Proposals can daunt just about any writer. But throw in comparative titles into the mix, and we may have made the process ten times harder on ourselves.
Comparative Titles: Recently published titles, in your book’s genre, that share similarities in theme, tone, or style.
It sounds simple enough, but when you have to come up with 3-5 titles, published by B-list authors, within the past five years, it makes the search all the harder. In this article, we’ll explore ways to find your book’s comparative titles, so you can wow publishers and agents.
Follow the Footnotes
You may know that your book shares similarities with another one.
For instance, my spooky MG shares similarities with Kristiana Sfirlea’s Legend of the Storm Sneezer. If I plug the title into Amazon, it shows me results of other books bought that are similar to this. I peruse the blurbs and the first pages of those books. If they seem to match mine, I buy them.
“Wait a minute!” You may say. “Why do I have to buy them?” First of all, you support authors, yay! Second of all, you want to make sure that you didn’t just choose a book simply by the back cover copy alone. As we’ve learned the BCC doesn’t always tell us the truth about the book’s contents. Better safe than sorry.
Goodreads Lists
So you have to find a book published within the last five years.
No problem. Goodreads has lists of books in specific genres, published in specific years. Peruse the lists and find books that seem to match the tones or themes of yours.
You can find plenty of books in Paranormal MG published in 2020. Believe me, once you find these lists, you’ll have no problem finding books that are similar to yours.
Ask Reader’s Groups
Facebook has PLENTY of readers groups. Ask them in threads if they have any recs. of books, that are recently published, like yours.
It will surprise you how many recommendations you’ll receive. I’m part of a Christian readers group, and readers have obscure requests all the time. On average, these requests receive 30-100 responses.
Ask Authors in the Genre
Want to know comp. titles for your books? Ask authors who have published similar books in your genre. Odds are they have plenty of ideas for you to read.
After all, if we want to be good writers, we have to read lots of books in our genre, so we can understand the trends, the vogue voices, and of course, because we have loads of fun doing it.
Resources
Write a Winning Query – Serious Writer Academy
Book Proposals: Mastering the Comparative Section – Writers Chat
Book Proposals and One Sheets – Writers Chat
9 Ways to Squeeze More Writing into Your Day – Almost an Author
The Cover Letter – Almost an Author
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