Check Out Your Competition

When you send in your manuscript, it is competing with all of the other books out there with the same topic. Do you know who your competition is?

For step 5 of your critique, list 5 books that compete with your manuscript.
List the CIP for each book and tell me why your book is different.

Q. How do you find your competition?

A. Find A to Zoo in the children's reference section at the library.

When I am doing competition research I look up my book subject(s) in A to Zoo and walk around the library to gather up all of the books listed. Then I read each of my competitors from cover to cover, so I can make sure that my book is different! (If it's the same as a book that is already out there, why would a publisher buy it?)

If your library doesn't have A to Zoo, then do a Basic Search by Subject in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Once you find children's or "juvenile" books on your topic(s), click on the titles one by one to see how the author handled it. To see the CIP for a book, click on the "Full Record" tab at the top of the book listing.

The best way to check out the competition is to read it! If you find a possible competitor that isn't in your library, see if you can request it through ILL, Inter-Library Loan. It may take a few weeks, but you can use that waiting time to let your manuscript "cool" down so you can read it later with fresh eyes.