Comp authors can be tricky, and nailing that down for yourself is increasingly important these days, especially when it comes to ads. Writers tend to tie themselves into knots over this but there is a very simple way to cut through all the noise and help determine your true comp authors.

Comp Authors Explained

Let's start with the basics before scaling up the complexity and getting deeper into marketing concerns.

"Comp author" is publishing shorthand for "comparable author." You might also hear people these days in indieworld using it in phrases like "know your comps," or "target your comp authors." Or you might come across the phrase "comp title" more frequently in traditional publishing.

The phrase was originally used by publishing professionals as shorthand to describe a given author's voice in marketing communications and sales pitches. For example, an agent might shop your book to a publisher describing your sizzling romantic suspense as "EL James meets Lisa Jackson," and the acquiring editor will know right away that she's in for a dark, twisty story where the sex isn't just open door – the windows are probably open too.

The same trick is used in marketing where
readers might be told a hot new debut is like "Malcom Gladwell meets Chuck
Tingle," and they will instantly know they are in for a profound rethinking of
the societal impact of unicorn butt cops on beach patrol.

This kind of triangulation really does work, which explains its ubiquity. It was a piece of advice handed out to querying authors the last time I bothered an agent (i.e. about 10 years ago) and I believe it's still considered best practice today. Although newbie authors are warned to adopt a different tone than marketers; instead of "The best thriller since Gone Girl," our hypothetical agent-seeker is usually advised to use the much more demure formulation of, "May appeal to fans of David Eddings and Raymond E. Feist."

This is something that newbie authors struggle with. But don't worry newbs: salty old pros can struggle with it too. And coming up with comp authors is even more important for indie authors today than for the fretting queryer.

Comp authors are used by indies to inform
decisions on presentation: covers, pricing, blurbs, taglines, and marketing
copy generally. But these days they have a much more important role in addition
to all of that: ads.

Targeting comp authors is one of the most
fruitful strategies with Facebook and Amazon Ads, and pretty much the only workable
approach with BookBub Ads. Not having a good sense of your true comp authors
can end up getting very expensive, very quickly. It's also one big missed
opportunity, because if you can nail down good comps, you are halfway to
advertising success.

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