Do Magicians Prefer Apple iOS to Android?

The team at the magic shop had a small argument the other day about which types of phones and devices magicians tend to prefer. It was caused by a discusion about the range of magic apps and tricks with iphones that have been released for magicians over the last few years.

To settle the argument we looked at the data from the magic shop.

We picked a recent email we sent out to subscribers of the Merchant of Magic Newsletter. It was a segmented group of people who had all opted in to our list and had described themselves as average ability magicians who practiced sleight of hand and were interested in close up magic.

We then ranked the members of that list by the number of purchases they had made over the last 5 years, selecting the top 14,000 magicians that had ordered on many occasions.

That gave us a large sample of 14,000 magicians.

Once we had our sample, we looked at the devices that the sample used to access the email. Here's the results:

The majority of the magicians used Apple iOS rather than Android. On mobile devices, most people used an Apple iOS device. On decktop, most people uses Apple Mail to read the email.

That settled the argument in the magic shop, and we could all get back to work.. If you are developing apps for magicians, you may find this useful.

Why magicians performing websites should be mobile friendly

One point that we found that could be useful for magicians is the amount of people that access our site via mobile rather than decktop. Here's the data:

Google have changed the way they rank websites, so they now give preference in the mobile search listings to mobile optimised sites. Is your magicians website mobile friendly? It's time to check..

How to Start out as a Magician and Get Experience

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

Samuel didn't know how to start out as a magician

By Dominic Reyes

I received this email from a young magician:

'I emailed you about how to go about getting a first gig, and you told me that as I was 14, I should consider doing some charity events. I spoke to members of our towns committee about it, and they seemed more than happy to take me on. I am now getting lots of gigs, so I thought I should say thank you, as you gave me the original advice that started it all off. So thank you very much for your great advice.' – Samuel Prior

This got me thinking about the advice I game Samuel when he was 14. It applies to young magicians that are just starting out and are having trouble being taken seriously when they approach venues or companies to pitch their magic. However, I think the advice is solid for magicians of any age, when they have the catch 22 situation of needing experience, but struggling to get gigs because of that reason:

If you want to do magic as a paid performer, you HAVE to get out and start performing for the public. Nobody will come to you and beg to hire you, so you need to put yourself in public situations where you can perform professionally. The easiest way to do this is to HELP YOUR COMMUNITY by offering your services at local charity and community events. That first step will give you the confidence to market yourself, get your name out, and push forward to get future paid work as a magician. If you have been thinking about doing this for a while, now is the time to act. Contact your local community centre TODAY, and ask them about events coming up that could use some free entertainment. It's just a phone call, but it's that first step that you have to make sooner or later..

Do you know a keen magician that has been thinking about doing paid work, but has yet to take that first step? If so, email or text them a link to this page. A little push from someone that cares about them is all it might take..

Are you already a working magician and have some advice for magicians just starting out? How did you get your feet off the ground performing? Maybe you are in the same position Samuel was in, and have a question? Leave a comment in the section at the bottom of this page.

Magicians Business Cards in Party Bags

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

Is it OK to put your magicians business cards in event party bags?

We received this email from a magician worried about the best way to hand out his magicians business cards:

Scott writes:

'I have a gig on Wednesday, and have been emailed by the organizer who has said to me if I drop some business cards to her, she will include them in goodie bags that are being handed out. She has asked me to let her know by Monday, so I have some time to consider it. However, I have a couple of tricks I like to do that involve handing my business cards out as part of a reveal. Should I take her up on the offer? It sounds like a great idea, but at the same time takes away a part of my act'

Dominic Reyes recorded this advice for Scott:

We highly recommend that you DO include your magicians business cards in the party/goodie bags. The more people that find your card the better. Don't worry about using your business cards in a few tricks at the same time. It's unlikely that you will do that magic trick to EVERY guest, and the cards in the bags will probably remain in there until the guests get home.