I just want to state that i love how you guys don't draw out your vid times to increase your vid algorithm. So there's no filler. you say what you need to on the topic, and then the vid is done. Bravo.
I would almost never include comp titles - so glad to you’re cool with this Jessica! 🤓🙏🏼 James, I’ve never seen anyone hide a yawn as well as you do! 🤣👍🏼
For me personally, realizing that "Home Alone meets Evil Dead" wouldn't work for my query was devastating, because no other media titles describe my story better. From what I understand though, movies don't apply (and therefore should not be used) because the purpose of a comp title is to tell the potential agent where your work fits into the rest of the book-world, so to speak, not where it generally fits with other forms of media. There is conflicting information out there, though, so maybe it varies from agent to agent. To that end, I would say if movies aren't applicable, then comics, plays, etc. definitely aren't either.
Giving comp titles are strange to me. As an older writer we never compared our books to others. We would state genre, but not other books. I think this is the one thing I hate doing when submitting.
It's also strange to me. It kind of feels like I'm being asked to figure out how to pitch the book to publishers, and that defeats the purpose of having a literary agent.
I really like how BookEnds is evolving in these presentations. For me, they are Must-Watch and I get to them as quickly as I can once I get the alert. However, this one was a bit off of the rails for me. It is a great topic and one that befuddles a lot of debut authors - heck, even long time writers dread this hurdle. In many ways, I am not a traditionalist when it comes to anything, my favorite question has always been, "Why?" Some things in our lives are there for very good reason even if we do not understand why, but most of what we adhere to as accepted is just because we accept things as they are and never ask why. When you ask why a comp is necessary, the answer is that it helps the targeted argent better understand the work. That seems like a good reason and for the most part it seems to be an industry standard, but should it be? Agent's see a lot of queries and hear a lot of pitches. The comp is such a small bit of data in a query that it has never once decided for or against a query that I am aware of by those I have spoken to about the subject. Comps quite often are either absent or do not properly frame the work. Agents profess that the comp is way for them to understand that their querying author understands their genre and exhibits dedication to jumping through a hoop. While there are authors out there that do retelling of older stories or try to mash two independent books together, there are many that write a story that was not inspired by any other work. Often these works have elements of many subjects and topics because let us be honest - there are no new stories, everything is a rendition of something that has already been somewhere, some time by some one. But to that author there is no comp for them because it was not integral to their creative process; it is possible that they did not even have a set genre in mind - the story is and or was, what it was. Throughout my career I performed in many industries. I am now retired and happily banging away on a keyboard, but during my career I never forgot how it was that I held my position. I had to work hard, I had to understand my customers even when they did not and I had to be willing to do a lot of work that often had no reward or worse no meaning to anyone but me. I was diligent. I was dedicated. I was not expecting the easy road and demanded my industry peers, business partners and customers dance to my tune just because it had always been that way and made my job easier. When such things happened, it was I and not they that did the dancing, but that dancing had a purpose that was logical beyond being a tradition. Where this little critique leads me is that I do not get the feeling that BookEnds looks at a comp with make-or-break attitude, even though there is an obvious industry standard to do so. BookEnds sets itself apart for being a more professional, a bit more mature and a great deal more understanding. I started this by saying this presentation went off the rails for me, not because of the topic of the comp. Rather, I realize while it seems important to inform viewers that comps are a necessary industry evil, they are not all that with BookEnds. My issue was that I do not care about the industry standard; I am watching this presentation. I care about BookEnds standard and everything I have watched from Book Ends says - "We are different." I would suggest in the future that BookEnds be a little less industrial encompassing and be more BookEnds exclusive - I, and probably most others are coming here because we want to know BookEnds and not the industry. There are a lot of books gathering dust in the attic because the writing was supposed to be the hard part, but the work was a joy compared to the publishing process. The world has changed and traditional publishing needs to keep abreast or become less relevant. Most authors are a chaotic mess that desperately need structure, I get that. But think of what is out there waiting to be exposed to the world but remains forever in the darkness because of the dogma of the publishing world. I believe that path to the new standards in publishing has a sign post that says: BookEnds Literary Agency.
What if one sees the book as part of a tradition of successful books in a particular genre going back more than three or five years, perhaps a decade or more?
As mine was Young Adult/New Adult Epic Fantasy I was thinking of saying "It's for those who have graduated from LoTR but are not quite at GoT" to slot it then put a couple comp titles to narrow it further. Does that work?
For comp titles to TV shows, if a TV show has recently been rebooted or continued within the three year market period, would that still be acceptable as recent material for comp titles?
Question! I usually think of comp titles that are movies or TV shows, like "Addams family meets Gilmore Girls". And a lot of people in my writing group have told me that's a big no-no and that I should use books only. Does that advice hold any water or can I keep using movies and TV shows?
Hi! I'm not BookEnds but I think the same advice of "at least one comp should be in the same genre" applies here. Using one TV show/movie is fine as long as it's paired with a book comp in the same genre, but it's probably not a good idea to use two movie/TV show comps.
Right, guys I appreciate and I understand that it should be a recent title, I get it. But what about books about minority characters that aren't just the trendy POC and LGBTQ? My only comp title is Anthony Doerr's "All The Light We Cannot See," which is not even in my genre. I write sci-fi. So what I did was, comp title, in space. If no other dual POV book featuring a blind character gets published like, NOW, then what am I supposed to do? There are exceptions to this rule, and not because I'm special or anything.
We're not saying there aren't exceptions to the rule. What you have is fine, I'm sure. But for those who are less confident in their choices, we're giving general rules of thumb.
I assume your comp titles don't have to match exactly your novel. If I understand it well, it's more to do with genre and style. You probably don't need to find a main character who's exactly like yours.
@@silvasilvasilva that's a good point, and I tried that too. No novel found, yet. I have fellow readers also looking around, in case someone stumbles upon a potential comp title for my book with other sci-fi novels. Nope. Those who have read my story tell me "I haven't read a sci-fi like yours." This might sound awesome, but not for me. This tells me there's no place in the market for what I'm doing, and it keeps me freaking out. So yeah, I'm nervous about it. Luckily at least I can do the trick of "another recent book, in space."
I'm not really sure I know of any comp titles that are appropriate. Does anyone else know of a dark historical fantasy story set in early 19th century Scotland, that deals with sex, religion, fairies, black magic, and horror? That was published in the last five years?
Maybe you could try looking at it from the angle of who your biggest influences are in terms of writing style or authors, and not so much about specific content.
So ... comp titles are used by the agent and publisher to help focus their marketing efforts??? Is that the whole point??? At the moment I can't really conceptualize why anybody cares so much about them.
I love how Jessica said “Euch!” when James said the topic was comp titles. My sentiments exactly lol
I just want to state that i love how you guys don't draw out your vid times to increase your vid algorithm. So there's no filler. you say what you need to on the topic, and then the vid is done. Bravo.
I would almost never include comp titles
- so glad to you’re cool with this Jessica! 🤓🙏🏼
James, I’ve never seen anyone hide a yawn as well as you do! 🤣👍🏼
LOL-- apparently not hiding it as good as I thought. I was *so tired* this day haha
I’m sure you fooled 99% of your audience! 😏
Thank you for considering queries without comps. You'll be getting my compless query in a few months!
What are everyone's feelings on including non-novel media as comp titles, like movies, comics, non-fiction, podcasts, plays, musicals, etc?
For me personally, realizing that "Home Alone meets Evil Dead" wouldn't work for my query was devastating, because no other media titles describe my story better.
From what I understand though, movies don't apply (and therefore should not be used) because the purpose of a comp title is to tell the potential agent where your work fits into the rest of the book-world, so to speak, not where it generally fits with other forms of media.
There is conflicting information out there, though, so maybe it varies from agent to agent. To that end, I would say if movies aren't applicable, then comics, plays, etc. definitely aren't either.
I love this channel. It puts my mind at ease as a writer.
Giving comp titles are strange to me. As an older writer we never compared our books to others. We would state genre, but not other books. I think this is the one thing I hate doing when submitting.
It's also strange to me. It kind of feels like I'm being asked to figure out how to pitch the book to publishers, and that defeats the purpose of having a literary agent.
I really like how BookEnds is evolving in these presentations. For me, they are Must-Watch and I get to them as quickly as I can once I get the alert. However, this one was a bit off of the rails for me. It is a great topic and one that befuddles a lot of debut authors - heck, even long time writers dread this hurdle. In many ways, I am not a traditionalist when it comes to anything, my favorite question has always been, "Why?" Some things in our lives are there for very good reason even if we do not understand why, but most of what we adhere to as accepted is just because we accept things as they are and never ask why.
When you ask why a comp is necessary, the answer is that it helps the targeted argent better understand the work. That seems like a good reason and for the most part it seems to be an industry standard, but should it be? Agent's see a lot of queries and hear a lot of pitches. The comp is such a small bit of data in a query that it has never once decided for or against a query that I am aware of by those I have spoken to about the subject.
Comps quite often are either absent or do not properly frame the work. Agents profess that the comp is way for them to understand that their querying author understands their genre and exhibits dedication to jumping through a hoop. While there are authors out there that do retelling of older stories or try to mash two independent books together, there are many that write a story that was not inspired by any other work. Often these works have elements of many subjects and topics because let us be honest - there are no new stories, everything is a rendition of something that has already been somewhere, some time by some one. But to that author there is no comp for them because it was not integral to their creative process; it is possible that they did not even have a set genre in mind - the story is and or was, what it was.
Throughout my career I performed in many industries. I am now retired and happily banging away on a keyboard, but during my career I never forgot how it was that I held my position. I had to work hard, I had to understand my customers even when they did not and I had to be willing to do a lot of work that often had no reward or worse no meaning to anyone but me. I was diligent. I was dedicated. I was not expecting the easy road and demanded my industry peers, business partners and customers dance to my tune just because it had always been that way and made my job easier. When such things happened, it was I and not they that did the dancing, but that dancing had a purpose that was logical beyond being a tradition.
Where this little critique leads me is that I do not get the feeling that BookEnds looks at a comp with make-or-break attitude, even though there is an obvious industry standard to do so. BookEnds sets itself apart for being a more professional, a bit more mature and a great deal more understanding. I started this by saying this presentation went off the rails for me, not because of the topic of the comp. Rather, I realize while it seems important to inform viewers that comps are a necessary industry evil, they are not all that with BookEnds. My issue was that I do not care about the industry standard; I am watching this presentation. I care about BookEnds standard and everything I have watched from Book Ends says - "We are different."
I would suggest in the future that BookEnds be a little less industrial encompassing and be more BookEnds exclusive - I, and probably most others are coming here because we want to know BookEnds and not the industry.
There are a lot of books gathering dust in the attic because the writing was supposed to be the hard part, but the work was a joy compared to the publishing process. The world has changed and traditional publishing needs to keep abreast or become less relevant. Most authors are a chaotic mess that desperately need structure, I get that. But think of what is out there waiting to be exposed to the world but remains forever in the darkness because of the dogma of the publishing world. I believe that path to the new standards in publishing has a sign post that says: BookEnds Literary Agency.
Really needed that video! Thank you!
What are guidelines for comping elements of classic books like tone or voice?
Omgosh Jessica you crack me up ... your laugh is contagious ;) I've only just subscribed and am binge watching with a "way too early" morning coffee!
This one was really useful. Thank you!
What if one sees the book as part of a tradition of successful books in a particular genre going back more than three or five years, perhaps a decade or more?
I’m so glad I watched this video! I’ve been comparing my book to The Devil Wears Prada. I immediately broke the first two guidelines 😩😂
As mine was Young Adult/New Adult Epic Fantasy I was thinking of saying "It's for those who have graduated from LoTR but are not quite at GoT" to slot it then put a couple comp titles to narrow it further. Does that work?
Rather then doing comps would it be ok if you said you were inspired by such and such book/author?
For comp titles to TV shows, if a TV show has recently been rebooted or continued within the three year market period, would that still be acceptable as recent material for comp titles?
Question! I usually think of comp titles that are movies or TV shows, like "Addams family meets Gilmore Girls". And a lot of people in my writing group have told me that's a big no-no and that I should use books only. Does that advice hold any water or can I keep using movies and TV shows?
Hi! I'm not BookEnds but I think the same advice of "at least one comp should be in the same genre" applies here. Using one TV show/movie is fine as long as it's paired with a book comp in the same genre, but it's probably not a good idea to use two movie/TV show comps.
Katie Rivera I agree, I’ve heard this specific suggestion from several agents/editors.
Right, guys I appreciate and I understand that it should be a recent title, I get it. But what about books about minority characters that aren't just the trendy POC and LGBTQ?
My only comp title is Anthony Doerr's "All The Light We Cannot See," which is not even in my genre. I write sci-fi. So what I did was, comp title, in space.
If no other dual POV book featuring a blind character gets published like, NOW, then what am I supposed to do?
There are exceptions to this rule, and not because I'm special or anything.
We're not saying there aren't exceptions to the rule. What you have is fine, I'm sure. But for those who are less confident in their choices, we're giving general rules of thumb.
@@BookEndsLiterary got it, and I see that. I'm just nervous because well, minority here. I'm always nervous. :D
Thank you for clarifying.
I assume your comp titles don't have to match exactly your novel. If I understand it well, it's more to do with genre and style. You probably don't need to find a main character who's exactly like yours.
@@silvasilvasilva that's a good point, and I tried that too. No novel found, yet.
I have fellow readers also looking around, in case someone stumbles upon a potential comp title for my book with other sci-fi novels. Nope. Those who have read my story tell me "I haven't read a sci-fi like yours." This might sound awesome, but not for me. This tells me there's no place in the market for what I'm doing, and it keeps me freaking out. So yeah, I'm nervous about it. Luckily at least I can do the trick of "another recent book, in space."
So comp is short for comparison titles haha. I need to work on my American slang. Thought this was going to be about competitions. (-;
I'm not really sure I know of any comp titles that are appropriate. Does anyone else know of a dark historical fantasy story set in early 19th century Scotland, that deals with sex, religion, fairies, black magic, and horror? That was published in the last five years?
Maybe you could try looking at it from the angle of who your biggest influences are in terms of writing style or authors, and not so much about specific content.
Lovely literary mug! I'm going with no comp titles, rather than approximate ones, because I couldn't find anything close enough to my story.
Soylent Green meets Harry Potter?...
am I doing it right?
I want to know who the comp-authors are that turn Jessica off immediately!!
So ... comp titles are used by the agent and publisher to help focus their marketing efforts??? Is that the whole point???
At the moment I can't really conceptualize why anybody cares so much about them.
Hate the comp title question. Contributes to everything feeling the same.
But what if my book really IS a modern version of The Catcher in the Rye?? lol
Comp titles in last 3 years doesn't make sense to me. Agents pitch on publishers marketplace use older titles there, so this is contradicting.
Zzzzz. Very scattered and now I know why the views are dismal.