Go from zero comps to a pitch-ready list
in four weeks!
This four-week workshop with instructor feedback guides you through finding, reading and pitching the perfect comps for your children's or YA book, levelling up your chances of publishing success ✨
Workshop starts 15th April 2024
Tell agents where your book fits into today's kidlit market AND demonstrate you're an informed reader who's done their research
You've worked for months or even years on your kidlit novel and you finally have a manuscript you're proud of!
You've shared it with beta readers, maybe even professional editors, and it's ready to get off your desktop and into the world.
You've researched agents and worked on your query letter but wait... agents are asking for 'comp titles' – published novels that are similar to yours. But where do you find them? What if your book is totally unique? And what if you choose the wrong titles?
Why the Kidlit Comp Title Workshop?
There's lots of info out there about comp titles and you don't need to take a course in order to understand what they are or why they're useful. But the assignments in this practical workshop are designed to help you do the work and find the right comps for your manusript, so you can go from zero comps to a pitch-ready list in a month.
By the end of this course, you will have:
🐺 read and made notes on four potential comp titles in your genre and readership
🐺 made an initial list of 20 potential comps
🐺 narrowed that list down to 3 brilliant comps
🐺 written the perfect line to pitch those comps to an agent in a query letter
🐺 researched your market
🐺 learned which successful authors you'd sit alongside on a literary panel
🐺 understood what's interesting and special about your manuscript's style, voice, narrative techniques, POV and themes
🐺 a much clearer, broader view of the market for your book and what similar books are selling right now
And what will you get from me?
🐻 hand-picked recommended comps to add to your list based on what you tell me about your manuscript
🐻 feedback on your comp title list (like whether your chosen books are too old, too obscure, too popular, too unrelated)
🐻 constructive feedback on four assignments designed to take you closer to nailing your comps and pitching them to an agent
What are comp titles?
The lessons in this workshop will cover:
⭐️ What's a comp title?
⭐️ Why do agents want them?
⭐️ What does a comp tell agents about your book?
⭐️ Why should your comps be recently published titles?
⭐️ Why should you cite comps in your genre?
⭐️ Should your comps have similar plots to your book?
⭐️ How do you find books with similar themes and storytelling techniques to yours?
⭐️ How do you find comps that appeal to the specific agents you're querying?
⭐️ How can you pitch TV or films as comps?
⭐️ How do you use one comp title to find others?
⭐️ What comp titles give the best sense of your manuscript?
⭐️ What if your book is completely unique and doesn't have any suitable comps?
⭐️ Do your comps have to be middle grade or YA?
Includes 3 course downloads
Interactive workbook
Available in PDF to print or Word to fill in digitally. Jot down your thoughts and respond to the optional tasks as you work through the course
Reading reflections journal
A Word and PDF journal you can fill in with your thoughts and observations as you read any potential comp titles
The Monster genre guide
A loooong list of genres and subgenres and how they apply to middle grade and YA, including loads of recently published examples
How does the workshop actually work?
1. Immediate access to all lessons
When you sign up (and once the course is live), you'll have access to all the workshop lessons right away. That means you can work through the content in your own time, at your pace, with weekly assignment deadlines.
2. Understand and explore the world of comps
Each weekly module will take you through a different aspect of comp titles.
Week 1: What are comps, why are they important and what makes a good one?
Week 2: How to find comp titles by immersing yourself in your genre
Week 3: How to find comps that capture your tone, themes, POV, narrative devices and more PLUS tools and ideas for finding brilliant comps
Week 4: Researching agents' wishlists, finding comps THEY want and pitching your comp titles in a query letter
3. Weekly assignments
Each week I'll set an assignment that will have you working towards building and then narrowing your comp titles, through genre research, trying out online tools, exploring libraries and bookstores, researching agents and really getting to grips with your own manuscript and what you're offering.
4. Weekly reading
I'll also ask you to choose one novel from your potential comp list each week and read it, making notes and reflecting on whether it really works as a comp title. You can submit your reflections on your own reading to me and I'll give you my thoughts.
5. Marking and suggestions
I'll send you feedback on your assignments each week as well as any recommended comp titles I find for you.
Who is this course for?
This workshop is aimed at writers of middle grade and young adult fiction in any genre, from beginners to seasoned pros.
So if your book is targeted at readers somewhere between 8 and 18 approximately, come on in!
While comp titles are really useful (and sometimes required) when submitting your book to agents and following the traditional publishing route, they can also be very helpful if you're self-publishing.
Knowing your market, being able to pitch your book to readers, targeting potential fans and identifying which books' and authors' audiences overlap with yours will massively help you get your book into readers' hands.
About your instructor! 👋
Siobhán is a freelance developmental editor who spends her life reading children’s books, watching scary films and drinking unicorn gin. She lives in Surrey, England, with her graphic designer husband and six-year-old son who wants to be an artist, mechanic or Pokémon when he grows up.
Siobhán works directly with authors of middle grade and YA fiction, particularly loving anything with a dash of magic or macabre.
She has an MA in Novel Writing and an MA in Children’s Literature and is a Professional member of the Chartered Institute of Editors and Proofreaders. She was a judge on the 2020 British Fantasy Awards horror panel and the IPNE Annual Book Awards’ YA category and reviews YA for the British Fantasy Society.
Other Writer and the Wolf courses
Thank you! Check your inbox to confirm your subscription