Looking at comparative titles, or comp titles, is a great way to understand the market potential of a book project. To put it simply, a comp title is an already published book that has shared sales, genre, and marketing qualities to a developing manuscript that hasn’t been released yet. We use comp titles in publishing because they contextualize the future of an acquired manuscript by giving us information on how similar books performed, and they also help us strategize our marketing efforts as a project goes through the publishing process. But what makes a good comp title?
Ooligan Blog
50 Hikes Photo Contest: Win a Wearable Sleeping Bag from Poler!
By Ooligan Press
Ooligan Press is holding a photo contest to spread the word about our new book, 50 Hikes in the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests. After hitting the trail, share your beautiful hiking photos with us for a chance to win a Napsack wearable sleeping bag from Poler. Can’t decide which hike to go on? Pick up a copy of 50 Hikes online or at a bookstore near you. See the rules below to find out how to enter.
Three Sides Water Book Launch
By Allyson Yenerall @amy3392
I have been a graduate student at Ooligan for two quarters, but I had yet to experience a book launch for a book I helped with. I was first introduced to Three Sides Water on my first day of graduate school. At that time it was still in manuscript form and had only been read by some members of our press. Seeing the book grow from something completely digital and abstract to being printed and sold was very exciting to say the least.
Interiors by Genre
By Andrea McDonald
When most readers think of book design, they focus on the exterior aspects: the front and back covers, the jacket, the spine. Interior design is often overlooked and underestimated, and yet the work that goes into designing the words on the page is just as intensive and can be just as creative as the work that goes into designing covers. And just like cover design, different genres have different challenges and style trends for interior layout. The cardinal rule of interior layout is that the design must be invisible: the choices shouldn’t be so obvious that they distract the reader from the content of the book.
The Memoir Project Gets a Title: Introducing “Breaking Cadence”
By Emily HagenBurger @ehagenburger
A book’s cover and title are the first two things that a person comes in contact with, and thus are the first clues as to what that book is about. A good title and cover both need to accurately convey the content while also making it easier for the reader to figure out the general genre and topics covered as well as make it stand out from others in its genre at the same time. That’s a tough order to fill! Here’s how the team for the upcoming Spring 2019 title is handling this part of the process.
Hit the Trail: 50 Hikes Is Now Available!
By T. J. Carter @tjudsoncarter
This book is special to us because it’s more than just another book. It introduces Northwesterners to beautiful yet relatively unexplored areas in our backyard. It’s about showing people that these forests, which have been famously devastated by fire and logging, are now viable playgrounds for horseback riders, cyclists, hikers, and campers.