), you shouldn't have to worry about finding a publisher. That's your agent's job, and he'll/she'll get 15% for it. But if you decided to not use an agent (and it's definitely not required), here's how to go about finding a publisher:
1. Buy (or spend a whole lot of time at the bookstore looking at) the book The Children's Writers and Illustrators Market. It lists every important children's publisher and also tells you what type of books they publish and what they're looking for.
2. Contact the Children's Book Council for an annotated list of their members.
3. Subscribe to a publication like Children's Book Insider (1-800-807-1916), which will keep you abreast of publishers' changing needs.
4. Go to a bookstore and find a few newer books that are like yours in style, audience, and genre and note the names and addresses of the companies that published them.
5. Once you have a list of potential publishers, send each of them a self-addressed stamped envelope addressed to the Editorial Department with a brief note requesting their writer's guidelines. These guidelines will tell you what type of book they publish, whether they accept unsolicited manuscripts, what format the manuscript needs to be in and/or if they prefer query letters, any other rules and expectations, and where to send your materials. This will be your bible. Sprinkle with holy water and laminate.
SoYouWanna know more? Check out our full-length article SYW write a children's book?
