Simpson joins Paper Literary as subsidiary rights and literary agent

Jenny Simpson, previously at CAA, has joined Paper Literary as a subsidiary rights and literary agent. She joins founder Catherine Cho, agent Katie Greenstreet and editorial consultant Melissa Pimentel. 

Simpson began her publishing career at ICM Partners in New York in the subsidiary rights department. She was promoted to agent in 2021, handling all domestic subsidiary rights on behalf of the department, with a focus on audiobook and first serial rights. 

She has negotiated and sold rights at significant six-figure levels on behalf of prize-winning and bestselling authors and journalists. During her time at ICM (now CAA), Simpson worked across the publishing and podcasting departments, servicing clients in their ventures into the original audio and podcast marketplaces.

At Paper Literary, Simpson will build a subsidiary rights department as well as a list of her own as a literary agent. She will build a list in commercial fiction, particularly contemporary romance, domestic family drama and books focused on friendship and coming-of-age stories. She is also interested in non-fiction on health and wellness. Cho said: “I am very excited to welcome Jenny to the team. She brings world-leading experience in subsidiary rights, especially in the audio and podcast space, which I know will be an incredible asset to our authors. I’m also delighted that she continues our British/American hybrid theme as an American from London who has spent most of her working life in New York.”

Simpson said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the wonderful team at Paper Literary. I was instantly drawn to how Catherine, Katie and Melissa created such a mission-oriented literary agency, championing writers and the power of their work to build sustainable careers. Advocating for writers and the interests in their work are the responsibilities of an agent that I treasure the most, and it is inspiring to see those qualities embedded in the agency’s ethos. I am incredibly privileged to have worked for some of the best agents in the business during my time at ICM and CAA and am excited to build out the subsidiary rights department and my own list.”