I love reading, and sometimes I’m fortunate enough to have a reading day. After finishing my second draft of “Middle School is Monstrous,” I’ve been tackling the sticky issue of trying to find appropriate comps. Comps are books that are similar to the one you’re writing, always in the same genre and published in the last two years, and hopefully written in a complimentary vein.
I’m having a heck of a time finding good comps, though I am having a great time reading some pretty awesome middle grade novels. It seems as if monster books are almost always written as scary ghost stories as opposed to the tongue in cheek humor I’ve employed. It also appears that third person narratives are more the norm in middle grade, something I knew but didn’t fully appreciate until I tried to find a book in a similar voice to mine.
So far I am loving “The Serpent’s Secret,” though I’m not sure I could use it as a comp. Another amazing book I can’t put down is “The Green Glass House.” Again, not a comp but a fabulous mystery.
What are your favorite books, the ones you can’t put down? Let me know in the comments below!