Jennifer Simpson is a CAA literary agent building a focused list of upmarket commercial fiction — particularly family sagas, edgy love stories, and speculative-tinged women's fiction — alongside accessible, practical nonfiction in wellness and popular science.
In brief
Simpson's wishlist is unusually specific and comp-rich, making her a strong fit for writers who can say 'my book sits between X and Y' with precision — she clearly responds to that kind of positioning.
Her taste clusters tightly around a particular flavor of upmarket women's fiction: emotionally grounded, character-driven, with a high-concept hook or a structural twist (time loops, alternating POVs, multi-generational timelines).
She is at CAA, a major talent and literary agency — an author landing here gains access to significant subsidiary-rights infrastructure, including film/TV, which aligns well with her preference for cinematic, concept-forward fiction.
No confirmed sales record was available for analysis, so her stated wishlist is the primary guide to her taste rather than an inferred deal pattern — writers should treat her comps as the clearest signal of what she'll respond to.
Query status is unverified; confirm directly before submitting — she accepts email queries with a query letter, synopsis, and the first 10,000 words.
Lately
Her active wishlist places multi-generational family fiction, speculative-tinged women's fiction, and edgy contemporary romance at the top of her priorities, with a clear preference for books that have both a strong hook and emotional depth.
What Jennifer is looking for
Multi-generational family stories with alternating perspectives and richly drawn interpersonal dynamics are at the core of what she's building. She wants novels where family relationships drive both plot and emotion, with the kind of sweep and depth that makes a book a word-of-mouth phenomenon.
She is not after a straightforward, cozy romance — she wants modern love stories that have some bite, complexity, or structural wit. Think relationship narratives that interrogate how people fall in and out of love rather than simply celebrating it, with sharp, distinctive voices.
She actively seeks literary fiction that uses a speculative device — a time loop, a repeated anniversary, parallel timelines, or a 'what if' structural premise — to illuminate an emotionally grounded story. The speculative element should serve character and emotion, not overwhelm it. She describes her ideal as the 'Sliding Doors quality' — the everyday made strange in service of deep feeling. Magical realism that stays tethered to a convincing sense of reality is a particular passion.
Stories exploring the full complexity of adult female friendships — their longevity, friction, and evolution — are a clear priority. She's less interested in coming-of-age friendship narratives and more drawn to stories of women navigating friendship alongside the demands and complications of adult life.
She wants domestic thrillers that push against the genre's conventions — something that reframes the familiar setup through a new lens or perspective. On the mystery side, she's drawn to titles that lean into humor and dark comedy rather than pure suspense.
Novels whose premise is partly built around an unusual profession, a singular community, or an immersive and specific world. The concept should give the story a hook that makes it easy to pitch and hard to forget — she gravitates toward books that feel both specific and universal.
Practical, accessible nonfiction that genuinely helps readers improve their day-to-day lives, particularly around food, health science, and behavior. She is looking for books with a clear, actionable premise and broad mainstream appeal — not dense academic texts.
Not the right fit
Taste fingerprint
How to query Jennifer
Send a query letter, a synopsis, and the first 10,000 words of your manuscript in a single email — she specifies all three, so omitting any one is a red flag.
Lead your query letter with a tight, comp-driven pitch: her wishlist is one of the most comp-rich in the industry, which tells you she thinks in terms of 'this book is for readers of X and Y' — mirror that language back to her.
Choose your comps from her stated favorites or wishlist titles only if they are genuinely apt; using her own touchstones superficially (without real similarity) is likely to backfire with an agent this specific about what those books represent to her.
Emphasize structural or conceptual distinctiveness up front — whether it's the time-loop premise, the alternating POV structure, the unusual setting, or the protagonist's job. She repeatedly cites high-concept hooks as a draw.
For domestic thrillers, your query must articulate clearly how your book subverts the genre — 'a domestic thriller with a twist' is not enough. Name the specific convention you're challenging.
For nonfiction, make the practical benefit to the reader crystal clear in the first paragraph. She gravitates toward books with a clear, accessible promise, so lead with the transformation or insight the reader walks away with.
Verify her current query status directly with the agency before submitting, as no live confirmation of open/closed status was available at the time this profile was written.