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Magic In The Real World
What You Need To Know Before You Quit Your Day Job
by Christian Painter
Reviewed by Quentin Reynolds
This publication is not about routines, tricks, or sleights. It is much more
valuable. It is about how to use those moves and props to earn you hard cash and
provide you with a comfortable living.
Becoming a full-time pro is a challenging undertaking. Fortunately the advice
and suggestions, won by hard experience, will help prepare you for your journey
ahead. Reading this book and heeding the advice will save you thousands of hours
in wasted time and even more thousands in wasted hard cash.
Subtitled, ‘What you need to know before you quit your day job,’ the chapters
cover:
Do You Really Want To Be a Professional Magician?
Getting a Magic Mentor or Director
Finding a Business Mentor
Marketing 101
Entertainment Agents
Restaurant Gateway
Fair and Festival Market
Working a Cruise Ship
The College Market
Tradeshow Magic
TED Talks
Magic Competitions
Selling Magic
Big Fish in a Small Pond
Using New Technology
Eight Things People Don’t Tell You
Even if you are already a working pro but are interested in exploring another
market, you will find this book very useful. If you are just exploring earning a
living from magic, it will help you choose which markets suit your current
talents and experience.
The chapters originally appeared as articles in M-U-M magazine and I am so
pleased they are now available in this ebook. Rarely does such useful material
appear in any magic magazine. I recommend you print out the ebook and have it
bound. You will refer back to it. Not only do get advice on potential pitfalls,
you will get good idea of the fees available in many of these markets (as of
2017).
When I saw Christian Painter’s name on this book, I purchased it straight away.
His previous book on close-up mentalism, Protoplasm, had two routines I added to
my repertoire, so anything he would have to say is worth my full attention. In
addition, we met recently at Obie’s 4F convention, where he and his wife
Katalina expertly compered one of the shows. I’ve also purchased extra copies
for two friends who aspire to be professional magicians.
As Michael Close says in the Foreword: “This may well be the most practical
little handbook for the aspiring professional magician ever published.” I agree.
86 pages, crammed with practical advice. Very highly recommended and available
at
www.michaelclose.com/collections/just-added
© Quentin Reynolds, August 2017