Seven years ago, I was due to fly to the UK to start work on a new TV magic project when it was cancelled last minute. Suddenly, I had a three-month window with no work or income. I decided to quickly write a magic book for magicians with ideas I would usually sell to TV magicians.
In a rush, I compiled ideas from my iPhone notes. Andi Gladwin was smart enough to tell me there needed to be 100 ideas – not 50. Geraint Clarke was the clever guy who said I needed to add an intro sharing how magicians can be more unique.
The book was called Only Ideas: Your How-to Guide to Creating Magic + 100 Ideas to Get You Started. I decided to self-publish, and the dream was to sell 50 copies and cover at least one month of London rent.
I sold 1,700 copies in the first year.
I was in shock.
There's actually a video on my phone of my Brother and I reacting to the first twenty orders coming in, and I already sound so excited.
The process taught me that I could generate my own value and not always rely on others. I learned to trust my instincts/taste and embrace what makes me, well, me. The idea that people might buy a book that only included ideas seemed unlikely, but I knew it was a book I would have bought. This was life-changing for me.
I started to say no more often to projects, and I started to invest in myself more and more, like with this newsletter or my party game.
Magicians keep asking for a reprint of Only Ideas, and many more want the unreleased sequel (Only Methods). But the frustrating truth is that a pocketbook like this can only be priced at less than $20, and at that level, it's very hard to make it work without selling at scale via Murphy's (the big magic supplier), and I certainly don't want to do that again.
