Why A Monthly Magic Subscription Box For Beginners Is A Bad Idea

Chris asks: Is there a monthly magic subscription box for beginners?

If you have not come across them before, the concept is simple. You pay a monthly subscription, and each month or quarter you receive a box full of cool tricks, and tutorials to learn that month. Sometimes this is followed up with a members forum to share ideas and opinions about what’s in the box.

For the subscriber it’s exciting, often cheaper than the cost of buying the items individually and (in theory) you get a curated collection of great magic tricks to learn each month together with a community of fellow subscribers to socialise with.

For the magic dealers it’s a great way to sell a bulk batch of each item.. It’s a steady constant income stream that can grow rapidly as your subscriber list increases. Your subscribers stay loyal and profitable over a long period.

I’ve never liked the idea of a magic subscription box.

From the point of view of a magic teacher I think they are a very bad way to look after magicians that trust you to teach them. From a business point of view a magic subscription box may be profitable.. and from a distance they appear to be helpful, but they usually fail to deliver any real results. MoM is about pushing magicians to develop their magic into performance, and that isn’t helped in any way by the restrictions a subscription box puts on a beginner.

The importance of being actively selective

The sooner beginners are pushed to be ‘actively selective’ about the material they spend their valuable practice time on the better. Beginners waste enough time on disjointed random effects and purposeless moves without application already…

The key to building an effective magic training program for your magic is to be very selective about the material that you spend your time working on. You should aim to slowly build up mastery of the core moves in card and coin work, together with the basics of misdirection. Each trick you learn should be picked because it fit’s into building you an act of material to perform… Not because a dealer managed to get a large wholesale deal on a particular beginners item to throw into this months magic subscription box. You deserve better than that.

Netflix for magicians

Another option that gets suggested a lot is a subscription service for download tuition. Again, some customers will see value in it for the short term, but ask yourself this:

Are you buying magic tricks to entertain yourself, or to teach yourself? A buffet of content is fun, but you don’t need that much material in your training program. Too much choice is the enemy of structured practice… It leads to simply jumping from one trick to the next, never stoping long enough to master anything. The pull for the ‘new’ distracts you from working on something long enough to be anything more than average at it’s performance. Slowly, choice turns to boredom, and that is the most common cause of people drifting away from magic over time.

Pick just a few items that you REALLY want to master.

I’d always recommend a good slow paced individually focused magic course. A structures way to drill of core moves, and then routines that reinforce those moves. So much better than a lucky dip of random easy tricks each month..

If you contact the support team at the magic shop, they will discuss what you already perform, what you’re struggling with… and then get a good suggestion of the next material to work on to push you forward. Any good magic shop will give you the time to do that for you.

Best wishes and good luck with your magic

Dominic Reyes

Becoming an Expert Magician – Specialize Your Study of Magic Tricks?

by Merchant of Magic 4 Comments

Expert magician ‘I want to become a master magician. I’ve been doing magic tricks for a few years now and like doing card magic best. Is it OK to just do card tricks? I would like to become a master magician at magic tricks, but feel that I won’t be able to make a mark in magic, unless I focus on one part.‘ – Mark

What’s your specialty in magic? Are you a ‘coin man’, a card worker, or perhaps a mentalist? When you first start out learning magic tricks, it’s important to get experience across a wide range of magic tricks. You need to find out which types of magic suit you as an individual, which excite you and get your creative energy flowing. As you move along this path, you may find yourself drawn to particular types of magic tricks. When this happens, is it a sign that you should specialize?

We asked Simon Lovell to give you some advice:

That’s really good advice! Simon Lovell recommends that you spend the first few years trying out as many new types of magic as possible. Then, once you find a style of magic that you are passionate about, you should specialize and learn EVERYTHING you can about that subject. Through this, you become a master magician.

It’s vital that you develop a broad knowledge BEFORE you commit to a specific field, as you need to discover what’s right for you, and become grounded before you focus in one direction.

Dominic Reyes: By specializing, you develop a full understanding of a smaller subject. You learn it’s history, and it’s current direction and trends. You also discover it’s boundaries and limitations. Through doing this, you are able to touch the edge of current knowledge on that subject, and hopefully, push that edge a little further.

Let’s look at this process of becoming a master magician in more detail

Imagine this circle contains all human knowledge on the subject of magic

As a kid you pick up a few simple proposition bets and basic magic tricks. You know a little:

Learning a few magic tricks as a beginner

You then start learning easy self working magic tricks. You know a little more:

Starting to learn professional magic tricks

You now start learning sleight of hand and performing skills. You develop a specialty:

You gain experience performing and deepen your knowledge of your chosen specialty:

Gaining experience and developing your knowledge in one direction

Lectures, specialized books, DVD’s and discussion with other magicians takes you to the edge of human knowledge on your branch of magic. You are now a master magician.

Once your at the boundary of your field you focus on your creativity:

You push at the boundary for a few years:

Until one day, the boundary gives way:

And, that dent you’ve made is your contribution.:

Of course, the world looks different to you now:

How the world of magic looks when you specialize

So, don’t forget the bigger picture:

It’s important to understand that the goal is not the specialization itself. The specialization is a tool cut through the huge amount of information on magic, so you can understand just one part fully. Your goal is to become the best performer you can become, in the time you have.

Specialization allows you to become an expert magician. It’s important if you want to become one of the core creators of magic in the field. However, specialization doesn’t need to be on the mechanics of magic tricks. Becoming a master magician in performance, misdirection, comedy in magic, dexterity… All these abilities could also become your specialty.

The core message is to gain a broad knowledge first, then COMMIT to mastering something. Choose a specialty and push yourself to know the subject fully, then push a little further and make a contribution.

Useful Posts:

Eric Jones: Master magicians don’t mind being caught out

Master magicians and creators of magic tricks – Talk to them

My hands are too small to do sleight of hand magic tricks

Special thanks to Matt Might for The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.

Recommended book: Simon Lovell – Second to None

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How Does Dynamo Do His Tricks?

by Merchant of Magic 7 Comments

How does Dynamo do his tricks? This is the most common question the team at the Merchant of Magic is asked. In fact, a day doesn’t go by without someone doesn’t phone the magic shop to ask just that question.

Why do they want to know?

Many callers have just seen an episode of Dynamo Magician Impossible on TV. They have been amazed by the show and simply want to work out Dynamo does it. For other’s, the dynamo TV series acts as a gateway, inspiring them to learn magic for themselves. They call the shop for help taking the first step in magic training.

How should a magic shop answer this question? There are several possible answers a magic shop could give:

How does Dynamo do his tricks? Answer: It’s a secret.

Magic shops use a code of conduct developed by magicians over the years, to allow the exchange of magic secrets amongst themselves. Training and magic tricks need to be exchanged, but magic shops agree not to actively promote exposing the secrets of magic tricks to the general public. When a person that magic shop doesn’t know, calls to ask: how does Dynamo do his magic tricks? We assume that the person is simply a member of the public and is looking for answers to a puzzle rather than seeking to learn magic.

How does Dynamo do his tricks? Answer: With a huge production company on TV

Much of Dynamo magician impossible is TV magic. That’s very different to the type of magic tricks that would work if a magician were performing magic tricks live.

Dynamo’s TV show is a polished product, produced, edited and directed. It’s the work of a huge team of people. When people ask magic shops: How does dynamo do his magic tricks, they are hoping that it will be something they can simply buy and perform themselves. This is often not the case. Some possible answer:

How does Dynamo do his tricks? Answer: That’s the wrong question to ask.

The saying goes:

‘The only silly question is the one that isn’t asked’.

That’s true, but there are better ways to ask the question. How about:

That’s true, but there are better ways to ask the question. How about:‘How can I do magic tricks like dynamo?’

It’s great to be inspired by famous magicians, but one of the real magicians secrets is not to try to become a clone of any single magician.

If you enjoy the type of magic Dynamo performs (Street Magic), look for magic tricks you could do in that style. Be original, yet with a popular theme. Clones are never as successful as the original. As a magician, you need to step out in your own direction. Use other magicians as inspiration and learn as much as you can from them about presentation and performance, but don’t follow too closely in any one person’s footsteps. If you do, you will encounter all the problems they have faced, but very little of their luck or breaks.

Ask a good magic shop for help choosing magic tricks in the style of Dynamo Magician Impossible and they will be happy to help you. If you ask them: How does Dynamo do his tricks? They won’t answer that question directly. However, they will be happy to talk to you about your performing style, persona and the magic tricks you already do. Then, they can suggest magic tricks that would fit you perfectly. The best magic shops are staffed by working magicians so they will have invaluable free information for you on how to get it right.

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