Picking your strongest Comparable titles for querying

​Picking comparable titles, or comp titles, for your query letters can be frustrating and overwhelming. It took me a long time to find mine. For Oreia's story, I chose Song of the Forever Rains by E.J. Mellow and Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep.
 
Here are the rules I used to choose my comp titles:

Keep it recent

• Pick comp titles that were published within the last 5 years
• Your comp titles are meant to convince the agent that your book is marketable. You’re showing the agent that there are tons of readers who will love to read your book. Choosing a comp title that is 20 years old is only telling the agent that your book was marketable 20 years ago. It doesn’t give them an idea of the current appeal

Choose books that are successful
​but not too successful

• I set my definition of successful as at least a 4 out of 5-star rating with 1,000+ reviews on Amazon or Goodreads
• Don't choose books that are phenomenally successful, so steer clear of NY Times Bestsellers or US Top 10 books. The idea is that agents will think that you're unrealistically optimistic if you compare your book to Harry Potter or Hunger Games

Pick books that highlight
​different parts of your novel

• You don't get a lot of space to win an agent over with your query letter. Use the comp titles to showcase the strengths of your own book

Select comp titles with
​the same audience

• Comp titles will almost always be in the same genre and age range as your own book
• Again, the comp titles are meant to show agents the marketability of your book. You’re saying, Look at all these readers who would love my book! ​

To wrap things up, here is a video that I found very helpful when I was preparing my query letter:
Alyssa Matestic - How to Choose Strong Comparable Titles for Your Query Letter:
​www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_NpQGC4azM