Do Humor Novels Sell?

pattmayne said:

You should read John Swartzwelder's books. He used to write for The Simpsons (during their golden age) and now he occasionally writes the most ridiculous detective novels I've ever read. His style is so similar to Norm MacDonald's book that I strongly suspect he was the ghost-writer for "Based on a True Story."

Sadly, Swartzwelder is unknown and probably does not sell many books.

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He is unknown to me but I will look into it!

Humor does seem to sell, but it's usually in the SFF realm. Christopher Moore is another comedic writer like that.

I thought this post from 2012 had some very good points: 5 Reasons It's Impossible to Find Funny Books

Jose Saramago's Death with Interruptions is nothing but humor from beginning to end, was very successful, and is highly regarded. It falls under 'speculative fiction' if that helps.

I'm sort of stuck since nobody seems interested in fictional comedy.
Even if they "list" offbeat/quirky in their profile, when you read what they WANT to see in their profile, they almost never mention fictional comedy or offbeat/quirky.

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Bickernicks said:

I thought this post from 2012 had some very good points: 5 Reasons It's Impossible to Find Funny Books

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Thanks for the link! I will take a look.

I recently sold a humour novel to a British publisher, though it's also young adult science fiction, so I'm not sure what genre actually tipped the balance.

screenscope said:

I recently sold a humour novel to a British publisher, though it's also young adult science fiction, so I'm not sure what genre actually tipped the balance.

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Hi,

Yes, I would say that most of those who say they like comedy fiction are in the context of Young Adult - as if somewhere along the way adults lose the ability to laugh and have fun.
Maybe I should remove all the adult themes and language and try it as a YA novel? (No, I don't really plan to do that, but something to consider anyway).

Thanks!
Juggernaut

I recently sold a humour novel to a small Australian publisher but it's also sci-fi.

I think, because what's 'humourous' or plain old 'funny' varies so widely, the only people who end up in the 'humor' category are people with a name for being funny: established comedians, or commentators, etc. People that you get a sense of their writing from their writing personas. If you like 'folksy' you might be appalled at 'dark satire'.

If you don't fit that category (already well-known humorist) your best bet is to pick a genre and tout your book as a humourous example of that.

frimble3 said:

I think, because what's 'humourous' or plain old 'funny' varies so widely, the only people who end up in the 'humor' category are people with a name for being funny: established comedians, or commentators, etc.

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I think I agree with this. Right now, I'm working on a political satire novel. It's funny (I hope) but I'd market it not as straight humor, but again, political satire. Eh!

In these day and age, we really need good humor works, we need laughs and another world...

Unimportant said:

Humor is, arguably (though not sure who would argue it) the hardest thing to write and the easiest thing to sell. If you can do it, rampage forth!!!

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With my first published story, everyone, from the publisher to my mother, insisted it was a comedy. And the publisher did a pointedly comic audio version.

I still don’t agree because I never intended for it to be a comedy!

Pacific said:

In these day and age, we really need good humor works, we need laughs and another world...

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I gather you've already read all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels? They are in the SFF section of your local bookstore or library. If neither of these carry any Terry Pratchett's books - MOVE!

frimble3 said:

I gather you've already read all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels? They are in the SFF section of your local bookstore or library. If neither of these carry any Terry Pratchett's books - MOVE!

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Hope you're not Terry Pratchett, otherwise you're really selling yourself cheap ha.

Not a recent publication, but William Kotzwinkle's The Bear Went Over the Mountain is hilarious.

The premise sounds insane--a bear finds an abandoned manuscript under a tree, takes it to New York, and becomes a famous author--but it so works. Exquisitely done.

This turned into a goldmine of great funny SF books to put on my reading list.
So here is my pick:
"Infinity welcomes careful drivers." Doug Naylor/Rob Grant

I'm pretty much on board with what's been said already: just labelling a written work's genre as "humor" doesn't necessarily give enough information. Romantic comedies, fantasy comedies, sci-fi comedies, and so on are al subgenres of their respective categories. As for whether or not they sell, I can't provide hard marketing data, but I am looking over my bookshelf as I type this, and I'd say about 50% of the books present are comedies in some form. Piers Anthony, Douglass Adams, and a whole lot of Pratchett; again, I can't say if humor novels sell very well, but I can tell you I'm buying them.

LJD said:

I wrote a 90,000-word romance parody. Incredibly stupid idea? We shall see...

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Not stupid at all. Life could use more good parodies. People need to learn to laugh at themselves more!

My sci fi books are full of humor. Some whole chapters are all humor. My characters sit around the campfire and talk about boys all evening. Every so often an alien comes by and somebody will kill it. Then it's back to the weiners and shots.

LJD said:

I wrote a 90,000-word romance parody. Incredibly stupid idea?

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There used to be a sub-genre for such things. I recall a book entitled Sweet, Savage Menopause.

My very first short story to be published was horror comedy. I'm working on a sci-fi comedy off and on. It keeps getting too serious. I don't want serious.

But if for some reason I do get it written and published, the first thing I'll do is contact every comedian with a podcast. If a comedian says it's funny, then people will believe it. There's a ton of humor out there but nobody seems to let the comedians know. They don't purposefully gatekeep but somehow they were put in that position.

Squirrel on a Ledge said:

It seems like humor is mostly nonfiction these days. But what about fiction? Apart from "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" and "The Rosie Project," there doesn't seem to be much recent stuff out there.

Are any agents or editors still interested? If so, what do you query it as (ie "contemporary," "contemporary humor," "humor")?

And if any of you funny, funny people are prepared to give general life advice: What options are out there when your only virtues are wit and unprovoked swelling?

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After a few trial and flame-outs, I've conceded the only way I can incorporate humor into my writings is through the characters. I, as the writer, just can't seem to get away with dropping a cute remark without it feeling like I'm 'trying' to be funny. It works a whole lot better if I infuse a character with enough background and tendencies to say things.