Paper Literary’s Katie Greenstreet has been featured as one of six ‘next great agents’ in Poets & Writers magazine, where she has been named a rising star in the publishing industry.
In an interview discussing her journey from Wall Street corporate lawyer to assistant to the Head of Books at ICM Partners, and then her journey across the pond to C&W in London, ending up at Paper Literary in 2022, Katie talks about her agenting ethos, what she’s looking for – in submissions, and in authors – and what she sees as coming next. You can read the full interview below.
Congratulations on this very well-deserved recognition, Katie!
Katie Greenstreet’s allegiance to her authors runs deep: “Several of my early mentors had such strong relationships with their clients, some that spanned decades—as someone who really values deep relationships in my professional life, it’s a style of work I’ve tried to emulate.” Since moving to the world of agenting in 2015, Greenstreet has begun to build just such relationships, representing “exclusively adult upmarket fiction across all genres,” and has earned a reputation for scouting new talent and “incredible deals,” says her Paper colleague Catherine Cho.
What draws you to being an agent?
Agenting is a great match for both my personality and my skill set. I’m competitive to a fault and also deeply independent, so I love that the sky is the limit for my business and my clients. I also love the thrill of the chase and eagerly open my submissions inbox each morning desperate to find a new voice that I can’t stop reading. There’s also the enormous satisfaction of working on a story and with an author across both the life of the book and their careers. And finally, I love having a hand in all aspects of rights—the initial English-language deal, the excitement of bringing a story to readers across the world in translation—and as a lifelong film and TV junkie, cementing the Hollywood piece of the puzzle never ceases to thrill me.
What was your trajectory to your current position? And what experiences have shaped your approach to agenting?
I came to publishing in a slightly roundabout way, after a quick career as a corporate lawyer, working for large firms on Wall Street. A turning point came for me when I was working on a merger between two publishing companies. It hit me that I’d give anything to be the client in that scenario. Growing up without any connections in publishing, or really in New York, and graduating from a university with a heavy focus on science and finance, it didn’t seem like a feasible path for me. I decided to bet on myself, enrolled in the Columbia Publishing Course, and was lucky to land my absolute dream job as an assistant to the head of books at ICM Partners…. Fast-forward two years and my husband was offered a job in London…. We jumped at the chance to move on his visa, and I started at C&W (part of Curtis Brown U.K.) a few months later, where I worked for two amazing agents and began to build my own list. Shortly after Catherine Cho founded Paper, we began talks about my joining, and after five happy years with C&W, I joined Catherine and threw myself into helping her build the boutique agency of our dreams.
When you have that first call or meeting with a potential client, what signs tell you you’ve found someone you want to represent?
We have a no-jerks policy at Paper—so being a nice person is a prerequisite! But I also look for someone who is both enormously ambitious for the career piece of their writing to take off but who would also write happily, just for themselves, because they simply love the craft of storytelling…. I think the second an author becomes cynical, they’re in trouble. I’m also not looking to work with folks with just one great idea—I take the long-term career part of my pitch very seriously.
What are some of the most rewarding moments—either public-facing or more interpersonal—you’ve had in working with the writers you represent?
Some recent wins include helping my incredible author Kate Fagan transition from a successful career as a journalist and nonfiction author into a debut novelist with a laundry list of brilliant reviews and picks—and a second book deal. I’m also still buzzing from my client Rosanna Pike’s longlisting for the Women’s Prize, one of my favorite prizes run out of the U.K. because of its emphasis on both brilliant storytelling and beautiful prose. Her debut, A Little Trickerie, was not the most commercial prospect given the specificity of its voice and a historical setting outside of the time periods popular in publishing, so the critical acclaim has been a real reminder to trust my gut.
Ideally agent-writer relationships can last a lifetime; what do you think it takes to build that kind of successful partnership?
To me the ideal author-agent relationship is akin to a successful marriage. It requires good communication, trust in each other’s instincts, and a really collaborative mindset. And an understanding that both parties are human. I think when the teamwork mentality falls away, there’s ripe opportunity for strife—as there would be in any business relationship.
What’s at the top of your manuscript wish list right now?
I always say that literary suspense is my truest love, and as such I’m desperate for some character-driven thrillers to land in my inbox ahead of the summer. Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods was a real highlight for me last year—I would love to see a similarly layered family drama with a backdrop of crime or mystery come my way. Sense of place is also very important to me, so anything with a strong escapist setting—especially if that setting has elements of both glamour and decay, an underbelly—I’m sold! I also love a classic upstairs-downstairs story and would love to see a twist on that setup, again with a suspense-crime-mystery element. I realize in many ways I’m describing all three seasons of The White Lotus, so I should mention that as a comp that will always, always have me dropping everything to dive into a submission.
How do you see agenting, or publishing more generally, evolving, and are there particular parts of that evolution that you hope to effect?
I think agents need to fight harder than ever to protect their clients’ interest in what has become a bit of a rights land grab from publishers and also, of course, in the face of the changes to be wrought by AI. I’d love to see agents become more collaborative across/outside their own agencies, as unless you work for one of the big talent agencies, it can be difficult to dig in and win on important deal points. There’s strength in numbers, but the agency model doesn’t always lend itself to sharing information.