I'd like to offer comps in my query, but (honestly) I haven't read anything like my story in same or similar genres. How close do comps have to be?

Here's the question:Here are my thoughts:I sort of hate this question. (It's not your fault, don't worry)But here's the thing. There's a huge problem with saying you haven't ready anything like your story. Taken literally, this means you're not very well read. OR there's nothing out there for a reason.I'm betting that what's actually happening is that you're a little too focused on comps and not thinking about it quite right. So that's what I'm going to address. You don't have to have a THIS MEETS THAT comparison (like Graceling meets The Selection which is how I pitched Victoria Aveyard's upcoming novel RED QUEEN).Instead you can have a "For fans of THIS and THAT" comparison. (For Love and Other Theories by Alexis Bass, I pitched it for fans of Sara Zarr and Nina LaCour).So. Think about audience:Cross off books and authors that have surpassed the mainstream tipping point and become a franchise (like Harry Potter, Twilight, Divergent, Hunger Games, John Green, etc). Those are exceptions since they're read by the non-reader population.You have to be able to come up with something in terms of a comp. Otherwise, you're book is too different and won't have an audience.