Let’s talk about the way we talk about prospects

Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesBy day, I’m a marketing professional in the publishing industry. Most of the copy that passes by my desk compares our books and authors to already established authors and bestselling books. This practice is most rampant in the horror genre, where basically every new novel is compared, one way or another, to Stephen King, despite the fact that he is a singular voice in the horror community and most of these books have nothing in common with his writing. It’s an inside joke in the industry that these comparisons don’t even have to make sense, they just have to be strong enough to grab the reader’s attention.

I have a feeling you know where…