How to find comp titles for a romance novel (that agents and readers will accept)

A good comp title for a romance novel is a book published in the last two to three years, in the same niche as yours (sub-genre, heat level and lead trope), that sold well enough to prove readers exist but not so well that comparing yourself to it looks unrealistic. For querying, agents expect two comps that meet those tests. For self-publishing, comps tell Amazon ads, also-boughts and readers who your book is for.

What makes a comp good or bad?

Three checks cover most of it.

• Recent. Agents want proof the market wants this now. A five-year-old hit says the opposite.
• Same shelf. A steamy small-town contemporary should not comp a closed-door historical, even if the tropes match. Heat level and tone matter as much as plot.
• Realistic size. Comping a mega-bestseller is the most common mistake. It tells an agent you don't know the market. Use books that charted, held for a while and then settled.

How do you find them?

1. Write down your sub-genre, heat level and the two tropes a reader would mention first.
2. Look at the Amazon top 50 for that sub-genre over a few weeks, not one day. Note books that keep reappearing below the very top.
3. Check the publication date on each. Drop anything older than about three years.
4. Read the blurb and the first chapter preview. If a reader of that book would feel misled picking up yours, it is not a comp.
5. Check reviews for the moments readers talk about. If they praise the same things your book does well, you have a strong match.

This is slow because it means sampling dozens of books. It is also the part most authors skip, which is why so many query letters comp the same five famous titles.

How is a comp line written?

The usual forms are "Title A meets Title B" or "for readers of Author X". The first works best when each title brings one clear ingredient, for example one for the setting and one for the dynamic. For ads and blurbs, "for readers of" is safer because it targets an audience without promising the same story.

What does the Romintel Comp Report do?

The Comp Report ($15) does the sampling for you from our daily Amazon chart data. It returns three kinds of comps: the shelf leaders who show the ceiling, realistic midlist peers with their chart evidence (days in the top 50, best rank, price, Kindle+ or wide), and books in your exact niche published in the last two years. You also get ready-to-use comp lines, an honest check of any comps you already use, and a short list of comps that look right but would hurt. The Pitch Report includes the same comps plus a logline and query paragraph.

Common questions