Quick Answers

I am a professional illustrator, and I've just started writing my first children's book, which I plan to illustrate as well. I've seen different advice on how and what to submit to publishers and agents as an author/illustrator. Some say you should submit a dummy book, and others say you should submit a standard manuscript with a few example illustrations included. If a dummy book is the way to go, do you prepare it as closely as possible to what you picture the final book to be? (layout, typeface, design, at least mock-up illustrations on each page, etc?) And if it is preferred to submit a standard manuscript, in what manner do you include the illustrations? Do you just include a few prints paperclipped to the manuscript, or do you try and show where in the story they fit, by laying out some text with them?

I would recommend manuscript pages, a sketch dummy (don't spend time worrying about type and design), and a couple samples of finished illustrations.

My first question is, as an editor, what do you want to see in a cover letter from an illustrator? I've seen plenty of advice for writers on how to structure a query letter, but there seems to be little advice for the illustrators. Is there anything specific that should or should not be in an illustrator's cover letter? Does the illustrator need a cover letter at all?

Not really. If you're just sending illustration samples, most of those come labeled with the artist's contact information and that's it.

My other question is about formality. In sending out packages of art samples/cover letter to publishers and their art directors or editors, how important is it to have typewritten addresses or address labels rather than handwritten?

Unimportant.

Again and again I find myself reading a book which I bought based on reading the cover blurb, only to find that the story, and sometimes even the genre, has been completely misrepresented. For example a book I bought last year had a blurb which described a story about an archeologist finding an ancient sword in Jerusalem which may have been the sword of Mohammed and that finding it may change the world, the title was even Sword of God. The sword appears on the first chapter but immediately after finding it (as in still down in the tomb covered in dust) the character is drawn into a (rather cliched) espionage adventure in which war crimes in asia are uncovered. I spent the whole book wondering when and how the sword would be worked in and it never was.
Now, perhaps this happens because, like cover artists, blurb writers read only the first chapter, but I think it has to be a deliberate marketing ploy - after all, you can't return books after you've read them (at least not in Australia) so perhaps some publishers don't care about disappointing/lying to their readers as long as the purchase is made.

Seems awfully stupid to me. I mean, sure, a publisher might farm out its covercopy needs to a freelancer, but then how does the editor not read the copy and realize it's wrong for the book?
That's sloppy, sloppy publishing. In this country, people can and do return books, but if you don't have that option you can at least stop buying books from the publisher who can't reliably tell you about the books they print.

Do you know of any mainstream publishers that accept electronic submissions? Very few do currently. Why do agents want to go green and publishers prefer snail mail?

Do you mean mainstream publishers that take electronic submissions from agents? That's everybody. But if you mean mainstream publishers that are open to unagented manuscripts and take electronic submissions, no.
Agents get a lot of email in the way of submissions. People at publishing houses get a lot of email simply generated by the rest of the company they work for. Both agents and publishers battle a stormtide of incoming email, but if publishers had to deal with the email they already get and an ocean of submissions emails, we would be sunk. (Also our computer servers can't take it.)

And the Minnetonka Salty Pickle Award Goes to....

I just got my publicity questionnaire from a large house, and I noticed that it doesn't ask questions about specialized publications that might review my book, or specialized awards that my book might be a good candidate for. ("Specialized" meaning specifically related to the topic of the book, as opposed to standard children's lit stuff.) Will they be offended if I share this information? How do I find out if they are willing to follow up on it? Should I give the same info to my editor?
Also, is it normal that the publicity contact would not want to give the author a list of the reviewers who have been sent advance copies?

Ah, awards. It seems like there are more and more out there.
I was recently asked by one of my authors to submit her book to an "award" that, upon investigation, we found to cost $200 to enter and which runs out of some RenFair in West Virginia.

That answer was no.

So your answer is: maybe. There are smaller, more specialized awards out there that we wouldn't mind submitting to (the Giverny, for instance). But it depends a great deal on:

1. How much does it cost to put a book in the running? The Newbery, for instance? $0.00. We just send books to the committee.
Some legitimate awards have entrance fees, but an entrance fee does and should always make me think twice.

2. How many people will hear about the winners of the award? Some "award" winners will be noticed only by the 212 other people who submitted a book for one of the 16 different "awards" certain charlatans are giving out. And when the entrants have each paid $200 to enter, I'm guessing the award's organizer is awarding himself a Bahamas vacation.
I also don't care if a small but earnest group of Rocky Mountain hicks wants to give an award. Know who awards mean the most to? Teachers and librarians. Will they hear about the award?

3. How good will such an award sound if we put it on the book jacket or in the marketing materials? "The Podunk Vermont Award for Excellent Depiction of a Bovine" is not something we want to publicize. "The Willa Award for Women Writing the West" sounds a hell of a lot more like something you'd buy, doesn't it?

So no, they won't be offended, but do phrase your email to them in a way that says you're not trying to tell them how to do their jobs. Something along the lines of "Here are some awards you might want to consider entering my book for. Would you let me know which, if any, you decide to pursue? Thanks much, your author." It doesn't hurt to copy your editor on that correspondence.

It's normal that Publicity wouldn't want to give names of reviewers, yes. But which publications they sent review copies to isn't any secret. They're very, very busy, though. If you just haven't heard from them, in my experience it's because they've sent the book to everybody who counts and they don't understand why you can't just wait to see who does or doesn't review your book.

(I know, the waiting is terrible. Authors and the waiting are a bad combination. Keep yourself busy however you can.)

In Which I Form an "Opinion"

If your publishing house acquired a debut novelist with radically ambitious marketing ideas (eg: corporate-sponsored book tour; alternate reality game played by fans in real time around the country; basically, any idea that hasn’t yet been proven effective for the book):
1. How likely would you support those efforts?

You pretty much answered your question with "hasn't yet been proven effective".
You must understand that every debut novelist and writer of any sort has a catalog of ideas about what might be done to promote their special book.

Ideas that may indeed be

• original
• daring
• innovative
  

Ideas that are also almost certainly

• based on a fundamental lack of experience in selling books
  
• moderately or massively expensive, in cash and staff involvement

It can be easy to think that the equation should be as simple as "I have ideas, publishers have money". Doesn't your publisher want to invest in your book?

Yes, your publisher does. But not in any way that might prove a complete waste of money, because people get fired over stuff like that.

Why in god's name would they invest in a tactic they have no reason to think would succeed, when they have other tactics they could spend that very same money on (please note: the only money they have to spend on that book) that will quite likely succeed?

2. If you found the ideas sound and would pledge support, what form of support would likely be offered (contacts/mailing lists, media training, money…)?

Ok, so let's assume you've somehow given the publisher a reason to think a particular tactic would succeed (outside of "it would be so cool" or "it totally worked on my neighbors"). What support would be forthcoming would depend entirely on the idea and how sound we'd found it.

3. If you would deny support to any ideas outside of those previously tested and proven (eg: book review copies, press materials, author page on house website), on what would you base this opinion?

On what would I base my opinion about "previously tested and proven" tactics?!

Wait, wait, back up. "Opinion"?!?

All right, maybe I've misunderstood the question. I am taking a deep breath.
I don't feel I can really help you understand marketing decisions any more than to say that we do need a reason to think a marketing tactic or strategy would work. Not a guess, not a theory, not an opinion. The tactics we use don't always work the way we'd hoped, but at least we were basing them on previous experience, facts, studies, and a realistic understanding of how the book business works. If you can bring some or all of those things to the discussion of radical new tactics, we'll listen.