Find Your Query Comps FAST

By Allison K Williams

This morning I saw an author’s anguished cry on Twitter:

Who will your book hang out with?

Comps, comps, comps. Mine are all too old: the glass castle 2005, breaking night by Liz Murray, 2011, chronology of water, By Lidia Yuknavitch 2011. Anyone got any ideas for more recent comps that go w/these? #WritingCommunity #memoir #querying

Polly Hansen (go follow her!)

We all need comps: comparative or competitive titles. For all genres, we name 2-3 books or authors in our query, to show our place in the market and who our readers are. For unusual books, or books that subvert their genre, comps can show tone, style or theme rather than the exact subject matter (TV and movies are fair game–“It’s BIG LITTLE LIES meets Tiger King“). Memoirists need 3-5 titles in a proposal, to show that books like ours are selling right now, and that we offer something those books have missed.

The challenge is moving past the category-killers, the bestsellers everyone knows but are too old or too famous to show our book will sell. The Glass Castle is 19 years old, and the market has shifted. Lidia Yuknavitch is no longer a debut author–part of what sells her books is a name readers already want more from. But how the heck can we find “good sellers but not bestsellers” when we aren’t publishing pros and don’t have access to sales numbers?

We find our true comps by being widely-read in our genre, and an active part of our literary community over several years. We learn the market by reading reviews, watching social media, and gradually discovering the signs of a book that’s “doing well,” over…several years.

But sometimes, we gotta move faster. Here’s how:

Are the comps you immediately think of too old or too famous? Look them up on Amazon. Scroll down to the data about the book and find the lists they’re on (# 387 in Memoir, # 235 in Zookeepers, etc). Visit those lists and see what else is on them.

Look for books in the top 250 on the list, with at least 100 reviews. Click through to their listings and look for:

• Published by a traditional publisher (self-pubbed books aren’t useful for querying traditional agents and publishers)
• Editorial review quotes from publications, rather than solely blurbs from individual authors (that means the book got noticed by magazines and newspapers)

Note the promising titles & walk into your local bookstore. Look for those books. What else is on their shelf and in their category?

• Check the publication year (comps ideally are under 3 years old).
• Flip to the back cover or the inside front pages. Which books have blurbs from Kirkus/Library Journal/Booklist or commercial media outlets? If you know your own book is more “quiet”/literary, who has blurbs from prominent literary magazines?
• Ask the store clerk, “Is anything like this coming out soon? Is anything like this sold out and not on the shelf?”
• Head home & look those books up online, too. What lists are they on? What other books are on those lists?

Along with these steps, here’s one bonus, weird way to find comps: websearch for your own book, as if it’s already published and you forgot the title. “Memoir about non-binary zookeeper” or “Literary novel about kid loves animals.” See what appears. Some of those are possible comps.

I know this sounds like a lot of work. But if you’re checking for data, rather than lost in book-shopping, you can accomplish these steps in under four hours (which don’t have to be consecutive hours). And one big caveat:

You won’t need to read every book! Read the beginning and ending in the store, or the online sample pages. Would your readers enjoy this story or writing style? Look at reader reviews online. Read 3 “loved it!” and 3 “hated it!” to identify what the book did well and what it missed. Use that information to discuss the chosen comps in your proposal–and to inform your actual writing. For querying, use only what the book did well that yours also does.

Here’s the most important part of the comps-finding process, and why to begin looking for possible comps before you finish writing your book. Buy or borrow the books you use in your query and those you add in your proposal. Read them as your time allows. Review them on a site or on your social media, with a pic of the book (ranks higher). Follow the authors, their agents & publishers. Sign up for their newsletters. Because…

Comps are not just a marketing tool. They are also a microcosm of your literary community.

By definition, you want to be shelved with these authors, so start moving in that world. Attend their events. See what they’re doing to promote and where else they write and publish. Participate in their community–because it’s your community.

Learning your comp authors’ behavior is learning to promote your own work. For novelists, comp author behavior shows how your audience wants to interact with and learn about your work (which is much harder to guess at than for memoirists!). For all writers, no matter where you are in your writing and publishing journey, it’s worth your time to seek them out.

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Allison K Williams is Brevity‘s Social Media Editor and the author of SEVEN DRAFTS. She’ll talk about comp authors, audience connection, and marketing beyond social media in Wednesday’s webinar: Writer Mind, Marketing Mind ($25). Find out more/register now.