Comp Titles

A Comp Title, or comparable title, is an existing book that is believed to have a similar reader-base to what an unpublished novel book would have once published. It is not a very restrictive categorization; something can be a comp title thanks to a combination of genre, writing style, and even expected sales trends. Comp titles, though they may seem unimportant at first glance, are very important tools for working out how a book should be marketed and who it should be marketed to.

Criteria

Though comp titles can be chosen for a variety of reasons, there are certain guidelines to keep them useful for publishers and audiences alike. For one, recent titles are highly recommended and even mandated by some publishers. The publishing industry is always changing, and a book published too many years ago would likely have a different audience if published recently. Since figuring out intended audience is a major part of why comp titles are desired by publishers, it's important to get as similar of an audience as possible when one chooses their comp titles.

It's also important not to be too broad. The Lord of the Rings, for example, is a timeless classic that readers and publishers are certainly going to know. However, it's also practically a fundamental part of the fantasy genre by this point. Many, many books have taken some inspiration from The Lord of the Rings, and many more will. It introduced several things that it's difficult to find a high fantasy novel without, at this point in time. Thus, even aside from the issues regarding its age, having it as a comp title would actually tell readers and publishers very little about a novel.

Genre, though not usually the primary driver behind a comp title, can be a useful tool in choosing one. This is a collection of fantasy novels.

These limits can make it feel immensely difficult to actually find a book that can fill the needed role. However, as stated above, comp titles are less restrictive than they may seem upon first glace. A novel with a setting similar to your book can be a comp title if setting is a major part of your book's appeal. Two main characters with similar mindsets can prompt a comp title. A plot with even remotely similar story beats can, as well. The reality is, no two books are going to be extremely similar without one being deliberately written as such. So, even small, minor aspects that may cause a small audience overlap can be used as comp titles. The key when selecting them is, most of all, to be well-read enough to be confident about one's choices.

Purpose

Comp titles are extremely useful for every member of a publishing team. Editors, for one, have to take a distinct look at who the audience will be as they're going through a book. Their job is not just to make the book as high-quality as possible, but also to make sure it hits beats that attract specific audiences and make the novel financially viable.

A comp title doesn't just give the marketing team something to use with the general public; it also helps a sales team get the books onto the shelves of bookstores and major retailers. A comparison to a financially successful and well-liked novel will attract a good amount of attention if there's enough resemblance. This also sets expectations for the retailer, and if the expectations are attractive, it will make them more enthusiastic to stock it.

Audience is a very important part of deciding a comp title, and books aimed at specific groups can be very good choices if one's novel is aimed at that same group. This is a collection of Young Adult novels.

Comp titles generally say significantly more than genre does. Twilight and Pride and Prejudice are both, in some capacity, romance novels, but they would certainly not work as comp titles to each other; therefore, their genre alone doesn't say too much about them. Genre can still be a tool used for comp titles, of course, but further comparisons and precise subgenres are often needed for elaboration. It's not as if other methods of comparing and classifying within the literary world are wrong, or even not useful; it's more that comp titles work in conjunction with them to tell a publisher exactly what to expect when it comes to a book's prospective place in the world.