Where does my humor book fit and how do I query?

Paula

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Hi everyone.
I am new to the world of humor writing and I need your help.
I have a small, non-fiction fiction book that I am not exactly sure how to pitch to agents.
It has one sentence on each page and it has a couple of illustrations, but the main focus are the sentences so I don't think I'd call it an illustration book. The sentences are like little absurd thoughts. It' the kind of book you'd buy to as a funny gift. Imagine something like (this is not my book, just an example) a book that has one demotivational sentence per day, for example. Where would it fit/how should I pitch it?

Should I call it a novelty book?
Should I just pitch it as humor?

I know that for non-fiction writers are asked to write proposals. Would this be the case for a book such as mine?

Thank you so much in advance. I've been really lost trying to figure this one out.
 

regdog

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I'm going to move this to Roundtable where it should get more responses. The Humor Forum is rather quiet these days.
 
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cornflake

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Hi everyone.
I am new to the world of humor writing and I need your help.
I have a small, non-fiction fiction book that I am not exactly sure how to pitch to agents.
It has one sentence on each page and it has a couple of illustrations, but the main focus are the sentences so I don't think I'd call it an illustration book. The sentences are like little absurd thoughts. It' the kind of book you'd buy to as a funny gift. Imagine something like (this is not my book, just an example) a book that has one demotivational sentence per day, for example. Where would it fit/how should I pitch it?

Should I call it a novelty book?
Should I just pitch it as humor?

I know that for non-fiction writers are asked to write proposals. Would this be the case for a book such as mine?

Thank you so much in advance. I've been really lost trying to figure this one out.

Hi --

I'm not sure what a non-fiction fiction book is but from what I gather from your post, yeah, it'd probably go with a proposal. Generally you'd need a query and have the proposal ready for agents who ask for both up front or who will. Especially if you're an author/illustrator with little text, a proposal would have sample pages.
 

Bolero

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One way of looking for agents is to find books that look like yours and try to work out who represents them (if anyone). If you are lucky, there is a "thank you to my wonderful agent" in the front that will give you the name. Some agents websites list the writers they represent and you can look through the list to see if there is anyone like yours. A lot of handle turning but can occasionally be interesting.