Looking for comparables!

[SashaMcallister]

I’m going to be submitting my novel to agents soon and could use some help! Some of them require book comparables and I am having a tough time finding any that fit my genre/style. Here is my blurb and some characteristics of my book, maybe some of you have read something that is similar? TIA!

Blurb:
All 19-year-old Nova dreams of is a perfectly quiet life away from the deranged, violent and narcissistic masses that make up the industrial steam-age city of Eden. When she and her wisecracking friend Lux land a fortune selling a trio of exotic beasts on the black market, it seems such dreams will finally come to life. Alas, an anomaly throws them 500 years into the past, and their interference threatens to erase everything they love. To set history back on course, Nova has no choice but to team up with Eden’s most deranged, violent and narcissistic man on a quest to burn the world.

Characteristics:
-Action/adventure with aspects of sci-fi and fantasy
-Time travel (while it is in the story it is not the main focus)
-Witty banter
-Steampunk elements
-Dystopian elements

 

[Thiswriterinme]

I apologize for not having anything to offer to your question. I did just want to wish you good luck with your novel and publishing!

 

[SashaMcallister]

I apologize for not having anything to offer to your question. I did just want to wish you good luck with your novel and publishing!

Thanks so much for your support!

 

[Parson]

Sorry, if this were Science Fiction I might have an idea or three, But from the blurb it sounds most like Steam Punk, and I've read very little of that. ---- If I'm wrong maybe the blurb needs changing?

.... Hm, Just re-read while asking myself "Why do I think this is mostly steam-punk?" and I think I get the feeling it's steam punk because it's a "steam age city" and they are dropped into the past from there. My guess would be that to find comparables you will have to decide which of the genres mentioned carries the story the most.

 

[The Big Peat]

I am racking my brains and think maybe you should be doing your comps in a X meets Y style, where X is a time-travel unlikely team up and Y is a witty banter steampunk (or something like that), if you can. Certainly that seems to be the best way to comp the ideas.

But in terms of just comping general genre -

Is this meant to be YA, Adult, or Crossover?
How dark/light is this? Is this healing arc and friendship? Is this grimdark (or grimdark adjacent)?
What's the major technological aesthetic for most the story? The steampunk? The 500 years before steampunk? Are there any "This is my boomstick" moments in the past?

I'm guessing you don't have any recent-ish authors that you think you write kinda like?


Also - do you know what agents you might approach yet? As using someone already on their roster as a comp might be a good idea (although some of those more in the trenches than me might disagree as I'm guessing here).

 

[tinkerdan]

Steam punk seems to cover a wide range of things.
Since you mention the setting as an industrial steam-age city that might put you smack into the middle of it.
The rest would just go with the territory.
However this makes me wonder what you are reading--not much steampunk--or that would have smacked you in the face. Or maybe I should say it should have. Steampunk I have read seems to have everything from Steam Engines, dirigibles, swords, vampires, werewolf's, clockwork menaces, good and evil kings and emperors, princes and princesses and some monks on mountain tops; even a broad range of characters from the past show up--I'm sure time travel would fit just fine.
.

 

[Brian G Turner]

maybe some of you have read something that is similar?

Have you read anything similar? It's considered important for writers to be familiar with their genre. For example, are there any books you've enjoyed that you can draw some comparison to, o perhaps were inspired by?

 

[K.S. Crooks]

This seems like one of the most unique concepts I've seen in a long time. Perhaps push this angle. On a long shot their may be an old episode of Doctor Who that is half similar. Hope you have great success.

 

[SashaMcallister]

For clarification, while the backdrop of the story is a steampunk setting, that's not really the focus. The focus is much more on the adventure, a twisted jigsaw puzzle of a plot and witty banter. The story and setting get quite dark (body counts in the millions), but the two main protagonists are (for the most part) optimistic, chipper and just charming.

The best comparable I can find are actually Chrono Trigger (the beloved 90s time-travel SNES game), Firefly/Serenity (the space opera sci-fi western comedy show) and maybe even 24 with the high stakes and constant intense action. Alas, none of those are books, and from what I understand, agents/publishers are more interested in book comps?

 

[Parson]

I'm with @K.S. Crooks .... push the unique angle. But mentioning the steam punk setting and some unique steam punk books should fill the comparable requirement (it is a requirement? right?).

*** I have hardly read any steam punk so I can't help with "unique steam punk" comparables.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

If they go back in time, what is the setting they spend the most time in? I would push the resemblance to books with that particular setting or settings rather than to steampunk if your characters barely spend time in their initial setting. In fact, should that be the case, I am not sure you should even mention the industrial steam-age city at all in your cover letter or synopsis as it would set up an expectation for the agent or publisher which the story would go on to disappoint.

Or if the time travel element and its challenges are integral to the plot—not just a way of getting them to where you want them to go—then look for other time travel books you can compare it to. As Brian says above, it's considered important for writers to be familiar with their genre. Look around the internet for lists of time travel books, go to Kindle and see what they are selling in the way of time travel books. Note any titles of books that sound like they may have similarities to yours, and then read those books that sound promising for your purposes and determine if they are. (There are many, many, many time travel books out there, falling into various sub-genres.) You will accomplish two things this way (besides finding books you can compare to when submitting): #1 You will increase your familiarity with your genre. #2 You will find out if the ideas you think are unique to your own book are just the opposite—if there have already been a ton of books that are so similar that publishers have already overbought in that area and are unlikely to be receptive to more. (Often authors think their books are completely original when the truth is the authors are NOT familiar with their genre and have little idea of what has already been published.) Ideally, of course, you will come across some books that are just enough (but not too much) like yours, so that you can confidently use them for comparisons.

I am afraid that I must disagree with K.S. Crooks and Parson. Don't push the unique angle. Publishers are not looking for unique books. If they come across one that is unusual but wins them over anyway they may buy it, but the chances that they will give it more than a cursory glance (or even that much) are small. What they want is "the same but different." That is why they ask for comparisons in the first place.

 

[SashaMcallister]

If they go back in time, what is the setting they spend the most time in?

That's where this gets a bit tricky/complicated. The going back 500 years bit is the inciting incident (thus the part I put in the blurb), but they spend roughly equal amounts of time in the Steam Age (their home time), 500 years earlier in the Dark Ages, a post-apocalyptic future, and an ancient, fantastical, technologically glorious era where humanity peaked before collapsing into a second stone age.

Again, while there is time travel, the sci-fi stuff is not really the focus so much as the adventure/puzzle/characters are. Makes it tough to narrow down.

On another note, everyone's been really helpful already. Thanks to your feedback, I'm nixing the bit about the steam age in the blurb since that's giving people the wrong idea of what the book is about. Also, I think I'll scrap the 500 years detail in favor of just going through time in general to help alleviate confusion.

 

[SashaMcallister]

New blurb that better focuses on what the book is actually about:

The Price of Perfection

19-year-old Nova isn’t asking for much, just a perfect life, or at least a life away from the deranged, violent and narcissistic masses that make up the city of Eden. When she and her wisecracking friend Lux land a fortune selling a trio of exotic beasts on the black market, it seems her dream will finally come to fruition. Alas, an anomaly throws them back in time, and their interference threatens to erase everything they love. To set history back on course, Nova has no choice but to team up with Eden’s most deranged, violent and narcissistic man on a quest to burn the world.
Attach files

 

[Parson]

I like that better. It doesn't answer the question of comparables, so.....

 

[The Big Peat]

If you want a recent comparable for time travel through multiple time periods where the science isn't the focus, This Is How You Lose The Time War isn't a bad one, although it's tonally very different. Maybe have a look at it.