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Illustrations can be disproportionately more expensive than text in
terms of time, talent, page count and printing requirements. This
is probably least important for software documentation in which
you may be able to get away with one plane, black and white screen
captures. It becomes critical if you are documenting a large
physical process or installation which may require gray-scale or
color drawings and photographs plus the time and cost of
transporting someone there to get them -- like an offshore oil rig
or a South African diamond mine.
If you are pitching a book to a commercial publisher, they will
use your figure count to estimate production cost and then hold
you to it. Extra or more elaborate illustrations may have to come
out of your royalties or even out of your pocket up front.
