I pitched my WIP last summer. Despite my ever-present companion, FEAR, joining me, it went ok. I had two comparables ready to go, both well known and good matches. One related to my MC and the other to plot themes. Most agents liked them, and got the idea of where I was going, or they were being nice and not commenting further. But one of the agents, who I greatly respect and truly enjoyed talking to, specifically suggested that I needed current comparables, because knowing where your project fits in the current market is more important to agents and publishers than well known, but older comparables. It was true, my comparables weren’t published within the last three years.
Skipping several months later (to be honest, so many more months than I anticipated), I’m finishing my revision and moving on to editing/polishing stage. And as the process is progressing, I’ve been thinking about revisiting my comparables.
This time, to make sure I focused on current comparables, I spend a few hours at Barnes and Noble. I scanned both the mystery and fiction section (on a side note….does anyone understand how BN organizes their store? Catherine Coulter, in mystery, but Harlan Coben and Lee Child in fiction?? Just curious).
A library is a great place, too. They’re some of my favorite places, but for current works, book stores are really helpful. The stacks are full of books, but the recent ones have the hard covers often facing outward, so you can easily focus in on an author’s recent works.
Since I’m writing a thriller, Iperused nearly every newer release in the mystery section and probably half in the fiction section. I walked away with a huge TBR pile to be sure, but I also walked away with several very recent books to add to my potential comparables list.
Just a thought, fellow newbies, as you’re ready to compile the comparables for your WIP.
Any other tips for the comparables task?
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