The secret to good comp titles
Spoiler: It's not about plot, it's about MOOD
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If you are an aspiring author pursuing traditional publishing, you’ve probably heard how important comp titles can be, especially when querying agents.1
And if you’re a published author… Well, comp titles don’t get any less important. Your agent often uses comp titles to pitch your book to publishers, and in turn, if the book is bought/published, comp titles may again be used in promo and publicity while targeting readers.
What is a comp title?
Simply put, a comparative (“comp”) title is a reference to another work that is similar to yours. “Similar” can allude to many things, such as genre, concept, tone, world, voice, characters, etc.
You’ll notice I didn’t list “plot.” Comp titles definitely hint at plot, but finding a title that perfectly sums up your plot isn’t the goal. (That’s the goal of your premise and jacket/flap copy.)2 The goal of a comp title is to communicate what is at the heart of your story, where your novel fits in the market, and who your ideal reader is.
How can two little comp titles do so much work? Well, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes your book will require more than an “X meets Y” formula. (More on that in a moment.) But usually, the trick lies in selecting effective comp titles. Descriptive, direct, and alluding to the heart of your story.
Author Amie Kaufman recently told me that Aurora Rising was pitched as “Breakfast Club does Starfleet Academy.” Talk about a compelling combo! Why does it work? Starfleet Academy tells us that we’re entering a rich sci-fi world and that an elite education system will factor into the story. Add in Breakfast Club and we immediately know there will be an element of humor and antics to the novel, not to mention a rag-tag cast of characters—a band of lovable misfits that we will inevitably root for despite their messiness. With just five words, we understand a lot about the book’s tone, world, and characters. We also know this is a YA book, as the comps center on (mainly) teen characters.3
Another example: Author Nicki Pau Preto shared with me that Bonesmith was pitched as Gideon the Ninth meets the Game of Thrones' White Walkers. Notice the distinction here: Nicki’s novel is not comped to Game of Thrones as a whole, but the White Walkers specifically. From these comps, we immediately know Nicki’s novel is set in a rich fantasy world that features some type of supernatural, undead beings. If you liked these aspects of GoT or Gideon the Ninth, Bonesmith will clearly be right up your alley. While this novel is also YA, the comps tell us it’s dark, gritty, upper YA. A novel with adult crossover appeal.
As you can see from these examples, comp titles aren’t about plot, they’re about mood, tone, and concept. What it at the heart of your story? What is the singular thread that ties it all together?
If I said a book was “You’ve Got Mail in space,” you’d think “sci-fi anonymous pen pals.” And that’s exactly right. You don’t know the plot, per say, but you understand the heart of this hypothetical story: the anonymous pen pal concept the holds it all together.
Find the heart of your story when choosing your comp titles, and you’re a step closer to finding your book’s ideal readers.
Recent titles work best, but aren’t required
Industry standards suggest that comp titles should be drawn from fairly well-known, successful, and recently published fiction—but film, TV, and other story mediums can work too.4
If your comp is not recent but is still popular, you’re probably referencing a classic. This is fine, so long as it’s not too huge of a classic. If you pitch your book as the next Lord of the Rings, you may come across as not only arrogant but clueless—and out of touch with the current book landscape. LotR is so influential that a large number of fantasy books can be comped to it—basically any epic fantasy with a Chosen One plot line. The comp then loses power because it’s too broad, and you want your comps to be focused. (Think of Nicki’s example above. Not GoT, but “GoT’s White Walkers”)
On the flip side, if you choose to comp to something very obscure, there’s a chance no one will understand the reference and your comp again becomes meaningless.
Comp title formats
Perhaps the most popular format for comps is “X meets Y.”
My novel Contagion was pitched to publishers as “Alien meets The Thing”
Susan Dennard’s The Luminaries was pitched as “Veronica Mars meets Supernatural”
Lily Meade’s The Shadow Sister was pitched as “Jennifer’s Body meets Sadie”
Amie Kaufman’s and Jay Kristoff’s Illuminae was pitched as “Battlestar Galactica meets Ten Things I Hate About You”
My Lady Jane (Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows) was pitched as “The Princess Bride meets Ladyhawke”
Brigid Kemmerer’s A Curse So Dark and Lonely was pitched as “Beauty and the Beast meets Groundhog Day”
All of these comps paint a very clear picture of what an agent/editor/reader can expect if they picked up each story.5 But sometimes X meets Y isn’t enough. Sometimes you need an extra detail to really paint the picture. I’m calling this…
“X meets Y + important info” or sometimes even just “X + important info”
Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End was pitched as “Black Mirror meets Before Sunrise but queer”
My novel The Girl and the Witch’s Garden was pitched as “The Umbrella Academy for younger audiences with a dash of The Secret Garden”
Kayla Olson’s This Splintered Silence was pitched as “One of Us Is Lying meets The 100—if they’d never left the space station”
Julie C Dao’s Forest of a Thousand Lanterns was pitched as “Snow White’s Evil Queen meets Wicked”
My novel Vengeance Road was pitched as “True Grit for a new generation”
You’ll notice in these examples that the “important info” part of the formula is crucial to communicating what makes the book unique in the current publishing landscape and/or helps differentiate it from the very comps being used.6
Lastly, if you’re struggling to find comp titles that work for your book, consider pitching author comps instead. In short, you’re saying your book is for fans of X author(s). Entirely made up examples:
“Sure to please fans of Emily Henry, Abby Jimenez, and Christina Lauren”
“A SFF epic for readers of N.K. Jemisin”
“For those who enjoy unreliable narrators and fast-paced thrillers a la Riley Sager”
Publicity may change things
If and when your book sells, your comp titles may stay the same… or they may be tweaked and streamlined.
My comps for my middle grade novel The Girl and the Witch’s Garden changed from “The Umbrella Academy for younger audiences with a dash of The Secret Garden” to “The Secret Garden meets Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.” Since Miss Peregrine’s is already targeted at a middle grade audience (and The Umbrella Academy definitely is not), this updated wording is much more efficient.
Susan Dennard’s The Luminaries switched from “Veronica Mars meets Supernatural” to “Riverdale meets The Witcher.” We get the same overall mood and vibes, but the titles are more recent, meaning they are more likely to be recognized by the book’s YA audience.
My novel Contagion (originally pitched as “Alien meets the Thing”) had totally refreshed publicity copy, which read: “Perfect for fans of Madeleine Roux, Jonathan Maberry, and horror films like 28 Days Later and Resident Evil.” My publisher really wanted to lean into the horror angle of the book—especially the zombie element—and these new comps do just that.
Do you have to use comp titles?
No. Plenty of books sell based on premise copy and the manuscript itself. Comp titles aren’t a requirement.
Tanaz Bhathena, author of A Girl Like That, shared with me that she never used comp titles to pitch her book, nor did her agent use them when submitting the novel to editors. But Tanaz did say that if AGLT had comps, they would be “The Lovely Bones meets AlRawabi School for Girls.”
Similarly, my debut novel sold without the aid of comp titles… But when I queried the manuscript, I did share comps with agents.
You don’t need comps titles, but the exercise of coming up with them can be useful regardless of wether you end up using them down the road. At the very least, you’ll have a snappy way to summarize your book, and in turn, you’ll know exactly who your ideal reader is.
It’s all about vibes
At the end of the day, comp titles are honestly just vibes. You are setting the stage for what a reader can expect from your novel. You want your comps to communicate genre, tone, and mood—the heart of your book. If you can hint at the overall plot too, great, but remember: that is not the goal of comp titles.
Your comp titles, if chosen well, should make your perfect reader sit up and say, “I have to read this book!”
They should make your publisher/editor/marketing team declare, “I know exactly who to push this book on!”
They should make a literary agent think, “I know precisely which editor(s) to submit this novel to.”
That’s your goal. Vibes. The heart of the story.
Until next time,
Erin Bowman is the critically acclaimed author of numerous books for children and teens, including the Taken Trilogy, Vengeance Road, Retribution Rails, the Edgar Award-nominated Contagion duology, The Girl and the Witch’s Garden, and Dustborn. A web designer turned author, Erin has always been invested in telling stories—both visually and with words. Erin lives in New Hampshire with her husband and children.
Several of the authors listed in this piece are active on Substack. Follow them here:
For more on querying, see my How to Query series.
Jacket/flap copy focuses on plot. It shares the set-up (premise) and hook (why you should keep reading). See Melanie Conklin’s recent thread for more thoughts on premises and how to workshop them.
Speaking of teens, Amie also shared that if she and/or Jay are speaking directly to younger audiences, they sometimes change their pitch to “Guardians of the Galaxy meets Six of Crows.” These are more recent titles, and therefore more likely to be recognized by today’s teen reader. Bonus? They still communicate the same vibes: rag-tag group of misfits tackling stuff together.
One of my comps for my WIP is a song title. Yep, you read that right. A track by a popular and easily recognizable artist. It’s a touch unconventional, but let me tell you: this song effortlessly communicates what’s at the heart of my story. It works!
While drafting this piece, I reached out to writer friends and asked them to share their favorite comp titles for their novels. Because I write mostly kidlit and am best connected in that space, the examples throughout this piece are mainly YA or MG titles.
Nicki did this with Bonesmith, too, remember? Adding ‘White Walkers’ to the GoT reference.
Yes! This is it! The right comps can really capture a book -- while others can lead to confusion or annoyance. For example, I used Game of Thrones and Batman for The Orphan Queen, and in some ways it worked fine. But GoT was too common, and too broad. It meant too many different things to different people. That's why Nicki's move of specifying which aspect of GoT is so smart. I was using it to signal fantasy, because the show was so popular at the time and it was easy, but I'm sure there was a better fit somewhere else.
HURRAAAY!! I haven't read this yet but I'm excited when I see emails from Erin - I love how you share and that you share. Thank you, Erin! This is another really great topic about a challenging aspect of publishing. I look forward to reading!