Aspiring writers sometimes fall into a simple trap. They have an idea for a book, then they research the subject, then they go on Google, Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, and they see another author already wrote pretty much the same subject, with great reviews and beautiful cover art. Then the aspiring author rolls over on his or her bed and dreads. They dread because they think that the world doesn’t need another book if it’s already been written.

This is a mistake, in my opinion, and the opinions of publishers.

Publishers actively want to see titles like yours. They want to see what you can compare your story to.

Why?

Because it’s living proof there is an audience for your title. It’s proof this type of book can do well, and it’s not a shot in the dark. It’s proof people actually pay money for this. The risk factor starts to disappear.

One of the hardest parts of pitching a book is finding the audience. What niche does this book appeal to? What type of reader is dying to read a title like this? If you know what titles are comparable, you’ve already done the work of narrowing down your scope. Next, you’ll just have to do more research on the competition. Keywords, keywords, genre spheres, and more keywords.

But wait a second, don’t publishing companies value originality? Don’t they want a book that breaks the mold and sets trends rather than follows?

Both are true. Publishers seem to want to mitigate the risk of a flop by marketing to a selection of readers already familiar with a certain type of book; it’s become like an algorithm. Yet at the same time, it’s not as if you can make a carbon copy of another book and call it yours, originality will always be a factor to anything you publish. Eventually, publishers will ask you:

What makes your book stand out?

Let’s also ask: What is a comparable title? Start brainstorm, research, and seek out books with similar characters, similar storylines, or within the same genre sphere.

Two books can be similar, yet totally different.

Let me give an example: “Here’s a story of a man who grew up into a family with power that, due to a strife between rivaling families, is forced into usurping that power and rules with even darker tendencies than their predecessors.” I just described to you the overarching storylines of The Godfather by Mario Puzo and Dune by Frank Herbert. Two books that encompass two completely different genres, audiences, time periods, concepts, and character types, that share a common storyline.

Yet the common threads between them are likely what garnered both of their successes, because when you strip down the mafioso-crime thriller atmosphere of Puzo and the ecological space-opera of Herbert, you’re left with the skeleton outline of a really, really similar storyline.

And if you really want to strip it down, both of these stories’ themes can take root even further back to the Shakespeare days, with story elements of Hamlet and Macbeth found in both of them. There’s no argument it’s part of the reason they’re classics.

Sure, genre is how we categorize things, but we still end up with stories in the same genre sphere that are comparable yet distinct from each other. Here’s some examples from multiple different story genres:

• Mafia: Carlito’s Way and Bound by Honor
• Sci-fi: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Blade Runner) and Ender’s Game
• Historical fiction: A Time of Miracles and A Thousand Splendid Suns
• Mystery: The Virgin Suicides and The Secret history
• Satire: American Psycho and Office Space
• Drugs: Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream
• Law Thriller: The Firm and Dante’s Wood

Could also go on a search yourself thumbing through the recommendations sections in a Goodreads thread, an Amazon shopping cart, or TikTok reads (#booktok). These are often just how I find new books to read for leisure anyway.

The real takeaway is, that even once you’ve found another book whose premise is the same as yours, it’s not a reason to stop writing. If anything, it should encourage you.

Your only priority now is your pitch. What makes this distinct? What’s make this refreshing? If you want to write the next James Bond, your character cannot be James Bond.

It must be yours.