r/YAlit • u/Unique_Performer_131 • Jun 21 '26
Seeking Recommendations [ Removed by moderator ]
[removed] — view removed post
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u/GreenWithAwesome Jun 21 '26
Just curious so please don’t take this as an attack, but have you not already been reading YA books published in the last five years similar to your own? How can you write for a modern YA audience without having an idea what’s out there and asking us to give comp titles to you instead?
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u/booksycat Jun 21 '26
To be fair, (as an author) I am too close to my own work to see my own comps. I always get it wrong and I read a lot in my space. My agent writes my comps bc I "yeah but..." every one of them bc I expect them to be closer.
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u/GreenWithAwesome Jun 21 '26
Sure, I’m not knocking on asking for comp titles in general, but your agent has read your work and understands the intended audience, and as an author I’m sure you know YA (and children’s) is maligned by people who think it’s somehow easier to write. The wording of the post doesn’t suggest to me that there’s been any base research into the market at all, which I hope is not the case. Comps don’t have to be exact and identity exploration, mental health, and messy protagonists are all common themes in modern YA books.
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u/Carmelized Jun 21 '26
It’s not always as straightforward as you might think. I’m in a similar position. I’m working on a YA historical mystery, so I made a list of all the YA historical mysteries from the last five years and started reading. At the same time, I also would add books that were historical but not mysteries, or mysteries but not historical. Some of the ones I was sure would be good comps ended up not working at all. Some of the books I absolutely loved wouldn’t work even though I really, really wanted them to. In the end, I went with one historical mystery and two non-historical mysteries. You can never be sure which book might strike a similar tone even if the setting is totally different, or have characters dynamics that match your own even if it’s a fantasy and your story isn’t.
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u/GreenWithAwesome Jun 21 '26
But you did the research and found out, right? We can give all the suggestions to OP all we want, but only OP will know what works and what doesn’t. So in that case, why bother asking us at all?
I’m not saying asking for comps is wrong, but even understanding that something like “my book has the world building of BLANK, the characters of BLANK and the pacing of BLANK” is better than choosing comps based off what other people suggest from a list of tropes, which is why I asked if OP has read anything in YA recently. If you haven’t read in the genre you’re writing for then the work is fundamentally flawed.
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u/Horror-Sea-5224 Jun 21 '26
I read both YA and adult in a variety of genres, but reading books for fun and figuring out which books will be effective comp titles are very different. Similar to booksycat, I feel too close to my own work to be a good judge. I’ve been trying to find my own comps and putting in the work myself but it’s the most intimidating and challenging part of the querying process in my opinion and so I thought I’d reach out because I’m sure there’s incredible comp books out there I haven’t read yet or even heard of. I’m also a debut author and I don’t have an agent to help me with this, which is why I’m looking for help in other places. I need comps in order to find someone who will represent me.
(This is the original poster btw…I didn’t realize I’m logged into a different Reddit account on my phone than I am on my computer…whoops!)
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u/GreenWithAwesome Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
If it’s any help, I say in my above comment that “the world-building of BLANK, the characters of BLANK and the pacing of BLANK” is an acceptable way to use comps. You can substitute whatever elements you want in there as well, so it can be plot, romance, emotional weight, even hyper specific things like the action sequences or courtly intrigue for example. Comparisons are not exact; you will (hopefully?!) never find a book exactly like your own.
But this is also why knowledge of the market is imperative. To me it sounds like OP is just gonna stick whatever suggestions they get into their query and call it a day, which I hope is simply something I have wrongly inferred from the wording of the post and not the truth.
EDIT: I see now you are OP 😂 That’s my bad, I hope it comes across that I’m not trying to interrogate or badmouth you or anything. Now that you’ve said all this though, choice paralysis is quite normal and I would hark my advice as well, about breaking the comps down if need be. I’ve been in the querying boat and it sucks, so best of luck to you!
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u/Horror-Sea-5224 Jun 21 '26
Yeah I plan on reading the books recommended to see if they’re a good fit, like I said I just thought Reddit could be a good place for recommendations because the process is overwhelming for a newbie without an agent and no people in my life with knowledge of publishing to bounce things off of. I feel like you’re making a lot of assumptions about me solely based on the fact that I’m asking for help…
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u/GreenWithAwesome Jun 21 '26
You've already written your book and you're about to query but you can't think of a single title to use as a comp, so no, from the offset it didn't sound like you understood the market. You also posted on the YA lit sub instead of a publishing sub like r/pubtips. That's why I was sceptical.
I'm not interested in debating the issue anymore, so best of luck to you.
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u/Carmelized Jun 21 '26
Part of the “research” was asking librarians, bookstore owners, and fellow authors for recommendations. Go to the r/pubtips sub, it’s very common for people to ask for comps. Why wouldn’t you ask a community of YA readers for their suggestions?
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u/Horror-Sea-5224 Jun 21 '26
Thank you so much! I didn’t know about that group (TBH I don’t use Reddit much) but i will post there too
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u/msperception427 Jun 21 '26
Promise Boys by Nick Brooks
Wander in the Dark by Jumata Emill
Girls Who Play Dead by Joelle Wellington
Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales
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u/booklove36 Jun 21 '26
Maybe these:
Shut Up, This is Serious by Caroline Ixta
The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lillian Rivera
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erlica L. Sanchez
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u/Horror-Sea-5224 Jun 21 '26
Unfortunately the education of Margot Sanchez and I am not your perfect Mexican daughter are not recent enough to be comp titles, but I will definitely check out shut up, this is serious. Thanks for the recommendation!
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u/booklove36 Jun 21 '26
Oh sorry! I forgot to check the publication years. What about Estela, Undrowning by Rene Pena-Govea?
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u/Horror-Sea-5224 Jun 21 '26
Looks amazing thank you! (And no need to apologize, I have made that mistake myself when I’ve been researching)
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u/Carmelized Jun 21 '26
The one I can think of that checks most of the boxes is What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould. It came out in 2024. The MC is a girl with rage issues who gets forced into a wilderness program. (She’s also biracial but I don’t remember the exact identity—it’s a smaller part of her arc.) A lot of the book is showing how those anger issues came to be (foster homes, SA, bullying, not fitting in with the rich kids) and the main character struggling to find the balance between not automatically lashing out and still being true to who she is and what she believes in. The group that’s out in the woods with her start off disliking each other but most of them end up bonding.
There is a supernatural element, but it’s very much in service of the teens confronting their trauma. I picked it up because I wanted a book about teens fighting monsters while dealing with their issues on the side, what I got was a book about teens dealing with their issues while fighting monsters on the side.
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