Does Marketing Sounds Like a 4-Letter Word to You?

Screenshot of a few detective novels at A Mighty Girl

As a novelist for kids or teens, how do you feel when you hear the word “marketing”? If you could locate your feelings along a continuum with “Uncomfortable” on one end and “Comfortable” on the other, where would you land?

If you’re closer to the “comfortable” end when it comes to marketing your novels, congratulations! You’ve already got a jump on those of us who feel less comfortable with marketing.

Why?

Because if you’re comfortable with marketing, you’re more likely to think about your own novel’s place within the world of books. Where would it fit in a bookstore? What books is it similar to?

And finding great “comps”—comparable titles—for your book is useful at different stages of the novel-writing process.

It’s most often associated with the pitching process, when you’re ready to query agents and editors. Comparing your novel to a couple of other titles, often in an “X meets Y” formula, expresses the concept succinctly.

For example, Harry Potter meets The Shining. That’s how I’d use comps to describe an adult fantasy called A Deadly Education: Lesson One of The Scholomance by Naomi Novik. The novel is set in a school for magic, where lots of the kids are killed. It’s dark fantasy, definitely not for 11-year-olds dreaming of discovering special powers.

Searching for comps during the novel-planning stage is also useful. Before you spend months or years writing your story, you can research the marketplace to see how your concept and approach will fit. This may help you refine your idea before you get too far into the writing.  

Last year when I first had the idea for my middle grade mystery, I did some research to see if there are any MG mystery series set in zoos. I found a few individual titles, but not whole series.

I also discovered that most of the current MG mysteries are written in first person. I suppose that if I’d wanted to play it safe, I would have written my mystery in first person. But first person didn’t seem like the best approach for the story I wanted to tell. I needed more latitude and an omniscient narrator was something I’ve long wanted to try.  

I think my story will stand out more as a result. The omniscient narration gives the story that voice-y quality that great first-person narration provides while also giving me the scope I wanted.

In terms of comps to explain the concept of my MG mystery, here’s how I’m currently thinking of it: Louise Penny mysteries meet Charlotte’s Web.

For pitching purposes, however, I need comps that are recent. Most agents and editors want comps that are five years old or less. And that requires plenty of reading and research.

Another place to search for comp titles

A Mighty Girl is a site I’ve come across recently. It includes curated collections of books.

As of this writing, they have 466 items under their “Mystery/Suspense” heading for fiction and just over 1,000 in “Fantasy/Science Fiction.” You can apply different filters, such as recommended age and award winners, and categories specific to each genre. Within mystery, for example, the categories are “detective” and “spies.”

A comp title doesn’t need to be similar to your story in every respect. Maybe it’s the tone of one story plus the main character of another and the basic plot of a third.

And comps don’t need to be reduced to the “X meets Y” formula to be effective. Some folks find that too simplistic.

The important part is to be thinking about where readers will find your book. If your book were in a curated list like on Goodreads or A Mighty Girl, what other books would you want on that list?