One of the most important parts of the acquisitions process for a publisher is determining if a manuscript they are considering is likely to sell enough copies to make financial sense to publish. One of the ways publishers can determine audience interest is finding comparative titles, or comp titles. These are already published books that are “comparative” to the manuscript seeking publishing and have recent sales data for publishers to consider. Authors mainly utilize comp titles when writing query letters to illustrate their manuscript’s marketability to a publisher’s acquisitions editor/department. While a winning set of comp titles isn’t the secret to getting a book deal, understanding their function in publishing and having a few solid options will help any author seeking publication position their book effectively.
A good comp title has ideally been published in the last three to five years, is the same genre as the unpublished manuscript, and reflects the author/publisher’s abilities. Most authors could name a few similar books in the same genre as their manuscript, and this is a great jumping off point to narrowing down good comp titles. The next step is to consider if those books were published recently enough to accurately reflect market trends. For instance, if you are pitching a YA dystopian novel you might consider The Hunger Games a comp title. While in terms of content it might be, since it was published in 2008 the YA audience that book reached have long since aged out of the YA demographic. For the same reason, you would not cite classics like Ender’s Game because the sales data and audience that book is reaching will not accurately reflect a new publication. While you might use a comparison like that in marketing language (i.e. calling your manuscript The Hunger Games meets Ender’s Game to show broader genres/audiences reached), a good comp title should show more realistic sales numbers to help establish what audience your manuscript will reach. However, since most authors do not have access to industry sales data (accessed by publishers through sites like Circana/NPD bookscan), do not get too bogged down by definite sales numbers. You can also estimate interest based on public information like the number of Amazon/Goodreads reviews, what kind of results come up when you google a book (reviews and interviews), and if the book is appearing on relevant “best of lists.”
The other important consideration is the ability/reach of the author and the publisher. If you are the author of a fantasy novel, Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare might not be an appropriate comp title because Cassandra Clare has an established audience that will greatly impact the sales of her books. If you are a debut author, consider looking for other debut novels in your genre as comp titles (not a hard and fast rule, but one way to frame your search). If you have published before you could also consider your own books as a comp title, as a way to illustrate how many books you have previously sold. If you are seeking publication by a smaller press, citing only comp titles from Big Five presses will not reflect your probable sales numbers accurately. Larger publishers often have larger marketing departments and shelf space in large bookstores across the country; small presses usually have specific avenues they reach readers through (local bookstores, specific events, publishing specific subgenres). For that reason, if you are submitting to a smaller press, a great place to start looking for comp titles is in the books published by that press. Being able to connect your book to a title on their backlist can illustrate how your manuscript would fit in seamlessly with their other publications. Choosing a comp title from a similarly sized press (you can check “about us pages” for information on if they are imprint of larger publishers or independent publishers) shows a publisher you understand how your manuscript will be positioned, and can help them decide if your book is financially viable because it will likely reach its audience.
Comp titles are not a perfect science, however. A great piece of further reading is an article entitled “Comping White” by Laura B. McGrath, which breaks down how comp titles can hurt marginalized authors by assuming whiteness as a standard and assuming what will and will not sell. With all this in mind, including some well-researched comp titles can help your query letter stand out by providing proof of audience interest and some baseline sales numbers to the publishers you are submitting your manuscript to.
Written by Samantha Gallasch.