Non-ficiton book proposals

A proposal typically does not include either the text or illustration of the book--if they illustrations are of key importance I would imagine examples could be included as an appendix. However generally the qualifications of the photographer would be more relevant IMHO.

If you mean that you are at the stage of sending sample chapters I don't think it is critical whether you place them in text or separately unless the publisher specifies a method.

Oh, one point. If you put them in text I would suggest using a fixed page display method (pdf?) to avoid unfortunate chages when they open the document with their own default display settings?

Hi:

In my last successful photo book proposal - an illustrated cookbook of course - I printed out the photos in proof sheet form, six to a page, and included them in the proposal alongside the recipes and sidebars they were meant to accompany.

My goal was to show the photos in proposal form without giving any hint or suggestion about how the design would appear.

So my opinion is; send the photos, but don't even think about designing the book.

Make sure to specify that you have the right to publish the photos you plan to use.

Chasing permissions is tedious and expensive.