Should Your Nonfiction Book Have Illustrations, Graphics, or Photographs? How-to, Pros and Cons, and Alternatives
Before we get to the how, should you include visuals in your book?
It’s never too soon to think about how your book will look on the inside… Close your eyes and imagine opening your book. What do you see? Do you see images, graphics, or photographs? Are they in color? Grayscale? How does the paper feel? Does thinking about this make you excited? If your answer is “yes,” start collecting those visual assets sooner than later. The more you visualize and do legwork for your book, the more real it becomes.
But most nonfiction books don’t include images, so why bother? Maybe you don’t need them at all. Most color photographs don’t transition well to grayscale and look grainy in print. Candid shots are often too busy (like the three cans of Dr. Pepper that photobombed a recent selfie with my niece). Perhaps your content isn’t that visual. Or, you may be able to use headings, numbered lists, bullets, etc. to make your book visually engaging without bringing art into it. Maybe, frankly, this will sound like more effort than it’s worth. That’s all valid.
For those who feel inspired or curious how you might bring images into your book… whether inside hardback, paperback, or eBook editions… check out:
Three Reasons Visuals Matter in Nonfiction Books, With Examples
1. Illustrations, graphics, and photos engage readers visually and can “stop the skim.”
Example: I love the way author and founder of Uplifted Yoga, Brett Larkin, uses all these types of visuals in her book, Yoga Life. Because this book is for busy, overwhelmed people, her use of visuals is genius to keep them engaged with the book. There are restored photographs that give some history, illustrations of various positions, and small graphics like emojis to create interest. You’ll also find ways she uses text to be more visual, with boxes, lists, and charts. She also includes QR Codes throughout the book for companion videos, tutorials, and worksheets. (Yes, she thanks me in the acknowledgments, and it was a pleasure to work with her).
2. Sometimes information is best shared visually, like in a chart or graph you then refer to in the text.
Example: Author and entrepreneur, Gino Wickman, includes flow charts, maps, and diagrams in Traction. Since the book is about mapping communication and decision making within organizations, it’s helpful to see the visual map of the EOS process breaking down the 5 steps. You also get a two-page spread of a company’s vision and how that’s broken down into bite-sized goals throughout the year. As a ghostwriter, I tell you I wouldn’t want to have to describe all that and make it both understandable and not-boring. Perfect reason to include those images in the book. Then he can simply refer to the image the reader also sees.
Example: Maybe your illustrations should be full-color, like the guided journal, Body Smarts, by Patricia Rogers, a CST-D CranioSacral therapist. This book is a tool to heal the brain and body from trauma — a heavy and complex topic that she lightens with bright, colorful, and imaginative images and graphics. For instance, the brain’s flight-or-fight ‘breaker’ is shown as a breaker switch with colored buttons that correspond to colors on a human figure where those nerves activate. Like Larkin, Rogers also provides audio supplements, accessed through a website link in the journal. And I’m proud to say that this author is a graduate of my book writing program.
3. Are you itching to share amazing, evocative photos with your readers?
Example: Photographer, Sally Mann, even includes journal pages in color in her memoir, HoldStill. In this immersive book, the photographs and text are in conversation with each other, telling the story together. Certainly, the photography makes sense because you’re reading about a photographer’s life. But she’s doing something very interesting with the journal pages, allowing her voice from the past to speak for herself and be present. This book has color, black and white, and grayscale photographs. A lot of illustration must’ve gone into printing all these visuals with such clarity.
That said, personally, I know that including images, is a lot of work.
You don’t have to take this on, but if you want to…
Here are the How-Tos, Pros and Cons, and Alternatives to Including Images in Your Book: Digitally or In Print
Digitally with QR Code/Links in Book
How-to: You must store the image somewhere online so it’s accessible through a link. You could create one landing page with all the images labeled. It’s a little more work, but I like giving each image its own QR Code or link so readers can see exactly what they want instead of scrolling. If you don’t have a website to host your images, load them into a Google Drive or DropBox. Make sure if you do that, the sharing link is for “View-Only.” For more information about websites and all things online, visit my friend, Michelle Martello’s amazing resources for digital strategies.
Inside your book, include a QR Code (about the size of a postage stamp) readers can scan to pull up the image. I like to do that and also include the website address in case readers prefer not to use their phones. If you don’t think your readers would want a QR Code, just give them a link to pull up the image. You can create custom QR Codes and links on many platforms. I use Bit.ly because it’s easy, and it allows you to create a code and a custom link at the same time.
I would keep track of the images, links, and QR Codes in a spreadsheet labeled in the order they appear in the book; figure 1, figure 2, etc.
Pros: You don’t need to worry about having high-resolution illustrations and photos for print, and you can have everything in color. Taking readers to a link means you’re interacting with them in 2 mediums. If you’re bringing readers to your website, hopefully, they’ll peruse your other information and offers and become customers. You can include the QR codes and links as a value-add in the book description about what people get in your book. Readers may even feel like they’re getting something extra with the book.
Cons: Links can break and need to be maintained. If people don’t want to leave the book to see your examples, they miss that value. I don’t see this as a great way to get readers’ email addresses because unless you’re giving them a login, they would have to fill out your form for each image.
Alternatives: If you want to share templates or worksheets like Wickman, you might prefer to include those as FREE downloads with your book. This makes sense because it’s a bit awkward to work from a screenshot, and they might want to print it. Best of all, I would set this download up so that readers give you their email addresses in exchange for your digital material.
Images Printed in Book
How: Choose between printing in color or grayscale. Grayscale is far more common because it’s much more cost-effective. That’s both because the ink is less expensive and because it requires lower paper quality than printing in color. But, you decide how you want your book to look and feel. Although you may change your mind, you need this decision to go to the next step.
Ensure that your images have appropriately high resolutions for print quality. Of the most common self-publishing platforms, 1) Ingramspark requires at least 300 ppi, and 2) Kindle Direct Publishing advises that images be at least 600 DPI. If you work with a professional photographer, often they can help you achieve this quality in photos — especially if you tell them in advance of the shoot. You’ll also have better luck with color photos, the higher the paper quality. For graphics to meet the resolution standards, they may need to be illustrated by an illustrator using Adobe Illustrator, etc. This is a different skillset from an average graphic designer. So, interview illustrators carefully. For Sally Mann’s journal pages to be so crisp, most likely those aren’t scans and are instead illustrations of the originals.
When your book’s ready to be formatted, place your high-resolution image files with the correct text. When formatting the book’s interior, visual elements require careful placement, vis-a-vis the text. You may find that photos must be smaller than you prefer so they can meet the print resolution standards. Or that text needs to shift to accommodate the images so like material stays together. It would be weird to see a picture and read its description on the next page, right? Be sure to also label the images ‘figure 1, figure 2, etc.’ to include a list of the images at the back of the book so people can find them again easily. (BTW, all this applies to how you would include the QR Code images in the book, too).
Pros: Every reader easily sees the images, with no concerns about broken links. The images are likely more integrated with the text, so you can use fewer words; just highlight what’s important in the image. If your information tends to be visual, this will be a huge headache saver. Of course, in your book description, tell readers that your book includes illustrations, graphics, and photos to add perceived value.
Cons: If you want to share candid shots that aren’t professional, they’re likely to print grainy. High-resolution images for print can be, as the Brits say, “real buggers.” Illustrations can dramatically increase your production costs and print costs. Color moreso than grayscale.
Alternatives: If cost is a concern, you could re-evaluate the number of illustrations and photos to reduce the expense. Or you may be unable to convert your visuals into the required high resolution. In either case, reconsider the QR Code/Links option.
Conclusion
If you decide not to use images after all, you can clearly describe them instead. A good sign that you should share a visual with your readers is if it’s very wordy to write about if they can’t see it. Likewise, if the image is easy to describe, is it really adding any value to the reader? Perhaps not.
You may want to use images you bought with some rights for use on a website and social media, like I often do from Adobe Photostock. Double-check the fine print about usage for print before putting them into your book. And remember, if you create a visual with AI, it can’t be copywritten.
Hope this helps! Tell me what’s landing for you in the comments. Happy to answer any questions.
Did you find this article helpful? You may also enjoy this article: Ideas for Your Nonfiction Book All Over the Place? 3 Tips to Go From Overwhelmed to Confidently Writing Your Bestseller
