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Comp Titles Intensive: The Essential Tool That Can Launch Your Career

AMY COLLINS

Comp Titles Intensive: The Essential Tool That Can Launch Your Career

AMY COLLINS

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Subscribe to be notified when this course opens for registration.

This one-week intensive will walk you through the process of finding comparable titles and authors. Finding and using “comp” titles is one of the hardest parts of querying and this class will demystify the process. The class covers what the industry uses comps for and why they are so important. Then it shows HOW to find the titles with the best sales numbers by using readily accessible online tools. This 7-step process to find the best comps does not need to be frustrating or difficult. Amy will walk the entire class through the process and give one-on-one assistance.

This comp intensive starts with a 90 minute class you'll watch on Thursday - Friday and a handout. Saturday afternoon will be a 2-hour Q&A from 1:00 - 3:00 pm Eastern, when you can ask Amy for help and guidance via Zoom. The tools and guidance provided will give you everything you need to do your own research and find 3-4 comps. Those comps are due by midnight on Sunday.

Amy will evaluate each comp and return the exercise to the author with sales numbers and reasoning for why the comps do or do not work. Finally, there will be a 30 minute video class to watch on how to use the comps you just found and how you can improve your chances of finding the right agent or publishing house with those comps.

Join the Waitlist

Subscribe to be notified when this course opens for registration.

This one-week intensive will walk you through the process of finding comparable titles and authors. Finding and using “comp” titles is one of the hardest parts of querying and this class will demystify the process. The class covers what the industry uses comps for and why they are so important. Then it shows HOW to find the titles with the best sales numbers by using readily accessible online tools. This 7-step process to find the best comps does not need to be frustrating or difficult. Amy will walk the entire class through the process and give one-on-one assistance.

This comp intensive starts with a 90 minute class you'll watch on Thursday - Friday and a handout. Saturday afternoon will be a 2-hour Q&A from 1:00 - 3:00 pm Eastern, when you can ask Amy for help and guidance via Zoom. The tools and guidance provided will give you everything you need to do your own research and find 3-4 comps. Those comps are due by midnight on Sunday.

Amy will evaluate each comp and return the exercise to the author with sales numbers and reasoning for why the comps do or do not work. Finally, there will be a 30 minute video class to watch on how to use the comps you just found and how you can improve your chances of finding the right agent or publishing house with those comps.

Course details

Course outline

This course includes two video lectures, a Zoom Q&A, and the opportunity to work on your comps one-on-one with Amy Collins.

Meet the instructor

Amy Collins

Amy Collins is an agent with the Talcott Notch Literary Services agency focusing on non-fiction and international rights. She is a USA TODAY and WALL STREET JOURNAL bestselling author and is currently working with authors with expertise in business, history, personal development, and prescriptive how-to. She is a columnist for and a board member of several publishing organizations and a trusted teacher at publishing conferences and classes. She can also be reached at amysadvice.com.

I have lived and worked in the publishing industry since 1991 when I decided to take a short break from my music career to work in a bookstore for Christmas cash. If anyone had told me that I would still be paying for holiday presents with a career in books all these years later, I would have laughed.

Over time, I became the book buyer for the entire chain of bookstores in NY, CT, and PA. In 1996 I “hopped the desk” to become a sales rep and spent over 20 years selling books to Barnes & Noble, Target, Costco, Books-A-Million, Wal-Mart as well as independent stores and libraries.

Uniquely positioned to help authors because of my decades of marketing experience, I would love to work with authors who have a passion for business and the promotional side of this industry as well as the writing side.

Besides being a USA TODAY and WALL STREET JOURNAL bestselling author and on the national advisory board for IngramSpark, I am a featured columnist for THEBOOKDESIGNER, WRITERS DIGEST MAGAZINE, IBPA, and a sought-after teacher at conferences world-wide. I teach and speak at many of the publishing industry’s top festivals and conferences including Publisher’s Weekly’s BookCon, Oklahoma Writer’s Conference, Author U, AAPS, Dublin Writers Conference, BAIPA, PALA, St. Louis Writer’s Conference, Writers Digest indieLAB, Henderson Writers Conference, and many others.

I represent the following genres most frequently:

  • Non-Fiction
  • Gift
  • Reference
  • History
  • Fantasy and Sci-Fi
  • Historical Fiction

When not in the office, my focus is on the working poor and poverty elimination, and I spend a great deal of time personally and professionally working with and training women from disadvantaged backgrounds.

(I am also a singer in a Celtic blues band on the weekends and am currently saving for a faster motorcycle.)

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