On Humor Marketing
from the McSweeney's website

Now, if Mr. Pollack had published this book through an existing and large New York publisher, all of whom do good work and are staffed by nice people, the following would nevertheless be true, given the rarefied nature of Mr. Pollack's work and the sometimes somewhat less subtlety-accepting nature of the business:

[...]

d) To alleviate the publisher's fears about the public's understanding of the book, the book's cover would be wacky, perhaps with a picture of Mr. Pollack in his underwear while making a funny face, to indicate to potential readers that inside the book there would be funny laffs.

e) Of course, the wacky cover would drive away readers with any sort of taste, leaving those who appreciate such wacky covers -- these people unfortunately not being the same people who would appreciate Mr. Pollack's work.

f) And even with the wacky cover, the salespeople representing the publishing company [...] would have no idea how to sell such a book, which contains laffs but is not about pooping or O.J. Simpson or President Bill Clinton's funny behaviors