This was mainly my focus.
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Comp titles are tricky. It kind of decides whether or not to lump you into a certain genre or group. It’s pretty useful to find agents! If there’s a similar book to yours, you should definitely approach the agent for that book; there should be a higher chance of them liking your book! 
As for what I know about trad publishing… they use it for product evaluation (in addition to marketing). The publishing people I’ve spoken to use the MAYA principle (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable). Comp titles help them figure out what their readership is proven to be comfortable with. Using comp titles doesn’t mean they’re publishing the same thing; they do value innovation! It just has to be somewhat familiar. Yeah it sucks that artistic work is manufactured into a ‘product’ but that’s how this business works.
For me, comp titles usually come up during research for my stories. I try to read what I can find that’s related to my topic/ theme. My book Beast of Heaven is a gay novel, so I found other gay novels that explore similar themes. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Greek myth) and Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo (human-nonhuman/otherness).
I suppose beta readers could help you find what’s similar. I feel like your books are space operas so I suggest looking into a few of them.
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My books? Are you saying that in general or towards me?
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Yeah
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Really? I’ve never thought about it that way.
Cool!
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