My Comps

Books by McGuinn

When pitching a book, it's helpful to find comp (comparable) authors who either have a similar writing style or who choose similar trials for their protagonists. This involves reading a lot of authors - because not every writer in your genre will be a good fit.

Here are my comps. If you like any of the following authors, you might like my books, or if you like my books, you may like theirs, too:

• Colleen Hoover - We both write realistic stories with some intense scenes that deal with similar issues: sexual abuse, mother-daughter relationships, etc. All of my novels pictured above have teens dealing with tough times.

• Rhys Bowen - I read Above the Bay of Angels, which was historical fiction. If you like how her character grows through the story, you might like Peg's Story: Detours, which follows Peg from Christmas 1971 to Christmas 2000.

• Catherine Ryan Hyde - Brave Girl, Quiet Girl might be the closest match for Maggie's Story - Running Away - we both do intense, gritty realism that make you keep turning the page.

• Kristin Hannah - While Firefly Lane has friendship as the moving force, if you were drawn to the struggles of the character who goes from neglected child of an addict to super-achiever, Peg's Story - Detours may appeal to you as well. We both use gritty moments of realism to convey the larger situation.

Kristin Hannah

So, with two books ready to publish, I've been reading to find comparable authors - someone who writes like me - and I think I found one. Kristin Hannah.

After I read Firefly Lane in July, I saw some similarity but that book was about sisters, which mine are not. I pretty much forgot about it. Then in August a beta reader for Peg's Story: Detours suggested The Great Alone as a comp. Once I started reading it, I realized I'd already read of one of Hannah's books and felt the similarity more strongly. So I kept reading to figure out why we both had that impression. In the last month or so I've read eleven of Kristin Hannah's books and I haven't found one I didn't like.

She does a lot more description than I do - I tend to be very sparing with a few key details to create the mood whereas she has made me want to visit the northern coast with her vivid description of settings. However, after reading so many of her books, I understand why the beta reader and I both sensed a similarity - it's in our characters and their journeys. I definitely recommend reading her books - all of them - and if you already know you like hers, try mine. I think you'll like Running Away: Maggie's Story and Peg's Story: Detours.

Here's my brief review for The Great Alone:

Kristin Hannah excels at developing her characters and exploring mother-daughter relationships with vivid backdrops. In this case, a teenage girl tells the story of her co-dependent parents as her Vietnam vet father sinks further into his PTSD and abusive behaviors in the long winter nights of 1970's Alaska. A page-turner.