How do you find great comp titles?
When you are preparing a query for an agent or an acquiring editor, it can be a good idea to include one or two comparative titles in your pitch. Comp titles are books that are similar in some way to yours and they help agents and editors and publishing staff (like sales and marketing) know who is likely to buy and read your book, how well and where it will sell, and how best to promote it.
But, how do you know what titles are just the right comparisons? Things a comp might have in common with your manuscript include:
age of primary reader
length
genre (fiction vs nonfiction; fantasy, contemporary, romance, etc.)
theme/subject (friendship, new experiences, loss, coming of age, etc.)
type of character (animal vs human, or even inanimate objects)
plot (action plot vs character driven plot)
writing style (rhyme or verse vs prose)
tone (lyrical, humorous, thrilling, etc.)
illustration type, esp if it’s a picture book and you are also the illustrator
amount of illustrations (full-page vs spot illustrations vs illustrations only at start of chapter, etc.)
What you’re ultimately trying to get to is where will your book be shelved in a bookstore or library, if the shelves were organized by content and reader interest. But even if you find a library or bookstore shelf organized this way, you’re going to find books that are both very very old and those that are new. For the purposes of identifying comps useful to an agent or publisher, you need to focus on the newest books. And if your book is a bit experimental or if the books it’s most closely aligned with aren’t the comps you want (their sales were low, perhaps) then you may need to do a bit more digging. I have some ideas for where to find great comps.
(A note: It’s highly unlikely that there would be no comparative titles to your manuscript. If there truly is nothing that compares to yours, it’s worth asking why.)
In a future post, I’ll talk about what makes a great comp title. For now . . .
Where do you find comp titles?
Obviously the first place to start is your own bookshelf. Presumably you’ve written your book because you enjoy books in that category or genre. If you’ve written middle grade contemporary fiction it’s likely that you enjoy reading middle grade contemporary fiction. (If you are trying to sell a middle grade contemporary fiction novel and haven’t read at least twelve novels in that category in the past year, then you have some work to do!) But perhaps you aren’t satisfied with the comps from your own shelves.
Library and bookstore
Go to the library and the bookstore. Often there will be thematic shelves or tables with read-alikes grouped together. Also, you can ask a librarian or bookseller for recommendations. If you ask a bookseller for recommendations, I encourage you to purchase one of their recommendations, or some other book. You’ll want them to remember you as a supportive customer when you come back to arrange an author visit and signing for your newly published book.
If you’re still stymied, or if you aren’t up for in-person or even over-the-phone chats, there are lots of resources online. Start with a basic internet search using natural language. “What are the best middle grade contemporary fiction novels published in the last five years?” You’ll find lots of lists. If there’s a particular author you like, you can search for read-alikes to that author. Perhaps: “Read-alikes for Jack Gantos.” The more books and lists of books you get in your results, the faster you can begin to parse out what you like from those you don’t. Just keep using the ones you like to continue to narrow it down. Of course, if at this point you’ve found two or three or more comps that you really like and seem like realistic and reasonable comparisons based on likely sales (you can’t know for sure how well any individual book sold in most cases) and publication year, then you can stop. But I have a few more ideas if you want to keep digging.
Goodreads
If your results didn’t already pull up a list on Goodreads, then go there now. I like Goodreads because lists are created by readers (consumers) so you’re seeing what real readers consider to be comparative or similar books—what readers really are “reading next.” So if you want to know what readers are finding after they read Joey Pigza, Goodreads will show you that it’s likely Hank Zipzer. You may have to dig around a bit to figure that out, but to me, that’s half the fun. I like knowing what people are saying about various books, so I take my time and play around and get off track a little.
The A word
Note that you can also use the online store with a smile logo and their “customers also viewed” lists. But do keep in mind that these are not organically created lists. They are curated and forced groupings. So they can help you find related titles based on subject, author, and publisher, but they also are likely hiding potentially related titles that won’t improve Amazon’s sales numbers. So it’s as limiting as it is useful, in my opinion.
NoveList Plus
The resource I ALWAYS use, even if I think I’ve already found enough perfect comps, is NoveList Plus. It’s a librarian tool, but most people can access it through your local library. You’ll need an active library card, but you can use it via your library’s website. I just type “NoveList” into the “search catalog” box and the first result that comes up is a link to log in to the NoveList Plus database. I always start by searching for the book that, so far, is the most likely read-alike or comparison to my current project.
Each book’s record notes the book’s “appeal terms.” Read what NoveList says about “appeal terms” to help you use those to find the right read-alike. But also, and here’s why I LOVE it, in each book’s record, along the right side of the screen is a list of read-alikes. If you hover your mouse over the book cover, a pop-up window shows you the books pub date (!), description, and why it’s considered a read-alike! So not only do you know immediately if this book is modern enough to fit your needs, but you know why a librarian (expert book recommenders) might compare this book to your book. If the reason the read-alike is compared to the title you started with doesn’t quite fit your project, then move on to the next. Or, click on the read-alike and then see what it’s read-alikes are and see if those are more closely aligned with your project. Do you see how wonderful this rabbit hole can be? And, each book’s record in NoveList gives you lots of ways to talk about your own book.
Accelerated Reader database
One more searchable resource resource I like, but which should not be used exclusively, is the Accelerated Reader website. https://www.arbookfind.com/ I use this primarily to find word counts. There is other info here, like reading level and pub date, but almost everything else you can find here is also available elsewhere. This database lets you search by genre in a limited way by clicking on “collections” or at the bottom of the advanced search under “additional criteria.”
Awards lists
You probably have enough to find two to five just right comp titles. But I’m not known for doing just enough and I’m most definitely not known for brevity. So here are some more ideas for researching read-alikes:
ALSC awards and best books lists, and other ALA awards
Review journals and their best books of the year lists (Bank Street College of Education; Kirkus; School Library Journal; Horn Book Magazine; New York Times; and so many more)
Literary organizations sites and awards lists, for example, Literary Arts in Oregon
Reading, literacy, education, and parenting sites and book lists, like Reading Rockets and The Brown Bookshelf and Common Sense Media
I’ll put more resources on my Writing Resources page soon. Good luck and happy writing!