- A recent book (last 2-3 years) sharing audience and positioning.
- Used by agents to pitch to editors.
- A typical comp set: 2-3 titles.
- Mega-bestsellers (over 500k copies sold) are bad comps.
- Comps signal market awareness — choose them carefully.
A comp title (short for "comparable title") is a recent book — usually published in the last two to three years — that shares audience and positioning with your book. Agents use comps to understand who would buy your book and how to pitch it to editors. A good comp set has two or three recent titles that are not bestsellers and are not direct competitors.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Comps are how the publishing industry talks about books. An author who can name two recent comps for their book is showing they understand the market and have a positioning thesis. An author who comps to Harry Potter or Hunger Games is signaling they do not know how the industry works, which is one of the fastest reasons for query rejection.
Chapter ii·What to include
- 2-3 recent titles, published in the last 2-3 years.
- Books from your subgenre, not from neighboring genres.
- Not mega-bestsellers — mid-list books work better.
- Not multi-comp celebrities (King, Atwood, etc.).
- A one-line "comp pitch": "X meets Y in a Z setting."
- A backup set of 5-7 additional comps in case the primary two don't land.
Chapter iii·Example
A debut adult contemporary fantasy author’s comp set: "BABEL by R.F. Kuang meets THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE by V.E. Schwab, with the academic intrigue of A DEADLY EDUCATION by Naomi Novik." Three recent titles, all mid-to-upper-list, all signaling tone and audience without claiming bestseller equivalency.
Chapter iv·Related questions
WriteLoom’s Pitch studio builds a comp set from recent titles in your genre, with positioning rationale per comp.
See the Pitch studio