Ok, so Comp Titles, also known as Comparison Titles, are officially used in query letters once you’ve written your book and are seeking a literary agent or a small press. They are needed for the sales pitch, but I hope you will give me grace for writing about them on Writing Tip Wednesday.

For me, selecting published books to juxtapose to my manuscript is the most difficult part of writing a query letter. “My book is like ___.” Who am I to compare my unpublished work to a successfully published novel? How could I possibly think that my story is as well written or could be as popular as the comps in my query? Coming up with comparison titles has always made me feel like a fraud.

I lost the fear of selecting titles a few years ago when speaking to a literary agent at a conference (the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance PITCH conference to be exact). That agent explained an aspect of comp titles I had never considered: tone.

He told me to look for books—published within the past five years—that felt like my book. That advice, and my hunt for recent books, led me to find comps that helped me pitch, and sell, my current Midcoast Maine series.

From him, and other agents since, I’ve learned the following about the books to select as comps. These books should
–Be published within the past five years.
–Land in a similar genre or category.
–Have the same or similar tone.
–Not always be a best seller. Use also lesser known titles.
–Be a full-length book. Don’t use novellas.

Comp titles, however, are more than just a sales tool and a demonstration of having a bit of understanding of the market and your book’s placement in it. Similar to the value of “reading as a writer,” reading books for comparison helps you appreciate your own work. You understand your writing through the eyes of another manuscript. You find your holes and ponder how to fix them. You admire a craft and consider what techniques you might employ in your own story. A search for comp titles is never a waste of time. It is a learning experience.

I finished writing a locked-room mystery in 2020 that I haven’t been able to sell (yet). I’m in the process of rewriting it, using some of the feedback I received from sending it out. I’ve been considering comps for a few months now, partially because I need newer ones than the ones I had used in 2020.

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

I’m currently reading Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney, and it is the closest I’ve found to my novel in tone, use of setting, and first person point of view. I also admire Lucy Foley’s use of setting as part of her novels, and while The Guest List is also a locked-room, so to speak, the tone and multiple points of view aren’t as close a “feel” as her novel, The Hunting Party, which worked great as a comp in 2020 but is now seven years old. I’ve already passed on many other books and have a couple more to read. I’m sure I will find one or two more to use.

Books by Lucy Foley

Are you as perplexed and worried about comp titles as I have always been? How do you look for comp titles for your work? Please share any tips. I’d love to up my game.

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Allison Keeton’s debut novel is Blaze Orange, Book One in the Midcoast Maine Mystery series. Arctic Green, Book Two, hits the streets (and snowmobile trails) in February 2026. She can be reached at http://www.akeetonbooks.com