I need help with comp titles from the past two years.

Wesley_S_Lewis · Aug 19, 2018

My debut novel comes out in April, and my publisher has asked me to provide three comp titles published in the past two years, for use when submitting to critics.

In my query letter, I compared the story to two novels and one TV show, but only one of the novels (Nick Petrie's Peter Ash series) is from the past two years. I'm looking for recommendations for suspense thrillers published since 2016 that might work as comp titles. Here is the jacket copy from my novel:

Jennifer Williams hoped her budding relationship with her newly single boss would make this year's real estate conference bearable. Then she caught her boss in bed with a coworker and sped off into the desert, leaving the conference, the hotel, and the Las Vegas Strip in her rearview mirror.

Lost and alone, she stops for directions at a small-town truck stop and inadvertently disrupts a robbery in progress. Her presence threatens to escalate the situation, until another bystander—a man running from his own tragic past—steps forward to protect her. She soon learns that the attempted robbery wasn't what it appeared and that this small town west of Sin City is home to a big secret.

It's a story about a woman (a real estate agent) and the man she meets (a security guard) running from the mob/human traffickers and working to save her kidnapped friend.

Obviously, your ability to make recommendations is limited by the fact that you haven't read my novel, but if you can recommend anything that sounds comparable, I'll look into it and see if it works as a comp title.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

--Wes

Redredrose · Aug 19, 2018

Wesley_S_Lewis said:
My debut novel comes out in April, and my publisher has asked me to provide three comp titles published in the past two years, for use when submitting to critics.

In my query letter, I compared the story to two novels and one TV show, but only one of the novels (Nick Petrie's Peter Ash series) is from the past two years. I'm looking for recommendations for suspense thrillers published since 2016 that might work as comp titles. Here is the jacket copy from my novel:

It's a story about a woman (a real estate agent) and the man she meets (a security guard) running from the mob/human traffickers and working to save her kidnapped friend.

Obviously, your ability to make recommendations is limited by the fact that you haven't read my novel, but if you can recommend anything that sounds comparable, I'll look into it and see if it works as a comp title.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

--Wes

Would you call the sub-genre noir, or romantic, or action-packed, or something else?

Redredrose · Aug 19, 2018

Hi Wesley_S_Lewis. I'm hopefully editing my response. Either that or I'm going to be somewhat redundant.

I'm a murder mystery writer. My question is related to how Amazon establishes sub-genres of suspense thrillers. Once I typed in (under books) suspense thrillers, I could make further choices. These included when the books were published AND the sub-genres. Among the sub-genres were noir, romantic, action-packed, and others. I think if you do an Amazon search, you may find recently published novels from established writers whose work fits what you want to supply to your publisher.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Wesley_S_Lewis · Aug 20, 2018

Redredrose said:
Hi Wesley_S_Lewis. I'm hopefully editing my response. Either that or I'm going to be somewhat redundant.

I'm a murder mystery writer. My question is related to how Amazon establishes sub-genres of suspense thrillers. Once I typed in (under books) suspense thrillers, I could make further choices. These included when the books were published AND the sub-genres. Among the sub-genres were noir, romantic, action-packed, and others. I think if you do an Amazon search, you may find recently published novels from established writers whose work fits what you want to supply to your publisher.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

I believe my publisher is calling it a "romantic suspense thriller"; though, if I wanted to be precise, I'd say it's halfway between a romantic thriller an and an action-packed thriller (kind of Three Days of the Condor with a an occasional dose of Jack Reacher).

The protagonist is female, but her male love interest is a strong secondary POV character.

Redredrose · Aug 20, 2018

Wesley_S_Lewis said:
I believe my publisher is calling it a "romantic suspense thriller"; though, if I wanted to be precise, I'd say it's halfway between a romantic thriller an and an action-packed thriller (kind of Three Days of the Condor with a an occasional dose of Jack Reacher).

The protagonist is female, but her male love interest is a strong secondary POV character.

Okay. On Amazon, I typed (under books) 'suspense thrillers.' Then, Amazon pulled up 'suspense thrillers and mystery bestseller.' I clicked on 'romance,' then on 'romance thrillers.' Amazon gives you a choice of new releases, up to 90 days. They also list some bestselling authors, like Christopher Greyson, etc. They also list famous detective series.
There were over 800 titles.

I'd suggest doing a second search for 'suspense thrillers' with female protagonists or woman hero, etc.

I don't read thrillers, so I think the ball is in your court as to which authors to include. Good luck.

I need help with comp titles from the past two years.

Wesley_S_Lewis

Boo Radley with a laptop

Redredrose

Redredrose

Wesley_S_Lewis

Boo Radley with a laptop

Redredrose