Comp Titles: The Author's Most Misused Marketing Tool Comp titles are the most powerful positioning tool an indie author has. They're also the one most authors get completely wrong. A comp title tells a reader, a retailer, and an algorithm: "If you liked that, you'll like this." It's a shortcut that bypasses the need to explain your entire book. Done right, a comp title does more marketing work than a blurb. Done wrong, it makes you invisible at best and actively misleading at worst. The Three Ways Authors Get Comps Wrong Using titles that are too big. "It's like Harry Potter but for adults" is not a comp. It's a wish. Harry Potter is one of the best-selling series in publishing history. Comparing yourself to it doesn't tell a reader where to shelve you. It tells a retailer you don't understand the market. Comps work by setting specific expectations. A title that big sets expectations no debut or mid-list author can meet. Using titles that are too old. Comp titles have a shelf life. Most industry guidance puts it at three to five years for a useful comp. If your target reader discovered your comp title in college and graduated a decade ago, that comp is pointing at a version of the market that no longer exists. Readers change. Genres evolve. A 2012 comp in a 2025 pitch is a red flag. Using titles from the wrong market position. A traditionally published bestseller and an indie series with 40,000 Kindle Unlimited page reads per month are in different market positions even if they share a genre. Comping up too far creates a mismatch between the expectation you set and the experience you deliver. What a Good Comp Does A good comp title answers three questions simultaneously: Who reads this? Where does it live on the shelf? What feeling does it deliver? The best comp pairs are one slightly bigger title for brand recognition and one peer-level title for precise positioning. Something a reader would recognize, and something a reader in that community is actively talking about right now.

For those of you who listened to the songs I wrote and created with Suno... they are now on 25 stations. Thank you for listening and the encouragement you handed me. I also wanted to share that last Friday, the 26th, was my hubby and my 50th wedding anniversary. He showered me with poems and sweet words he printed and scattered around the house for me to find. I took the bit between the teeth and wrote him a song. I thought you might want to hear it.

Available here for anyone on the Pro Tier or for $49 as a one time cost. Either way all updates are yours free as long as you are at that tier or pay the one time. The Plot Forge Skill creates plots at 3 different levels, Basic, Detailed, and Ultra detailed. A full detailed technical manual is included but the simplest way to use it is to install with the Simple Install instructions in the package. It is the same as any other Claude skill. Once Installed just type: hey /plot-forge-v1 how do I use you? And you will get the following: Claude responded: Let's see what the cards turned up. Let's see what the cards turned up. Hey! I'm CASSANDRA, your Plot Oracle. Here's the short version of how I work: You pull the lever, I spin the story. Tell me what you want — or tell me nothing at all — and I'll generate you a complete story foundation ready to draft from. Three ways to start: "Surprise me" — I roll everything, including the genre. You get whatever the cards deal. "Give me a [genre] plot" — you name the genre, I roll everything else. Romance, space opera, cozy mystery, grimdark fantasy, any of the 33 genre packs. "Give me a [genre] plot with [specifics]" — you pin whatever you want (tropes, heat level, POV, setting, antagonist type, tone) and I roll the rest. Then you pick how deep to go: Basic Ideas — a one-paragraph spark. Fast, free, re-rollable. Basic Plot — ~10 pages. Hook, story summary, cast, structure, scene seeds. Detailed — 20–30 pages. Full character profiles, locations, voice guide, beat outline. Ultra Detailed — the full codex. Story Bible, character codex, world codex, chapter-by-chapter beats. Multiple files. Other things I can do: Spin a batch of plots in one genre ("give me 10 romance plots") Build a series arc from scratch with a Series Bible Generate the next installment in a series you already have To re-roll anything: just say "spin again," "re-roll," or "re-roll the [antagonist / setting / trope / whatever]." Seeds are cheap.

Finished the Writer's Voice Skill and added it as a Pro Level Class or $29 one time Purchase This will take a sample of your writing or any one else's you like the style of and analyze it to Create a Writing Style Guide. It creates this in two versions, A human readable and an extremely token light version that is AI readable to use. Add the compact version as a context file in the binder, select it and instruct the wrier's room to "Use the StyleGuide file selected to write all outputs in this style"

I know I'm supposed to be taking a rest today, but I'm on a marathon coding session after having an epiphany last night. So I'll be around most of the day to answer anything and try to get more short videos posted.