talkmagic.co.uk

I may either be way out in left field, or maybe something that's been said a thousand times over... but I think the deal with magic as it is seen today is because of 'walmartism'. the thing that really kinda bugged me was this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDyvKXhkgOg&feature=channel. because there are countless sites now selling magic, half of which create their own independently and because it makes good money, magic is now just a hobby that someone just 'took' up, and paid for some tricks, instead of something that has an authentic background or something. I doubt I'm bringing up any fresh points but after seeing that video it just clued in...

Hmmm. I'm not sure what your point is.

I did check out your YouTube link, and then visited the the guy's website. He seems like a legitimate online seller. Indeed, one of his download tricks that I saw is called 'fraid knot. It has two rope routines, one of which is the unbiquitous Professor's Nightmare, for $5.99. By comparison, the big Penguin sells PN alone as a download for $5.95. I spent my life in sales and marketing and really admire companies that add value rather than discount prices.

Regarding the two posts above, King Jeux seems to think that there is "good money" in marketing magic.

Ha!

As one who truly knows, there isn't!

And Terry C seems to praise the site for including "the ubiquitous (sic) Professor's Nightmare."

I believe that the rights to that trick are owned by Magic Inc. of Chicago. In any case, it was created in the 50s, based on a two-rope routine by Hen Fetsch. Bob Carver made it into a three-rope affair and Gene Gordon, of Buffalo and one of the late founders of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, wrote the patter, from which it gets its name.

In any case, the trick is NOT in the public domain and other dealers have no right to sell it.

But it holds the record for the "most ripped off trick in magic."

I think the real "problem" with modern magic is dealer videos such as these. Love the little David Brent noise at the end. [/url]

I have to agree with Peter on this... I have props out there I can't even afford to own myself that I've helped design and as a certain Mr. Stinemeyer points out, "There's a reason why I keep my day job..."

There are those in this very forum that would lead you to believe that they have made tens of thousands of dollars on their eBooks and yet, NO ONE in the pro world has heard of them and if so, it is typically the result of said "authors" or "innovators" sending them copies of said products, fishing for an endorsement... interestingly, very, very, very few ever get any kind of kudo in that what they are trying to pawn off ISN'T original, Hasn't been completely thought through, is overly complicated/illogical and a myriad of other things.

Creating an effect that will make someone significant sums of cash, especially in the short run, is amazingly rare. Part of it depends on marketing (such as we just saw with TARANTULA) and the other side of it centers on whose attention it grabs at which convention and the kind of stir it makes during that particular 48-72 hour period and if or not that energy carries over to the commercial venue... when major dealers start offering it, etc.

As a designer of magic both large and small, I can assure anyone that may want to ask, development and sale of magic IS NOT the way to go if you want to have an easy way of generating income. When I was still collecting Royalties on Shadow Vision I saw $500.00 on every $15,000.00 prop sold... to my knowledge, less than two-dozen legal versions of the effect were ever built by Ken & the crew e.g. I've seen a personal gross gain of roughly $10,000.00 for six months of intense work developing the thing and of course, that all came over a two + period of time... so, where's the money?

Realistically all the tricks and eBooks that go out there are but ways to SUPPLEMENT you income and get your name recognized within the rank & file of the magic world. You'd be shocked as to the plethora of folks out there that are significantly more creative than 95% of those you read about and see selling this or that, but these are WORKING pros that are simply too busy to be bothered by the ego tripping, which is what most of what we see, is really all about.


I'm just waiting for someone to come out with video on new products that actually show the product and what it does vs. some kind of MTv home studio production with crappy music, jerky footage and next to NOTHING that would make the over 40 crowd want to fork out serious cash... and that is who tends to have the extra bucks to blow.

Anywho... it's late and I'm just rambling... ptoooy