Ashante Thomas's Blog

One of the things I look for is a potential author’s list of competing titles. I want to know who you see as your competition; and quite often, first-time authors get it wrong. They list national bestsellers by authors whose platforms are five times the size of theirs, self-published books at a low price point that a traditional book can’t compete at today, or a book ten years old.

However, I’m here to help first-time authors smart enough to follow my blog. Three things in a good competing books list:

• Only needs 3–5 books that target the same audience
• Identifies books whose trajectories the author plans to match. If the author is to drive sales through a podcast and their 20,000 social media followers and not spend on a campaign or book PR, they should not comp yourself against an author who ran a bestseller campaign or with 1M followers who also bakes books into online courses, memberships, and speaking fees
• Was released within the past 3–5 years at a similar price point (for example, $25–$30 for a hardcover) and similar position. The market changes swiftly and what was successful for a best- or strong-selling book ten years ago may not work today. Along those lines, a $9.99 self-published book is a relative steal and readers won’t always care if the book underwhelms. They’ll call it an inexpensive loss. However, they do hold traditionally published and commercially priced books to a higher standard. And from the publisher’s perspective, we are also considering our margins and strategy.

If I see a dozen books for wildly different audiences, perspectives, and price points, I assume you don’t know how your book fits into the market. So I will ask you the following question during our one-on-one call, “How do you plan to hit that number/replicate that other book’s success?”

If I’ve taken the call, it is not a trick question. You and I are going to level set because a good editor needs to understand your perspective, book goals, and plans ahead of contracting. Truth is, I’ve already used BookScan to pile a competitive comp list.

If we align, we can move forward. I become your coach, cheerleader, and strategy partner.  If don’t align, we part so as not to have hurt feelings due to unmet expectations.

Happy publishing!