P. Craig Browning
Quote possibly the worse thing ever put in a magic book was the line,
“To Become a Famous Magician, Write a Book!”… I think it was Henry Hay that made that suggestion and over the past six years or so, I’ve wanted to hunt the man down and shoot him because of it.
Why?
For some reason our world has suddenly become inundated with a plethora of genus types; 14 and 15 year old kids that have been studying magic the past two to maybe five years, that think they are read enough and experienced enough to not just write and produce a book, but ask outrageous money for an electronic download of it. A small fortune for someone’s theoretical ideas; material that is not typically audience tested or properly worked out by testing. Not just by the innovator by his associates that work in the real world on a daily basis.
Let me give you an idea of what goes on in the world of the “Big Boys” when we create magic for you guys to buy. An effect like Rick Maue’s
FATE {
http://www.deceptionsunlimited.com/fate.html} first goes through a month or two of personal development by Rick himself then he starts talking it up with people like Docc Hilford, Banachek, Jamie Ian Swiss, John Stetson, Chris Carter and myself. We take it out for two or three months and grind it hard, using it in our shows or when we have opportunity so that we “Know” all that can be known about the technique or routine. We all take notes, try different types of presentations and themes then share what we have found with Rick or whoever it may be that’s asked for our help and our two-cents worth. After six or so months of actual field testing (research) working the bugs out, scripting discussions, etc. the product is ready for the next step of the process; looking into how to best manufacture, protect and market it. This can take an additional two to three months, sometimes more, depending on what the device is, and the logistics involved.
So we finally have a product as we come close to the end a one full year of testing and development, we get the inventory together, call our distributors and arrange for the ads; most all advertising has to go in at least 30 days in advance for the standard publication in order to guarantee location within the source (what page your ad will go on) it sometimes requires a 3-4 month advance submission “camera ready.”
In all of this you see how much time goes into the typical PROFESSIONAL release and the process is really close to the same for just about everything we do be it a grand illusion, card trick or book. I won’t even go into proper CD/DVD production or creating a solid lecture for video presentation, etc. But I will bring in one element most ignore when it comes to all these innovations and contributions –
EXPERIENCE.
Over the past two months I believe it’s been, I’ve seen over a dozen people with less than five years invested into just studying magic let alone having any actual on-stage experience, claim to have “invented” a new effect, device/gimmick, et al. They add to their boast that “I’ve searched everyone and found nothing like it…” and unless they have direct access to the Magic Castle’s, Gary Darwin’s or the Magic Circle’s library (to name a few I’m aware of) I can assure you,
they haven’t done the footwork. More so, most are terrified of the idea of asking a genuine authority like Max Maven (when it comes to cards or mentalism type material) or Jim Stinemeyer or Bill Smith when it comes to stage type stuff e.g.
they haven’t done the footwork. (By the way, we old know-it-alls like Dale Shrimpton, Peter Marucci and I still ask other people about things and can be found frequently in the act of kicking ourselves for not remembering something.)
Just recently I reviewed a book by a young man that I’ve watched go through some stuff over the years. I thought it was well put together and had some great thinking and yet, I got chewed out because I didn’t pick up on the fact that he was “stealing from others”… as several put it. Well, for starters I don’t own all the books on the market and too, my memory tends to be c*** (not the best) for the most part. Secondly, the lad gave credit where credit was due; he may not have statements in the book from the originators of something complete with some kind of certification and whatever other “permission” type proofs people need now days for farting (after all, passing the gas was someone else’s idea first…). Long story short, the kid did do the right thing as far as I can tell, I didn’t recognize anything that seemed to be overt exposure but I bring his grief up so as to point out to all your self-publishing wiz-kids that want to get on the fast track to fame and misfortune, that this is another reason to check and double check your facts. Producing material that’s not been properly pulled together can and will result in a political nightmare that could destroy your career hopes and dreams.
So How Do I Become Known if I Can’t Write a Book?
I’m not saying you “can’t” write a book only that your age and lack of experience works against your success. You probably don’t want to hear that let alone believe it, but it’s a horrible truth; society is prejudiced when it comes to the maturation issue.
If you read Genii, you’ve probably heard of a guy named Mark Tripp… I believe it’s Linking Ring that features a writer named Joshua Kane. These are names, like Peter Marucci and I, that the public has learned to know and over time trust as the result of repetition and familiarity. There’s a ton of us out there and if you allow history to be your teacher you should wake up to the fact that contributing to magazines or if someone likes your material enough to do so, let them put a piece of yours in a book…
But I’m Not Making Money From It!
Nope! Not yet! And that’s the important word – YET!
The business word is tricky, you could gamble on a high investment quick return deal that’s a one shot program – do or die. Or, you can take the slower proven path of making a series of smaller investments over time and just allowing them to grow.
When you contribute two or three articles a year to one or two different publications a year, it starts adding up, YOU begin earning name recognition. Too, you will begin getting the kind of positive and critical feedback YOU NEED in order to grow as a personality and contributor to this industry. There will come a time when you just show up at a magic convention and people will want to meet you vs. you chasing certain people down and trying to meet them. For that matter, if your material is solid you will get asked by magic groups about your availability for doing a lecture or working a convention and so forth.
