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Publishers require you to submit a competitive book search as part of your author questionnaire. They want to know how your book is similar and how it differs from what is currently on the market. If you wish to ignite an editor's imagination, you need to understand exactly how your book idea stands above the crowd. So how do you find competitive books? You already know many of them because of your general interest in the field. Read several related books to determine how your idea is different. Browse in large bookstores. Look carefully through the appropriate section to see what, if anything, is already available on your subject. Check one major library for competitive titles. Use the web sites below for searches. If you don’t have access to the Internet, go to a major library and check Books in Print, Paperback Books in Print, The Literary Marketplace and Forthcoming Books for potentially competitive titles. Look for hot topics or trends and note any competing titles. Three to eight books published within the last three or four years are enough. You can also include an older book that is still popular and in print. Do not omit a book from your competitive list of titles because it is too much like yours, hoping the editors won't know about it. You damage your credibility if you try to slip one past them. If a book is similar to yours, use it to demonstrate the popularity of the topic, then find something distinctive about your idea, whether organization, core message or your credentials. If you can't come up with anything that differentiates your book from all others, go back to the drawing board. Work with your idea until you can come up with an unusual angle. You may consider it a gift from the gods if you don't encounter any competition for your book. Be careful: editors can take this to mean there is no market for your idea. It becomes your job to convince an editor that there is indeed, a market for your book and you are the brilliant person to come upon the scene first. Be sure to cross-reference your subject. For example, when I was searching for competitive titles on my first book, I tried “tarot shadow work” and came up empty. But when I searched for the shadow, Carl Jung, and archetypes, I was deluged with books. By cross-referencing my subject, I found competitive titles. My shadow book was unusual only because its exclusive focus was the shadow in the tarot cards. Use the web sites below to conduct extensive competitive book searches in the new age genre. Type your subject in the search box and discover what has been written on your topic. Take notes. Next: Finding the Right Publisher for Your Work The Messenger Website Copyright © 2005 The Messenger - All rights reserved |
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