Three reasons why I can't produce comps for literary agents

I've been busy trying to connect with a literary agent who can market a story I've written – a novel. The often asked information I'm supposed to supply in my query is "titles of books similar to yours" — the "comps."

I'm stumped for three reasons. Maybe you understand.

(1) Money

Reading costs nothing but acquiring current literature is expensive. Libraries can help but, underfunded and sometimes trimmed by local censorship, they don't fully solve the problem. Ultimately to get your hands on a trove of current books to sort through to find the matches, you have to spend money. Paperbacks start at about $20. If the book you want isn't in paperback yet, then it's $36.95 and up. And you'll need at least a dozen. That will set you back around $360. I'm not exactly a starving writer but $360 would be a big hit on my budget ... too big.

(2) Time

There are only so many hours in the day. Duh! I spend some of them reading; some of them writing. My reading is not from the (unknown) books that might be good comps for me. My reading is eclectic: books I hear about from some article I've just read, books listed in the back of other books I've just read, and books that I pick up by chance in a book bin. I'm currently backlogged by about eight tittles and my wife keeps making more suggestions from books she owns and has read. These titles are unlikely to provide me with comps.

(3) Theme

When I'm looking for a book to read I'm looking for something special, something that stimulates my own creative juices. I'm not looking for a book that is "like" something I'm writing or want to write. The books I'm picking to read are not comps.

So I strike out on comps.