talkmagic.co.uk

I am looking for som materials on go super pro rather than occasional bookings and providing freebie performances.

there is the new sankey tble magic; paul daniels and a couple of others on the magicshop.co.uk website home page.

any one git suggestions as to hat might be good material?

To be honest I wouldn't have thought that there should be much difference in the material that you're using now for your bookings.

You should already be giving your best for the paying public and I would say that the only difference in turning pro, from occasional worker is that you are getting more and more work where you can now sustain a living just from your magic.

Byron: It's NOT the tricks, it's your presentation that makes you different. So called 'Commercial Magic' is usually just New Magic.
It's what you put into an effect that makes it commercial. The same with an Act. have you got a favourite Opener? A Closer that registers strongly?
You then put in a couple of other effects( NOT overlong ones either) you have worked on and worked on And by worked on i don't just mean practicing sleights, moves and handling.
Do have have audience participation in the Act. Do you play TO your audience NOT AT them.) They are the mechanics, not the audience appeal. Presentation first Method second.
Buy Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz first and study it. Then put his ideas into practice.
Allen Tipton

Thanks chaps - really appreciated.

Allen, you mentioned about working with the audience. Funnily enough it is my strongest part. Kind of co-creators in the moment, loose scripting. All that kind of thing.

I tend to think on my feet whilst still applying magical effect.

I think what i needed was a way of approaching groups of people and the like. Actually going out and getting bookings. People tend to know about me and get me in for various things. I really want to push the magic side of things now though.

Byron. Don't RELY on loose scripting etc. The ONLY way to know your material is going over is
1. Script it down on paper. (Jot initial ideas during formation of routine)
Written down also provides a memory aid if the effect is put aside for
the future.This gives you confidence and surety.
2. When you are reasonably happy mark in pauses, emphasis, timing etc.
3. LEARN it THOROUGHLY by heart so you can recite it in your sleep.
This gives you thinking time if anything goes wrong or interruptions
occur
4. Having learnt it thoroughly REHEARSE it till it SOUNDS spontaneous and
natural.. Actors, world wide do this every performance.
5. Every so often, look at the script. Does it need revising, updating?
6. Use a small portable recorder and TAPE your performances. LISTEN to
any reactions you get. That'll tell you a lot.
7 Keep a pocket notebook with you AT ALL TIMES. Jot down any lines
that you come across. After a show if there have been any ad libs you
may have made, write them down. MOST of these should be pre
written ready.
Memory, especially magician's is very short.
8. Get a good agent. Perform in Showcases. Check 'The Stage'

Allen Tipton

Byron. Check out the E book, The One minute Magic Business by Sam Heyton. Price £9:99p at www.MagicShop.co.uk.
Page 5 in the book section. It deals with MARKETING yourself. Getting bookings etc.
Allen Tipton

Hi byron,

Allen has given some strong words of wizdom to help you along, also get some "classy" business cards made for yourself, and a web site is a deffinate must have item. When people book you or take a business card the can look at your web site and if it is professionaly made they will think you are the "dogs dangleys"

Don't atempt to make a web site yourself if you don't do it for a living it will look like some kid on a school project was let loose for while.

After any booking that goes well, ask the main man or woman for a quote/response that you can use in your advertising material, be it a flyer, web site, etc....

It sounds like you have enough material you just need to up your public profile

It's most unfortunate you're just now breaking into the wonderful world of Show Biz in that the book The Bush Factor by Richared Busch {http://www.richardbusch.com/Products/TDR.htm} would lend to you some amazing insights on showmanship in general, that would move your act forward light years from where you're at right now.

This is a majorly advanced tome for the seriously invested student of magic, striving to move beyond the more mundane auspices of the craft and doing tricks here and there just for the sake of doing such. A most enlightening tome for those thinking they're the next Derren Brown or Luke Jermay.

There's tons of intermediate tomes of worthy note however, the first thing I'd recommend is that you get some business & marketing school under your belt (you're going to need it!). Hustle Hustle by Joel Bauer is still a potent tool to those new to this world along side the Fetzkey (sp) books on Magic & Marketing. DO NOT fall for all this Millionaire Magician horse puckey that's out there... paying the $100.00 --- 500.00 a pop these guys want on those tomes only makes them richer, not you. Get the Dale Carnegie book HOW TO WIN FRIENDS & INFLUENCE PEOPLE and once you've gone through it a half-dozen times or so, take his correspondence courses. They work across the board in most every industry are a heck of lot less expensive and far more proven thant he cheap knock-offs out there based on his earlier works... which is what most of those success systems are.

As to "effects" and "routines"... find the book by Chris Carey entitled DO THE STUFF THAT'S YOU and make it your bible for the next year or so. You cannot take routines that I do and get the same response from the audience I get nor could I take some of the things you do and get the same kind of reponse you get. We are each different in personality type, style and our ability to "sell" concepts e.g. we must each do things that fit who we are and not the same stuff we've seen, heard or read about that everyone else is doing.

Thirty-five -- fourty years ago it was believed you were ready for the big time if you had a Zig Zag, Broom Suspension and Sub Trunk... these were the "standard" prope every "Illusionist" owned it would seem... alogn with a shoddy dove/flower/card manipulation act (referred to as an "Opener") Lakes Guillotine, Zombie or Dancing Cane, and of course a version of either 3 Card Monte or Sidewalk Shuffle. I'm not kidding, almost every small time show out there had this exact composition and little else. Today everyone wants to do a Chair Prediction, Book Test, Bleed on People, Not find the cup with the knife/spike or broken bottle, float up onto a chair like Criss Angele, and of course bend every piece of metal they can literally get their hands on...

...THAT IS NOT MAGIC!

Alan has given some very valid insight as have others, but the real "trick" to it all is to be honest with yourself and strive to go beyond where you are right this minute. Don't be afraid to ask for critique and TAKE IT! (especially when you don't want to). The day your stop allowing your magic to grow and represent an aspect of who you are and what you stand for in the scheme of life, is the day your fail and quite possibly the day you'll die... but that's another issue altogether...

You could always try Sean Heydon's excellent 1 minute Magic Business..

http://www.nothingupmysleeve.co.uk/mark ... eydon.html

A great way to go, in my humble opinion

I do not approve of technology. I have just purchased this supposedly wondrous book from you but I see no sign of it arriving.

The supposedly "instant download" seems to have lost its instancy and I have lost my 10 quid.

How is one supposed to access this literary masterpiece I wonder?

mark lewis wrote:I do not approve of technology. I have just purchased this supposedly wondrous book from you but I see no sign of it arriving.

The supposedly "instant download" seems to have lost its instancy and I have lost my 10 quid.

How is one supposed to access this literary masterpiece I wonder?

It will be sent to you upon the Astral plane Mark... a holy man such as yourself should have no difficulty in accessing the Akaskic records upon which the secret knowledge is recorded.

Now, get back to your toad stool, hit on the huka and enjoy life...

mark lewis wrote:I do not approve of technology. I have just purchased this supposedly wondrous book from you but I see no sign of it arriving.

The supposedly "instant download" seems to have lost its instancy and I have lost my 10 quid.

How is one supposed to access this literary masterpiece I wonder?

Hi Mark

The reason the download didn't automatically register is because the name you used at the NUMS shop didn't match the name on your PayPal account.

It's been causing me a bit of a headache, and I am thinking of scrapping the idea. The download is supposed to get automatically emailed to you once a PayPal receipt and order arrive on the server.

I've emailed them to you manually, and I apologise for the delay.

You are partially forgiven because I have now indeed received the material. However the forgiveness is only partial because the "500 letters" have some weird computer message with them that I do not understand.

They have asked me an impertinent question in strange computer language that is beyond my comprehension. I am afraid to answer the question in case the whole thing disappears into cyberspace.

I have been asked if I wish to save the thing into a regular folder or into some other kind of folder - I forget what. It jabbers on about compressed folders and various computerese that old people like me do not understand.

I am afraid that I shall require an explanation.

I think these awful e-books are against the laws of nature and I do not approve of them. Furthermore this particular opus has been written by a 22 year old hotshot and it is making me extremely jealous that he is writing books about marketing when I still haven't figured it out after 40 years.

Still the price is cheaper than Dave Dee and is probably just as informative. I shall look at it carefully.

Mark

I simply supply the items as-is from Sean himself. I assume the .zip file tries to extract to a PC folder? (I use Apple Macintosh myself)

I do hope you enjoy it. And don't get too jealous—it's not in your nature, surely?

If it's a zip file then right-click on it and choose Extract Here (that should hopefully be in the menu, if not double-click the file). Then OK through any boxes that pop up and look at the folder where you saved the file. Voilá!

Kati