From 'Magic Week'

'Magic Week' is a very successful and popular website providing a digest of news and views for the UK magic community: The 20th August 2005 edition of Magic Week carried a review of 'Making Money From Magic', written by the site's author Duncan Trillo.

Both Drew McAdam and I were a little concerned about this review, and we both feel it might be as well to address some of the points made.

Before I go any further, let me make one or two things crystal-clear.

(1) 'Magic Week' is written and produced by my friend Duncan Trillo. I've known Duncan for years, and I sing his praises often. Those of you who have my book on Cold Reading will see that Duncan is mentioned very favourably in the 'Thank yous' at the back, and so he should be. Duncan has done a lot for magic and for mentalism, and on a personal level I have always enjoyed his company whenever we've met. I have always found him very helpful when I've turned to him to discuss magic or website management or, indeed, anything  else! Moreover, there is no doubt that Duncan knows his stuff. He's an experienced, award-winning magician and performer in his own right, and has been a working professional for more years than I can recall. So this is not about criticising Duncan. He's a great guy, and well-informed, and anyone waiting for me to say otherwise will wait a l-o-n-g time.

(2) Both Drew and I respect the fact that Duncan wrote an honest, sincere review of the book as he saw it. We also accept that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and we both welcome and accept valid criticism - after all, no book is perfect, and there's always room for improvement.

Those points having been made, let us move on.

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Our concerns are not that Duncan's review contained criticisms of the book's shortcomings as he saw them. We respect his judgement and his opinion. Our concern is that the review might deter some people from buying this book who would truly, genuinely benefit from buying it, and that in some places Duncan's emphasis seems a little hard to understand.

We don't want to run into the usual probems of 'taking things out of context', so you can read the full review here:

http://www.magicweek.co.uk/ (go to Reviews and then scroll down to Books).

Here are some sections of the review, and our comments.

"I wish Drew had called this book Making Money from 'Psychic' Parties and Tarot Parties or something along those lines. The author is clearly an expert in that field and passes on useful information and knowledge... the book would have received a four or five star rating.

But instead the book's called Making Money From Magic - The definitive, step-by-step guide to making good money from magic and mentalism. If you are going to put "the definitive guide" on the front cover of a book then you'd better make darn sure that it really is the definitive guide - this simply isn't."

Drew and I are both a little puzzled by this. The book contains 16 chapters and 138 pages. Of these, only pages 75-94 refer to the business of giving readings (i.e. about 19 pages or 14% of the book). Moreover, all of this information about psychic parties is included purely to illustrate broader principles that the author sets forth in earlier sections of the book. For example, in earlier chapters, Drew writes at great length about such things as the need to understand the market, and to tailor your material to the market. The sections referring to readings in people's homes are there to illustrate, in one specific way that most readers will be able to relate to, how these principles are put into practise. Drew specifically makes the point that these kinds of readings and parties may be useful to the budding mentalist as a good stepping stone towards developing a career as a professional magician or mentalist.

I (Ian Rowland) as the publisher stand by the claim that Drew's book is the 'definitive guide' to this subject. I've been in magic for 25 years at least, and while I haven't read everything, I've read a lot. In my opinion, there is no better book that addresses the issue of how to turn a hobby / part-time interest into a full-time profession, and no book that gives better, more detailed or more practical advice. The Reader Comments I have received seem to suggest that this is the case.

"Instead we have a book that in the main focuses on a niche market - presenting "psychic" and tarot parties to small groups of people in their own homes. Some other types of work are covered, but in no real detail."

If I wanted to turn a hobby/passion into something more, and bought a book titled Making Money From Magic - The definitive, step-by-step guide to making good money from magic and mentalism then I'd naturally assume that it would cover the full gauntlet of performance opportunities open to magicians and "mentalists" (more on that word later) and how to make money from those opportunities."

Well, we agree with Duncan that the book should address the full range of performance opportunities, and we believe it does. Here are the types of gigs and performances that Drew specifically addresses in the book:

- impromptu performances without props
- impromptu performances with readily available props
- 20 minute, 40 minute and 60 minute stage shows
- parties and 'table-hopping'
- walkaround gigs, trade shows and corporate 'infotainment'
- 'psychic corner' gigs

We think that's fairly comprehensive, and covers the great majority of opportunities open to most people who will buy the book.

"And if you're going to call it "Making Money From Magic" then you'd better talk money, and how much. I only remember money being discussed twice in the whole book. Once in a "double your fee" piece that had me very worried, and once under Psychic Parties: "If your clients arrange parties for groups of six at £20 per head, that's £120 for a maximum of three hours work. That's £600 for a five-day week (only working weekday evenings). That's £30k per year, allowing for two weeks off in the Bahamas. And the overheads? A mere pittance."

It's true that in one section Drew provides some typical examples of the potential earnings to be derived from giving readings - an area of work that, as we have already stated, is featured in the book as a potential stepping stone to a more fully-fledged career as a performing magician or mentalist, and a good way to build confidence. We feel many readers will welcome these estimates based on Drew's own personal experience.

But we fail to appreciate Duncan's broader point here. Drew provides many references throughout the book to the practical business of making money from one's performances as a mentalist or magician. However, he doesn't state how much the reader will earn, or speculate about this. At the risk of stating the obvious, this depends on the reader, and how successfully he or she applies the information in the book!

"In one of the main sections titled "Attitude Towards Your Publicity" one of the headings is "Why You Don't Need Advertising." It talks about press releases, local radio, even writing a psychic column in your local newspaper, and, rightly, covers the importance and worth of good word of mouth. But to advise readers not to advertise is, in my opinion, really poor advice. I know a number of very successful magicians who budget £2,000 - £3,000 per year on advertising, spread across the internet, directories, specialist directories, and specialist publications. Their earnings are in the £50,000 - £60,000 bracket and advertising is a major contributor to their success. (Talking of which there was no mention of The White Book anywhere, or other industry publications and specialist magazines.) Volkswagen sell a lot of cars thanks to good word of mouth, but they also sell a lot due to their advertising, and spend many millions on it every year... there's a reason, the two should go hand in hand."

Our response here is simple: we agree with Duncan. To advise readers not to advertise would be poor advice. This isn't what the book does. What Drew does is explain how it is possible to get started without having to spend money on paid-for advertising. Drew also explains how he, as a beginner, managed to win significant press coverage without spending a single penny. This information is realistic, practical, and based on Drew's own experience and example.

We feel this information will be useful to a great many people who are in the 'starting up' phase and who do not have much cash to spend on advertising. Drew knows that many of his readers fear that trying to 'turn pro' must require a substantial advertising budget. His aim is to show that this is not the case, and that you can get started without having to spend money on advertising. Of course, once you are an established professional with regular gigs and a good income, you can make some wise decisions as to where to advertise your services (such as on Magic Week, and Duncan's excellent site http://www.corporatemagicians.com/ which, at £50 per year, represents excellent value for money).

Drew has a website which includes information about his services. The website address is included in any flyers that he hands out to prospective clients, samples of which are included in the back of the book. But to be frank the site isn't up to standard and is the equivalent of a home printed do-it-yourself business card. It is also plagued by a pop-up advert from the company that hosts it, which suggests that the site is either free or cheap - not a good image to portray: www.drewmcadam.co.uk. For someone producing "The definitive, step-by-step guide to making good money from magic and mentalism" I would have expected far better. Publicity material should always be top notch.

The quality of Drew's website is a judgement call, and we respect Duncan's judgement. Maybe Drew's site could be better, and in any case Duncan himself designs better-looking websites than either Drew or myself! But we wonder if this is really pertinent to a review of the book's content?

- Ian Rowland and Drew McAdam

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(I sent this page to Duncan to invite comments and corrections before I published it here on my website - Ian).