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Book comparisons - 10 comps for several popular, hard to comp books
Happy Friday! Before I get to the book comparisons (aka book comps) I’ve got lined up for you today, I’d like to chat for a minute about my process and general thoughts about comping one book (especially a popular one) to another. Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with book comps. I love hearing one of my trusted book sources compare a book I loved to another I haven’t read or vice versa - that makes me feel excited about the possibility of reading another book I’m being told is similar because I automatically assume that there’s a good chance I’ll like that book.
That automatic assumption usually turns out ok when I’m following the book comp suggestion of a trusted source. Where book comps can fall off a cliff for me are marketing ones that publishers put as part of a book blurb. How many times have we seen a publisher compare a thriller to Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn? Too many to count and it’s rare any of those comps live up to that comparison. (Spoiler alert- I’m sharing my own personal book comp for Gone Girl and it’s the best book I’ve come across in years that I believe actually deserves the coveted Gone Girl comp)
How I Found These Comps
Many of you know that I love to research, so I decided to go through the books I have already read, looking for similar themes, tones, vibes, writing styles, plots etc. If I couldn’t find a good comp from my own backlist and/or for the books I haven’t read, I used The Storygraph Plus feature, deep Reddit searches, plus many other websites/lists that cater to book comps. **I’ll note when I’ve read one or both books I’m comping
For this first issue, I’m starting with 10 comps and giving you what I feel is a nice mix of super popular and under the radar comparisons. And because I LOVE graphics, each pairing is getting its own graphic for ease of viewing.
I would love to know in the comments - how do you feel about book comps? Do you think they’re helpful or do you think they create too many expectations? Do you have any books you’d add to any of my comps? Any books you’d like me to research to include in the next issue?