July 1, 2024
Becoming... Senior Literary Agent at Transatlantic Agency Timothy Travaglini
Mentors on the Mic: Your guide to pursuing a career in the Entertainment industryAbout this episode
Since 1994, Timothy Travaglini has worked in trade marketing for Scholastic, Inc.; been a bookseller for Books of Wonder, an all-children’s bookstore in New York City; and has edited for Henry Holt and Company, Walker & Company, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, and Open Road Integrated Media where he was the director of children’s acquisitions. Tim is now a Senior Agent at Transatlantic Agency. He primarily represents authors and illustrators of book for young readers of all ages, and select fiction and nonfiction for adults. Books he has acquired and edited have been, among other things, #1 New York Times bestsellers, a Washington Post Best Children’s Book of the Year, Theodor Seuss Geisel Award winner, Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction winner, have been made into an award-winning musical, made into an award-winning animated television show (currently on Netflix), and traveled on board the International Space Station. He has edited, published, and now represents artists and authors who either previously won, or have gone on to win, nearly every award and honor under the sun. He has edited an American Library Association’s 10 Most Frequently Challenged book as well as a Christianity Today Book Award for Fiction winner. In this episode, we talk about: • Trade Marketing at Scholastic after 9 months of temp work and being Clifford the Big Red Dog for his boss’s kid’s birthday party • What are the responsibilities of an editor • Unpaid intern at Henry Holt agency while being a bookseller at Books of Wonder • All the ways to grow the success of the book including selling the translations and film rights • Difference between working at a mid size company like Henry Holt vs a big company like Penguin and how that affects the writer • Advice he gives authors to market their books in this industry and the mindset a writer needs to have right now • Having a book at a bigger publishing house vs a smaller publishing house • How many books get sold at a typical school visit and tips for making them successful • Other recommendations for authors to market a book and who are the gatekeepers • Whether he recommends authors hiring PR teams and when that would be helpful • Books turning into animated series such as “Oddball” on Netflix and “Fangbone!” available on Prime Video and other work on Nickelodeon • What he hopes to see in a query letter, including bio, synopsis, page count, word count Guest: Website LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Host: Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com and www.mentorsonthemic.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle If you like this episode, check out Mini-Series: Creating Atomic Habits with guest host Kate Bone (part 1) Click here to join our Mailing list.