A version of the following information can also be found on this Substack’s “About” page, but it has my color commentary in footnotes here.
Our Mission: Not all writers are good at book promotion—especially not book promotion for themselves. I, Jessica Hatch, am not immune to this.1 I feel your pain and performance anxiety, which is why I’m launching Comp Title Book Club (CTBC) in summer 2023! It’s a digital book club and accompanying promotional platform for readers who are also writers.
While CTBC will promote authors’ latest releases or titles from their backlist, both in marketing materials and questions for our live book club interview, I aim to take the Imposter Syndrome pressure off my fellow writers. We’ll do this primarily by discussing a key and favorite “comp” title an author used when they were pitching their own book. If your horror novel is “Catriona Ward meets A24,” what made you choose those comps? If your essay collection has Cost of Living vibes, what do you love about Emily Maloney’s style? A lot of readers are also aspiring authors, so we won’t be afraid to get crafty!
How It Works:
CTBC has two key features:
an evergreen, digital book club with content regularly posted on Substack, Instagram, and a private Facebook Group;2
and a once-monthly live interview between me—your host, Jessica Hatch—and a guest writer, which will be recorded and published on YouTube and across podcast platforms a few days after the interview originally airs.
A few days after that, the following month’s book club pick and featured guest will be announced via Substack and social media. Pending the author and their publisher’s permission, supportive content may be posted on Substack and social media throughout the month leading up to the interview, including close-reading analysis of passages from the featured author’s latest book and guest blog posts from the featured author.
CTBC is just starting out, and I’m excited that you’re here for its launch! Stay tuned… I’ll be announcing our lineup and our first ever guest author in a couple of weeks.
Why do you think I’m rebranding from Left/Right? I decided I didn’t need to contribute one more writing advice blog to the world, so I found a concept that felt uniquely like me. One I was excited about. Some of my more successful L/R posts will stay up, but otherwise it’s full steam ahead with CTBC.
These assets are coming soon, and I’ll let you know when! Follow @JessicaNHatch on Instagram for more details.