David Vigliano is an American literary agent. He is the founder and head of Vigliano Associates, a boutique literary agency. He is best known for working with "headline-making" authors and for negotiating record-setting advances . Since 2002, 112 of his projects have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list , with 22 hitting the #1 position. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}

Early life and education [ edit ]

Vigliano was born in New York. His mother, Barbara Murphy Vigliano, was an actress who starred in live television shows in the 1940s, and his father Eli was a lawyer, as is David's brother Dean. Vigliano attended Hunter College , where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in communications, and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1983. ^[6]

Career [ edit ]

Following college, Vigliano returned to New York, where he was hired as the Director of Packaging at Warner Books . There, Vigliano moved beyond the traditional practice of passively acquiring new properties, and instead generated book ideas and pursued new authors. In 1986, with no experience as a literary agent, he founded Vigliano Associates. ^{[1] [7]}

While he represents both fiction and non-fiction, Vigliano has received significant attention for securing substantial advances for celebrities, including a reported $4,000,000 advance for Kurt Cobain 's journals in 2000. ^[8] His notable clients have included Michael Jackson , George Noory Justin Timberlake , Mike Tyson , Shaquille O'Neal , Willie Nelson , Joanna Gaines , Chip Gaines , Alicia Keys , Janet Jackson , Britney Spears , David Blaine , Prince , Pearl Jam , Scott Weiland , Rocco DiSpirito , Courtney Love , Anthony Kiedis , Suzanne Somers , and Pope John Paul II . His roster also includes Bob Greene , Melody Beattie , Nicholas Perricone , Jerry Jenkins , Ben Parr , and Blake Mycoskie . Vigliano's literary projects include artist James Rosenquist 's autobiography, Eddie Little 's Another Day in Paradise , and Douglas Coupland 's Generation X , which sold more than 1,000,000 copies. ^{[9] [10]}

Vigliano has negotiated film rights for several of his books. Ben Mezrich 's Bringing Down the House , was the source material for MGM's 21 , ^[11] and The Oldest Rookie , by Jim Morris and Joe Engel, ^[12] was adapted into the Disney movie The Rookie , starring Dennis Quaid . An article by Mike Sager in GQ was adapted into the Touchstone film Veronica Guerin , starring Cate Blanchett . ^[3]

In 2012, he started Vigliano Books, an electronic book publishing venture that has worked with authors such as Tim Cowlishaw , Richard Belzer , David Blaine , Linda Davies , and Jerry B. Jenkins . Although he continued to run it, in 2014 Vigliano sold the company to Y Entertainment. He reacquired it in April 2020. ^[13]

Personal life [ edit ]

Vigliano lives in New York City. He has performed as a stand-up comic at clubs in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York. ^[1]

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• Vigliano Associates