That being said, the subject of this article is magic DVDs. I personally make money from magic in multiple ways: I Teach Magic to Local Students; I Do the Occasional Lecture to Magicians; I Perform the Occasional Gig (I don’t perform much these days); I Create and Sell my Ideas in the Form of DVDs and Books.

I imagine that many of you fall into at least one of the above categories. In fact I know specifically that several of my readers have published books and DVDs, so hopefully this article won’t go completely unread. The focus of this article is the question of whether or not to have an audience on your DVDs.

In other words, should your DVD include footage of you performing the effect before a live audience? Remember, when you sell DVDs, you’re not just selling to “magicians.” These magicians are your “customer” just like the restaurant you work for or the corporate gig you worked last week is your customer.

So when you make a DVD, make it one that your customer will truly appreciate. There are many facets to the production of the DVD.

• How many effects to include
• Gimmicks/Props to Include
• Menu Navigation
• Lighting
• Sound
• Wardrobe
• So much more

However, we’re only going to focus on one thing . . . Should your DVD have an audience. For those of you who’ve watched my DVDs you’ll know that I prefer not to have an audience. The remainder of this article will basically be me “arguing” my opinion on the matter. However, I’d like to open this up to debate, so please post a comment below, and don’t be afraid to disagree with me. So here goes . . .

Back in the day when books were the only source of learning magic, generally, there wasn’t much in the way of presentation; it was more a focus of the effect and the method. Generally, you had to work out your own presentation. The advantage of that was that the reader would spend the time to master the effect from a technical standpoint. Then he would have to be creative and make the effect fit his own personality and character. The disadvantage of that scenario is that all too often the magician would just learn the technical side and have no performance presentation. You end up with a journey of the props as Eugene Burger would say . . . or worse, you end up with the standard street patter: “watch, watch, watch, watch, look, look, look, watch.”

I think overall, however, the book “model” worked pretty well and sort of forced magicians to work things out themselves. The point I’m getting at here is that in the book “model” – an effective model at that – did not have a live performance in front of an audience, yet it still worked out ok.

That being said, I think one conclusion that could be drawn from the book “model” is that “selling” magic without a live performance is very doable. However, it does lead to some downsides. For example, many people watching a lecture/non audience video will assume that “those tricks would never fly for a real audience.”

Here’s how I see it. In Quantum Mechanics, there is a concept often mistaken for the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle that basically states that the observation of an event actually changes the event. That applies to audiences on film. When they’re being watched, the behavior changes.

Think about all of the DVD trailers you’ve watched with a performance out on the streets where the people are screaming and yelling and jumping up and down and cursing . . . Seriously . . . that kind of stuff only happens on camera. Very rarely do you get that kind of effect when from someone who is not on camera. The other extreme you can have is the dead pan audeince reaction. Again because they’re being observed, they try to “play it cool” and they end up not giving a true reaction. So the effect comes across looking not very powerful.

Additionally, when you have an audience (assuming the reactions are real), you’ll want to focus on the audience reaction rather than the effect. This is what made Blaine a household name . . . the audience reactions, not his “ability” to violently shake a spectator’s wrist and “secretly” steal a watch.

The problem, in a teaching video, with focusing on the audience is that you can’t really see the effect. Sure, with multiple camera shots and the L&L audience, you can pull this off, but I’m guessing that most of you don’t have L&L knocking on your door offering to pay you for a DVD gig, and I further assume that you don’t have the resources that L&L has to make your own DVD at their level of quality. So . . . we’re back to low budget productions with low budget audiences.

Having an audience further requires extra people on the set which slows things down and further complicates things. You can hit “the streets” for your audience and do your explanations in the studio. However, this presents other problems, namely lighting, background noise, permission wavers for the strangers you approach, plus the whole artificial-reaction-because-I’m-being-observed thing.

When you consider the extra people, the logistics, lighting, artificial reactions, camera angles, etc, my vote is for no audience. If you’re strictly getting a DVD to learn new effects, I think that the audience is totally not needed. However, if you’re looking to learn presentation skills and audience interaction skills, then the audience is absolutely necessary, however the effects are not. In that case – if you’re creating a DVD about audience interaction – the DVD should focus entirely on the interaction and banter between you and the audience as well as their reaction. The effects are totally irrelevant.

Let’s stick with the model of a DVD that teaches effects, however, for the time being. Going back to the “observer principle” we can further infer that when performing for an audience, the performer (being observed) is different from when he’s not performing in front of an audience. So when you produce your DVD, you may find that you perform for a camera a bit differently than you do for your audiences. This is fine. The point is to teach the effects and let the customer (the magician who bought the DVD) create his own presentation. The last thing you want is a clone of you.

For the sake of simplicity, clarity, learning experience of the customer and so many other things, my vote is “No Audience.” What’s your take?

Until Next Time . . .

The post Audience vs. No Audience appeared first on Stone Cold Magic Magazine.

By Jeff Stone

This month’s issue of No Stone Left Unturned is strictly for those who are truly trying to grow their client base. If you’re a hobbiest (not that there’s anything wrong with that), you can skip this article. For those who are still here, here we go.  Get the email address of everyone who hires you. That’s the simplest form of what we’re talking about this month.

We’ve talked, in past articles, about sending gifts and so forth to your clients. However, let’s take it to the next level. You want them to be constantly thinking about you, so sign them up on your newsletter list. You don’t have a newsletter? That’s ok. Getting one and managing one is simple, especially these days.

You need just two things to get this going.

1. You need content
2. You need a system to manage the list

I’m going under the assumption that you’re going to do an email based list rather than a snail mail list.

Content:

First, the content is pretty simple. Here are few things to include:

1. Dates of any public performances
2. Testimonials from recent shows
3. Thank Yous to recent clients
4. This last item we’ll call “tips and observations”

The newsletter does not have to include any of these or all of these, but these are good one to get you started. I think items 1 and 2 are pretty self-explanatory. Item 3 is simply a few so-called shout-outs to recent clients. For example, you might say something like this:

I just wanted to say thank you to Sheila over at Living Safari. I had a great time performing for fellow pet/animal lovers. Good luck with your new store.

Finally, item #4 is a place almost like a blog. You might want to have a place where you can write about your observations of magic in everyday life, or maybe funny anecdotes about recent gigs, or maybe party planning tips. Keep in mind that the majority of your subscribers will be people who hire entertainers, so party planning tips might be just the thing.

If you don’t know any party planning tips, Google it and post links to some ideas in the newsletter. This fourth item is the most important. Without it, the client really has no interest in subscribing. There needs to be a section that gives them some information that they will find interesting. Just listing your dates won’t be enough of a hook to get them to subscribe.

Now that you have some content ideas, let’s look at the next phase . . .

List Management

There are several services out there that provide email list management:

• A Weber
• Topica
• Constant Contact
• Get Response

I’ve used all of the above with the exception of A Weber. However, I’ve heard a lot of great things about A Weber. My recommendation would be Constant Contact. That’s what I use for the very list that you are subscribed to. It’s only $15.00 per month and super easy to manage. The price goes up as your list grows, but the $15.00 per month will cover you until you hit the 500 mark.

You can actually create an account for free for the first 30 or 60 days. The tech support is solid. I’ve called it a couple of times and they’ve been very helpful. They have many templates you can use to create your newsletter, or you can create custom ones.

Each month, you get an email from me to keep you updated on the latest issue of Stone Cold Magic Magazine. That email is from Constant Contact. When you signed up, you signed up using one of their boxes that you can get from their website.

The newsletter can be sent to your list monthly, quarterly, or sporadically. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you stay in touch with your clients. As they receive your newsletter, they are reminded of the show and of you. It helps you stay on the top of their mind. That leads to referrals and more gigs. Also, in your newsletter, you may want to mention that any repeat clients get a discount or that any referrals that end in a gig result in a referral kick-back to the referrer.

This is an excellent tool for marketing and staying in touch with your clients. Once you get set up with Constant Contact and you’ve got some ideas for content, spend a day calling all of your clients to let them know that you have a new newsletter and ask for their permission to add their name to the list.

Remember folks . . . it’s all about growing your client base and getting more gigs, but of course, you must have a good act first. So take the time to read Roots and Branches, The Full Montoya and Pillars of Stone. That’s where you learn to have a great act. Only then should you apply the techniques in this column.

Until Next Month . . .

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The post Stay in Touch appeared first on Stone Cold Magic Magazine.

What do you do for a living? Are you a Doctor? A Dentist? A Janitor? A Teacher? A Salesman? An Engineer? A Programmer? What are you? That’s the million dollar question: What do you do for a living? If that’s the million dollar question, what’s the million dollar answer? By the end of the next few paragraphs, you’ll know how to spot the million dollar question and how to give the million dollar answer.

Currently, my income is from the following sources:

1. My Full Time Job – Director of IT Department at an Accounting School (93% of my income)
2. Freelance web development/programming/tech support (3% of my income)
3. Magic/Comedy Gigs (3% of my income)
4. Stone Cold Magic Product Sales (1% of my income)

Those numbers are, of course approximate, and only represent the first 2 quarters of this year. Last year, the numbers were much different as were the years prior. In past years, magic products and gigs were a much greater percentage of my income.

I took a hiatus from performing magic for a brief period to finish up my degree last year which opened up some incredible opportunities with my employer. The hiatus is over, and I’m ramping up again getting more gigs and working more DVD and Book Projects, and so by the end of the year, the percentages will change again.

However, even with the change, the majority of my income for the next few years will still come from my full time job. My long term plan is to reverse that, but it won’t be for a while. I really enjoy my job and the people I work with, but I also really enjoy performing magic and teaching magic, so eventually I’ll have to come to terms with who I really want to be or maybe I want to always be both.

My corporate gigs always pay extremely well, and you only need a few of those gigs to “retire” from a job, but why retire when you love it so much? I’ve been doing magic my whole life, and I’ve been doing it professionally for 15ish years. I’ve been doing computer programming my whole life, and I’ve been doing it professionally for about 7 or 8 years. Both are a huge part of who I am, so it’s a tough decision. Do I give up one, or can I handle both.

Ultimately, I think magic will win because there is much more freedom when you write your own paycheck by getting your own gigs, but only time will tell.

So if you’ve made it this far, you may be wondering why I’m sharing all of this with you. Basically I was attempting to put in writing my inner dialogue about me and about how I perceive myself and my future self. If you have dreams of performing professionally, then you have this same type of dialogue going on in your own mind. Do not confuse professional with full time. Even I eventually eliminate everything except for gigs, I still only plan to do it part time.

You can be a pro and still have other sources of income and security. So remember back to the million dollar question: what do you do for a living? The answer I give depends on how much time I have available in my schedule… sounds crazy right?

Here’s what I mean: in the past few months, I’ve turned down several gigs because I did not have time to do them. However, over the past few weeks I was finally available to accept a couple of gigs because I’ve freed up some of my time at work by hiring a couple more people.

If I were talking to someone a month ago and was asked, “so what do you do for a living,” my answer would have been, “I’m a programmer.” The answer was used for several reasons. First, it’s the easiest one to explain, and most people know what it means. The second reason will become clear in a moment after I explain what my current answer to this question is.

Now when people say to me, “so what do you do for a living,” I say, “I’m a magician” or “I’m an entertainer” or “Corporate Entertainment” or “Standup Comedy” or “Public Speaker” etc.

You get the idea. What do you think happens when I answer with one of those answers? The person, inevitably, asks me for more details, and the conversation ultimately ends in a business card exchange. Which leads to gigs. Not always of course, but often enough for sure.

So you probably can see what my second reason for saying “I’m a programmer” is. When I say that I’m a programmer, I don’t put myself in a position to get a gig because the conversation never goes down that road because they don’t know that I do gigs. And I’m too busy or don’t want any gigs, so it works out.

Well now that I’m back in the gig mode and the I-have-more-time mode, I DO want gigs, so when I’m asked what I do for a living, the million dollar answer is “I’m an Entertainer” or something along those lines.

If you want more gigs and you want to make money with magic, then when you are asked what you do for a living, do not answer with the phrase, “I’m a doctor” or “I’m a sales manager” etc… You need to say, “I’m a magician.”

Obviously simply saying, “I’m a magician” does not land you the gig. You need to know what to do from there, how to talk to the person about what you do, how to get his/her card and give your card, etc. We’ll save those details for next month’s No Stone Left Unturned.

For now, put some thought into whether you’re a “magician”, “corporate entertainer”, “comedian”, etc… pick one of those based on your personality and your show, and you’ll have your million dollar answer to the million dollar question.

Next month… how to use the million dollar question and answer to build rapport and get the gig. Until Next Month…

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The post The Million Dollar Question (Part I) appeared first on Stone Cold Magic Magazine.