What do people think about a section where we can ask for suggestions for published books to read? I'm thinking of it as primarily a way to help people find comps, but people could also find some nice reading suggestions from it. But while I read a ton, I know I struggle to find good comps for my MS, so it's the sort of thing I think would be useful. Maybe you've written a YA dystopia, but you need help finding comps that aren't things like Hunger Games or Maze Runner. Or you've got some comps that really match your book well, but they're not recent enough. So you can make a post describing what sort of things you're looking for, and people can chime in with their ideas. Do people think that would be a useful section to have?
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Kind of agreeing here. It's a good idea. Prob easiest to categorize it by genre, and then we can give each book in the genre sub-tags for voice / other categories for genre. Anything other than genre is going to be highly subjective, so let's remove that from the category list.
I guess what I am saying is this. Make sub-forums for genres (use the same categories as the private forums?), then possibly a list of tags that could be applied to the book. For example, these could be sub-categories of the genre (such as Dark Fantasy within SFF), and other aspects that could be used for comps (humour, action, character driven, world building, etc).
If we aren't careful, this could REALLY run away from us, so KISS principle at the beginning. Let the 'users' be the ones to flesh it out more later on.
It would be great if we created a universal code list that people can draw from and list to represent things that are in the novel. That way there's some way for people to select the options like from a buffet. Then they just select the options that were in the book.
Thanks @lnloft for the suggestion and @monsmord for seconding it.
I've added the category under the General section.
I like the idea posed here, and I also like the idea of suggesting comps by way of voice, for example, as well as genre. Not sure yet what the best way to organize it would be, but the search for comps is a noble quest!
+1. Whether reading for comps, research, or inspiration, I'd be happy for a space to request and provide suggestions.
Organizing by genre might work, especially for comps. But I suppose it will depend on the reasons for asking: for instance, looking for suggestions based on voice, narrator, comedy/drama, romantic subplots, etc. might bridge genres. And micro-genre subdivisions (grim dark fantasy, high fantasy, historical fantasy, etc.) could get intense, counter-productive, or wind up with crossovers anyway.
Of course, I'm a worrier. :)
I'm happy to add a sub-forum under General if the community feels it would add value! I'll wait till a few more people weigh in and we can decide then. I personally think it's a good idea, maybe if its organized by genre?