Greenhand w/ plenty of questions

Hi everybody -
I've mostly lurked here for a while, but things are jumping quickly in my life. I was able to get a couple of content-writing jobs that are allowing me to stay home to write full-time. I'm having some trouble focusing, though! I have a million ideas and need about 20 lifetimes to follow through with all of them.

So, here's my first question. I know it's probably been asked a million times, but I didn't find it when I searched. I've read in query letter articles that I should include a comparison book to mine and then give an editor an idea of how well that book did. I have a children's book I've written and polished. Everything's ready except that part of the query letter. I have 3 books that are simliar, but I have no idea how to find out how many copies they've sold. Anyone?

Is your book nonfiction? It's my understanding that the listing-the-competition part of the query/proposal refers only to nonfiction books, not novels.

And, I don't think it's up to you to find out the sales figures. The publisher is better-equipped to do that than you are. I'd just submit the three titles you found, making sure you list their publisher and ISBN too. You may want to add a line or two about how your book differs (in a "better" kind of a way) from the similar ones.

Study the guidelines of the publisher you're targetting and adhere to them, rather than rely solely on advice you may have gleaned about queries from articles or the net.

Good luck, and welcome to the Cooler.

Thanks for the reply. No, my book isn't non-fiction, so maybe I don't have to worry about it. I jotted down how my book differs when I was reading through the others, but I've been searching for how to come up with the numbers. The one that's closest to my book is published by one of the publishers I'd already targeted, so I'm hoping that's a good sign.

If the book you've written is a novel, you may want to check through Uncle Jim's thread for advice first, as well as any other threads on the novel writing board that deal with submissions. If all else fails, you can ask that question by starting a new thread, and several of our more experienced novelists will be glad to help you out.

And welcome to the board!




(Edited to add smiley...)