I started to think about the logic of those comp titles. So, the publisher wants to know what existing books your book is ‘like’. Ok…what if there is not one? What if your book is unique? What if your type of book in the genre has not been represented for some time but now is coming back to favour? In these cases, there is nothing contemporary to compare your book to.
Or…what if your book is written to fit with similar titles that have done well? If you write too much ‘in the mould of’, you can get a plagiarism strike, maybe? Readers are not so stupid and probably view such books as merely jumping on the bandwagon.
It’s a dilemma and one which I continue to put off. I bet a LOT of authors put this off.
Oh…I got one rejection from those initial queries. TBH I did not expect anything else, so I was not totally deflated. In fact, the interaction was positive. The response was not a stock reply and the rejection was based on personal feelings rather than the book being no good.
Take the positives, eh!