How and When To Choose Your Book's Categories and Comps
If you are trying to get a traditional nonfiction book deal, one of the first questions you need to answer is not “What do I want to say?” but “What kind of book is this, exactly?” A book can have a great idea and still miss the mark if it is not positioned clearly as prescriptive, narrative, or academic.
In this episode of the Kind of a Big Book Deal Podcast, Meghan Stevenson, founder of Meghan Stevenson Books, answers a listener question about a music-and-wellness book by breaking down what prescriptive nonfiction really means, how comps should be chosen, and how to figure out where your book belongs in the marketplace. The big takeaway is that category comes from understanding your reader, your voice, and the result your book promises to deliver.
What prescriptive nonfiction means
The central question in this episode is whether a book about the benefits of music in health and wellness counts as prescriptive nonfiction. Meghan’s answer is yes, if the book is directly telling readers what to do, what to try, or how to solve a problem.
Prescriptive nonfiction is basically how-to or self-help nonfiction. If your book gives readers a plan, advice, or guidance they can act on, it belongs in that space. If it mainly tells a personal story or shares research indirectly, it is more likely narrative nonfiction or memoir.
Why genre matters
Meghan makes an important distinction between genre and category. Prescriptive nonfiction is a genre, and within that genre you still have categories such as business, health and wellness, and personal finance.
That matters because the rules are different across genres. What works for memoir does not work for self-help, and what works for romance does not work for science writing. If you are writing a traditionally published how-to book, you need to understand the expectations of that lane.
How comps really work
Meghan explains that comparative titles are books a reader might buy alongside yours, while competitive titles are books that largely solve the same problem and compete for the same reader.
That difference shapes how you position your book. If your topic overlaps with books like The Creative Act, The Practice, or Daniel Levitin’s music-and-brain writing, you need to know whether you are aiming for a similar audience, a different tone, or a different depth of expertise.
What to learn from comps
Meghan’s advice is not to get lost in a deep comp study. Instead, ask a simpler question: What is similar between your book and these other books, and what is different?
That gives you a useful positioning signal without forcing you to overanalyze every title. In a proposal or query, you usually only need a “this meets that” explanation, not a full thesis on the category landscape.
Why the reader needs come first
One of the strongest points in the episode is that authors often focus too much on what publishers want and not enough on what readers need. Meghan says that if you build your platform and understand your audience well, the category often becomes much easier to identify.
In other words, your category should come from the problem your reader is trying to solve. If you know what your audience wants from you, you can more easily determine whether your book belongs in wellness, personal transformation, psychology, or another adjacent space.
How to tell if your book is prescriptive
Meghan offers a very direct test: are you giving readers a prescription to follow? Are you offering actionable advice, a plan, or guidance that helps them get a result?
If the answer is yes, then your book is likely prescriptive nonfiction. If the answer is no and the book is mainly story-driven, reflective, or research-led, then it may belong in a different lane.
Questions answered in this episode
What does prescriptive nonfiction mean?
What is the difference between prescriptive and narrative nonfiction?
What are comparative and competitive titles?
How should authors use comps in a book proposal?
What makes a book fit the wellness category?
How do you tell whether your book is self-help or narrative nonfiction?
Why does reader need matter more than category obsession?
Should authors compare themselves to bestselling books?
How do you know whether your book is truly prescriptive?
