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A key element of a non-fiction book proposal is Comp Titles. These are books that demonstrate there's a market for your book and it's a market with enough buyers to make a book profitable.
You can easily find books but how the HELL do you measure the number of buyers? Unless you have access to Bookscan you're pretty much in the dark.
There is however a tiny candle in the darkness so you only have to curse half as much. There's a way to get a sense of the market (not the actual number) and it's from Amazon rankings.
I suggested this to an author in one recent Chum Bucket and she replied
What Amazon rank would be considered "good" in an agent's mind? I know that's an idiotic question, but I really have no idea. Would a book need to be top 100, top 1,000, top 100,000 to be considered a decent seller?
Well, it's NOT an idiotic question for starters. An idiotic question is "are you excepting queries?" but that's a topic for another day.
And let's refine the question to not what is considered good, but rather what the numbers can do for you.
1. The broader the category, the lower the ranking number you want if you're looking for books that sold well.
I recently needed a comp title that sent me to kids picture books. Here's the rundown for GOOD NIGHT IPAD by Ann Droyd. (you find this in PRODUCT DETAILS on the Amazon page for the book in question)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,894 in Books
#7 in Books > Children's Books > Social Situations > Sleep
#22 in Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering
#61 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor
The book was published in October of 2011 and it's still pretty high up in the overall Amazon rankings (#1,894 in Books)
Amazon rankings measure how well the book is selling compared to other books sold on Amazon, not actual numbers, so you're getting an sense of velocity, not actual speed and distance.
This feels high and fast for a year old flight. That's good.
It's also doing well in some good subcategories but you want to watch out for those. Those categories can be so narrowly defined there are only ten books total in the category.
2. If the books you're using as comp titles are OLD and not selling well, use this to highlight the point that a new book in this category is desperately needed and then use the old slow comp titles to show there is still demand even for old books.
3. If you can't find any comp titles at all, you've got a problem.
A. You're delusional because you think there aren't any books like yours.
B. You're writing a book for which there appears to be no market
C. You're describing your book so narrowly you don't think anything fits.
None of these are good things.
Finding the right comp titles can take a while. Don't just pick the first three books you find. Know what you're trying to say with these comps: my proposed book fills a niche that exists; provides new insight or new information; demonstrates there's a market for this topic.
Questions?
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By: Julie Whelan,
on 2/24/2012
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Writing conferences stimulate my creativity, so I try get to at least one every year. But in recent years, market reviews were so discouraging -- fewer publishers acquiring fewer books for fewer bookstores -- I left wondering about my choice of profession.
The SCBWI Winter Conference in January was different. The air bubbled with fresh optimism and renewed enthusiasm (amid familiar cautions, of course).
GOOD NEWS
- The children’s market is ‘very robust’ (Ken Wright, Agent, Writers House). Kids are still reading real books (Chris Richman, Agent, Upstart Crow Literary).
- Imprints for YA have increased in the last three years (Regina Brooks, Founder and President, Serendipity Litereary Agency, LLC)
- MG is the new YA (Regina Brooks) with rising popularity and market potential. YA and MG will continue to grow.
- Picture Books are ‘alive and well’ (Nancy Paulsen, Nancy Paulsen Books, Penguin). Digital books, so far, seem to be an incremental purchase rather than a cannibalistic one. Parents like a book which is already on their bookshelf, and buy a digital copy for travel purposes.
- Non-fiction is underestimated (Ken Wright). National Geographic and Discover are doing more, and make NF commercial enough for Barnes & Noble. A number of NF titles have appeared in the National Book Award lists.
TRENDS- The Best Seller Mentality: traditional publisher’s lists are narrower and more focused. They want the books they publish to do very well, theoretically translating to more support for those titles and authors.
- Differences between genres will blur as writers seek new and fresh material. (Ginger Knowlton, Agent, Curtis Brown LTD)
WORRIES - Amazon: Is it a big bully? ‘Discoverability’ is a problem here.
- Transmedia: How will digital evolution continue to change and impact books? Again, ‘discoverability’ can be difficult in the digital world. New devices generate a need for new content, but beware smaller margins and fierce competition. As kids inherit digital devices from their parents, what effect will this have?
- Continued consolidation of the traditional bookstore. Where will it end?
The landscape is becoming more defined, and more certainty enables the market to move forward. Publishers have mostly stopped merging and wringing their hands. E-books, digital devices and self-publishing are part of the future, but are now more tangible and predictable. Personally, I write MG fiction (as well as PBs), so I was pleased to hear MG is ‘the new YA’, and note that many editors list it as one of their needs. Now I have to use my conference-inspired enthusiasm to follow up with those agents and editors who said it. What’s your feel about the children’s market? Do you agree or disagree? Any good news to share?
By: Rebecca,
on 12/19/2007
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To celebrate the holidays we asked some of our favorite people in publishing what their favorite book was. Let us know in the comments what your favorite book is and be sure to check back throughout the week for more “favorites”.
Mark Sarvas runs the literary blog The Elegant Variation. His criticism has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Threepenny Review and others. His debut novel, HARRY, REVISED, will be released by Bloomsbury in the spring.
I absolutely loved David Leavitt’s The Indian Clerk. Within a few pages I was completely caught up, and found my pleasure never dimmed as I read this bracingly intelligent novel which recounts the unlikely friendship between the British mathematician G.H. Hardy and the Indian prodigy of the title, Srinivasa Ramanujan. It’s an epic and elegant work which spans continents and decades, and encompasses a World War. Leavitt’s prose is consistently gorgeous, and his control of this dense, sprawling material is impressive – astonishing, at times. And yet, for all its breadth, it remains firmly rooted in the interior lives of its two fascinating protagonists and affords us a glimpse at the costs of genius. A remarkable, affecting novel.
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This is great info. Thanks!
I was able to find the overall ranking for a book, but I'm having trouble finding the rankings in specific categories. How did you find the iPad book's ranking in those three categories you listed?
Rhen they're all listed together, in the same place on the Amazon page for the book.
Make sure you're looking at the right version of the book: not at for example the Kindle edition.
Janet, just a thought...
Regarding - B. You're writing a book for which there appears to be no market.
Isn’t that like saying, no new inventions are needed because everything has already been invented?
Way back when, how would you have comp-ed Potter, Twilight or even Grey? That which sets a new standard...isn’t that what the industry is clamoring for?
Sometimes the short guy with the glasses, the one which seems to lack personality is the best lover and the most innovative provider.
BOYCOTT AMERICAN WOMEN
Why American men should boycott American women
http://boycottamericanwomen.blogspot.com/
I am an American man, and I have decided to boycott American women. In a nutshell, American women are the most likely to cheat on you, to divorce you, to get fat, to steal half of your money in the divorce courts, don't know how to cook or clean, don't want to have children, etc. Therefore, what intelligent man would want to get involved with American women?
American women are generally immature, selfish, extremely arrogant and self-centered, mentally unstable, irresponsible, and highly unchaste. The behavior of most American women is utterly disgusting, to say the least.
This blog is my attempt to explain why I feel American women are inferior to foreign women (non-American women), and why American men should boycott American women, and date/marry only foreign (non-American) women.
Tens of millions of American men have had their lives completely destroyed by American women through the following crimes:
1. False rape accusations (it has been proven that up to 80 percent of rape accusations are FALSE)
2. False domestic violence (DV) charges (same as above)
3. False sexual harassment charges (men are now afraid to even talk to women in the office because all it takes is one woman to make up a false sexual harassment charge and then the man's career is finished)
4. Financial destruction of men in divorce courts through alimony and support payments (women get up to 95 percent of their ex-husband's income and savings, as well as the house, car, etc)
5. Emotional destruction of men by ex-wives who have stolen their children from them and forbidden the fathers from having custody or contact with their own children
6. Divorced dads who commit suicide as a result
99.9 percent of American and western women are liars, hypocrities, and criminals, who support women committing crimes against men. Women refuse to condemn their fellow women who destroy men's lives. Silence means consent. Therefore, American women support and enjoy destroying men's lives and causing men to commit suicide. Apparently, American women think it is okay to be a criminal, just as long as you are a woman. Therefore, is it any surprise that a huge percent of American men no longer want anything to do with American women, other than using them for easy sex and then throwing them away?
A few more reasons to stay away from American women?
-25 percent of American women take psychiatric drugs for mental illnesses.
-25 percent of women under the age of 30 have at least one STD.
-85 percent of divorces in America are INITIATED by women, thus women are responsible for the vast majority of divorces.
-70 percent of criminals in America were raised by single mothers, thus feminism is responsible for most crime in America.
-The majority of child molestation, child abuse, and child murder in America is done by WOMEN.
Over 50 percent of American women are single, without a boyfriend or husband; so the fact is most American men no longer want to marry American women. Let these worthless American women grow old living alone with their 10 cats.
BOYCOTT AMERICAN WOMEN!
Wry Writer -- I'd say none of those were new genres. Wizards and fantasy existed, urban fantasy and romance existed, erotica and Twilight fans existed. I think comp titles are mainly for non-fiction anyway.
And, as an aside... man I love it when anti-women spam shows up even in my publishing world blogs. =/
Wry, I hope I'm not saying that cause it's not what I mean.
Take for example the Boycott American woman spammer (his comment has been deleted but you get the point). He can write a book but you can bet there aren't many, if any, comps. Why? There's no market. Not in general trade publishing anyway.
For thus was the venerated industry of self publishing invented.
Another avenue for lovely research. Thank you.
I think I get it.
Sam M. I know the genres existed but for the so-called age groups in question, Potter and Twilight particularly, it was indeed a new thing or maybe I'm really off the mark, which would not be unusual.
So Janet, if there is no market in general trade, the so-called new inventions can be patented and sold on street corners, at country fairs and infomercials...al la self-publishing.
Sometimes I just need a thumb on the head with a thigh-master to get it.
Thanks, Janet. I searched Goodnight iPad and saw it. The book I was looking at just doesn't have the more detailed rankings. It must be different for different books.
This is pretty clever! Thanks for the tips. I guess this *would* just be for non-fiction or at least very specific/unique/unheard of fiction, since an agent who's immersed in reading the genres they sell would already have a pretty good idea of which genres/titles been selling good in general, without stats and specifics, no? Eg. If I've pitched paranormal (which I neither read nor write ugh), and it has a strong voice/plot/characters/etc., it's not rocket science to know that genre is selling good; you just have to look at the ceiling-spanning YA paranormal section in B&N! yikes! lol
I just asked this exact question on Twitter and got no response from my followers, so thank you! Perfect timing. And I've shared this link as well.
Thanks, Janet!