Hello. I'm a first time author and first time user of this forum with a question about preparing my manuscript to send to publishers. As an FYI, my book is a "self-help spoof" (humor fiction), written somewhat like a textbook. It contains images and captions pertinent to specific information conveyed in each chapter. Question: although publishers don't accept actual images at this stage, is it acceptable to include a description of each image with the actual caption where each will appear? The manuscript will include references to each image as Figure 1, Figure 2, and so on within the text. This isn't an image-heavy book. The images are for added context and humor. So they don't necessarily make or break the manuscript to determine a publisher's level of interest. Many thanks in advance for any advice!
If you are going to query agents ( and the images dont make or break the manuscript), then I would leave them out of the initial query materials. However, I would note in your query letter that the book will contain images intended for added context and humor (look at Grady Hendrix's Horrorstör, a horror parody that spoofs an IKEA store catalogue). if they request more materials from you, then they are interested in your story and your vision. I would include the descriptions of the images where they appear in the pages. (I'm not an expert, and these are my opinions)
Great advice, I appreciate it. To mentioning images in the query letter, yes, I've included that. I'll look up the book you recommended. Thanks!
