1. You’re carefully manicured manuscript makes it’s debut on a desk, somewhere inside a publishing company.  If the reader likes your manuscript–it goes to the editor.
2. If the editor likes it, he/she may call you then, but more than likely, he/she has taken it to a few meetings already where people have talked about market potential etc.
3. You get THE CALL.  “We like it!  Let’s do this thing.”
4. If you have an agent, they take over.  If you don’t have an agent and want the best deal–now is when you call one.  Now is also the easiest time to get one.  And don’t be all pessimistic like, “Of course, they want their 15% and I did all the leg work!”  Any agent you really suspect of being that way shouldn’t be your agent.  What a contract offer does is tell the agent that you are pre-screened.   If you aren’t sure you want to marry an agent right now, just contract for them to negotiate THIS DEAL and play it by ear from there.
5. At some point, usually MONTHS later, a finished contract arrives.  In triplicate.  You initial all the pages and sign on the dotted line a few times.  (Not as bad as buying a house, but more than renting a car.)
6. At some point, usually WEEKS later, you get revision requests from the editor with whom you furiously email back and forth until he/she declares the whole thing done. (There may also be some “Hey, I’m talking to this illustrator, check his site” emails during this time.)
7. You may not hear from them for a year.  But during that time, a check arrives.
   
8. After the year of less/no contact, you may email your editor to see if he/she is still alive and nicely ask about the schedule. They will give you a season like, Fall 2009.  This is the time to say nicely that you would love to do any other project they have in mind and, in passing, mention some of your ideas.  (It’s funny how New Yorkers are famous for being so blunt in personal matters, but when it comes to business decisions, I’ve found them to be quite indirect.  We Southerners are seriously blunt about business decisions, but famously indirect about personal matters.)
9. Somewhere around 10 months before the drop date, you get “proofs.” Big sheets of paper with the pictures and text.  Usually it’s just a courtesy to send us one.  The illustrator really needs it, but it’s nice to check the typos and all.  Like we had several versions of one line in my poem and a previous version was in the proofs.  Good time to catch that.
10. It shows up on Amazon!!!!
11. I don’t know, cause I’m not that far yet!!!

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