How to choose comp titles for your query
Comparative titles tell an agent where your book sits on the shelf and that there's a market for it. Here's how to pick comps that help — recent, real, and the right size — and the ones to avoid.
Comparative titles — “comps” — are the published books you name in your query letter to show where your book sits on the shelf. Good comps do two things at once: they tell the agent what your book is(tone, audience, genre) and prove there’s a market for it. Done well, two well-chosen comps can communicate more than a paragraph of description.
What makes a comp work
- Recent. Aim for titles published in roughly the last 3–5 years. Recent comps show you know the current market; a decade-old bestseller doesn’t.
- Real and findable. Use actual published books, not movies, classics everyone’s read, or your own unpublished work.
- The right size. Comp to solid, well-regarded books — not mega-bestsellers. “The next Harry Potter” promises sales no one can deliver and reads as naïve.
- Same audience and category. A middle-grade book should comp to middle grade. Mixing audiences confuses the pitch.
- Specific in what they share. “X meets Y” works when each title carries a distinct element — one for tone, one for premise, say.
How to find good comps
Start with the books you already know are like yours — then widen the net. Browse recent releases in your category, read agents’ wishlists (agents often name the comps they’re hungry for), and look at what books the agents you’re targeting have actually sold. That last move is the highest-leverage one: if an agent represents a book you’d happily comp to, they’re a strong fit and you have a built-in personalized hook.
Our “agents who want books like…” pagesflip the usual search: pick a title close to your book and see which agents have actually named it as a comp or represent that lane. It’s the fastest way to turn a comp into a target list of the right agents.
The “X meets Y” formula
The classic shorthand pairs two references so their overlap describes your book: “The Night Circus meets Ninth House”suggests atmospheric, literary fantasy with a dark academic edge. You can also cross a book with a different medium for tone (“Station Eleven with the warmth of Ted Lasso”), but anchor at least one comp to a real, recent book in your category.
Comps to avoid
- Mega-bestsellers and cultural juggernauts — they set an impossible bar.
- Classics and decades-old titles — they say nothing about today’s market.
- Books in the wrong category or audience — they muddy the pitch.
- Only film/TV comps — fine as flavor, but agents sell books; lead with one.
With comps in hand, fold them into your query letter bio paragraph and use them to target the right agents. New to querying? Begin with how to find a literary agent.