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- If you build it, they will come: sure.
If you build it, they will come: sure.
I love John Archer. I grew up watching him, and he’s the best at what he does. He’s the only performer I always look forward to seeing perform at Blackpool. I genuinely believe his Fool Us performance is the best there’s ever been. I always know I’ll enjoy watching him perform, even if it’s magic I’ve seen before.
I will, however, be sharing his recent advice for younger magicians to set up my overly passionate argument for learning to (and making mistakes along the way) sell yourselves. I’m doing so because his advice is just too flawlessly perfect for a topic I’ve wanted to write about for a long while.
Archer’s words are given out in good conscience, and I can assure you that I am undoubtedly over-enthusiastic about what we should be telling young magicians.
Last week, John Archer shared some advice in a magic Facebook group.
I want to quickly start by flagging that to many magicians; John Archer has made it. He has the career many many would wish for, and I do feel feelings for the fact that John doesn’t view it this way. Anyways, here’s his advice:
“I will stick my head over the parapet and risk being controversial.
Before reading, remember that this is advice from one guy, and though it may not read like it, it is meant to be helpful. Some performers will possibly disagree, alright, almost certainly.
I could, of course, be wrong; I was in 1993. I'm happy for you to decide. If nothing else, it may generate a bit of healthy discussion, which I haven't had for a while.
I recently looked at listings for magic shows at Edinburgh Festivals. I've also started to get hit by a plethora of social media posts from Magicians far and wide claiming to be an award-winning so and so and 'The best in the business. I've heard stories of people using celebrities' paid-for 'Cameo videos' to promote their shows. New acts are hounding venues, and bookers to hire them. Performers use fake quotes or quotes out of context to make them seem even more significant than they are.
Of course, this doesn't apply to all acts out there or working in Edinburgh or touring in general; Ben Hart and Pete Firman both have gushing promotional text for their Edinburgh and tour shows, but it is earned and honest. I'm not against healthy promotion. Of course, there are other 'earned and honest' acts, but I don't want to start a naughty and nice list, and I would inevitably get some on the wrong list.
Some would say that all of the above promotional tactics are fine, and yes, there are no laws against a hefty dose of hype. In our business, we do have to promote ourselves. I will contend that in the long run, if you rely on your promotional materials more than you count on your performance, I believe it can, in the long run, do you damage.
It is easy to understand why this hype can be done with a genuine belief that we are as good as our self-written publicity. As Ricky Jay said, "Magic is a powerful art that can support a weak performer." Sometimes 'the trick' is enough to impress an uninformed lay audience, and we, the performer, can easily confuse that applause as being for us rather than the roughing fluid that really fooled them.
Why do I think overhyping or, worse still, downright lies can have an adverse effect? People talk, and if something appears too good to be true, it probably is, and they check. If you claim to be the greatest act in the UK or the world, people will expect that, and when all you deliver is a standard show of reasonably presented but standard tricks, they will talk again. Your status goes down, not up. You can sell quite a bit of Lasagne in fancy packaging with a fantastic picture and a few delicious quotes on the outside, but if the pasta is off and it has no meat inside, people will soon hear and stop buying that Lasagne. Supermarkets don't put budget sausage in fancy packaging.
When I get introduced in a show, I give the MC two or three things to say about me, tangible things, not something I made up or got a friend to say about me. I don't want to be introduced as the best (I know who would do that to me.) I want to raise the audience's view of me as the show continues, not see it dwindle as they realise I am not the next David Williamson.
If you check out Tom Crosby and Pete Heat's Edinburgh blurb, they both use comedy and self-deprecation to temper the glowing quotes they have. It's smart… It makes you likeable. Join the nice list, boys…”
The full post is on the ‘Magicians Only’ Facebook page.
Five days later, Archer announced he’s got a new live show on tour.
I’m very happy for him, and if I could, I would see the show. I recommend you do so if it comes to a city near you. Anyways, Here’s the poster:
Isn’t it just incredible? It’s definitely not direct from Las Vegas.
Side note — my favourite quote from their ad copy:
The star's Of X-treme Magic do all this and more, 'all while looking incredibly sexy'.
I don’t blame Archer for the ad copy and choice of quotes on his new magic poster. I get it, they need to sell tickets, and I’m guessing Archer didn’t have complete creative control over the artwork, and it’s not his money invested in the tour.
If only he could have afforded the same logic to the “younger magicians” taking their shows to the Fringe.
It’s an incredible, incredible achievement to get your act to the Fringe — in any capacity.
Many of these younger magicians will be taking an entire month away from their regular jobs (sometimes even quitting if they are not allowed to take a whole month off) and investing thousands of pounds of their personal savings (and sometimes the savings of their family and friends).
They’ll be relying on themselves, show producers and promoters to get bums on seats so they can make their money back (most do not) and pursue their dream of performing magic full-time.
Oh, and they’ll be competing with a ridiculous number of shows — the majority of which get booked the same day based on flyers, the brochure and posters almost always around the availability of the punters that day. Going to the Fringe is fucking hard. Getting people to watch you once you are there can be even more challenging.
Lying to promote your show is not a good idea. Worth underlining that.
The truth is that if you want to be a successful magician, you do need to learn how to be a good salesperson or partner up with someone who can be that for you.
Whether that’s Phil McIntyre buying cheap local newspaper ads to promote Dynamo’s live tour or it’s Andrew O’Connor convincing the producers of Hamilton to convince the cast of Hamilton to take part in promotional YouTube videos for Derren’s Broadway show.
You can’t just be good.
You need to sell.
Copperfield trademarked the term “King Of Magic.”
Blaine signed 10,000 decks to get you to pay for his magic class.
Asi Wind has titled his new live show “David Blaine Presents...”
Pete Firman is asking people to like and share on TikTok.
Dan White is performing a free Zoom show for another celebrity.
DelGuardio continues to pretend he enjoys getting interviewed by Colbert.
Justin Willman is doing local news interviews.
I admire them all for promoting what they love and making a living doing it.
I write this as I reluctantly run Twitter ads for this newsletter, brag about how many free readers I have because it adds social proof, run giveaways, and pretend I like magic enough to talk about it for far too many hours as a guest on magic podcasts.
Unfortunately, the phrase “build it, and they will come” is a bit bullshit. You can maybe get away with this if you’re working within a discovery platform. Suppose you post great content online for ten years. In that case, you probably will build an audience, thanks to well-tuned discovery algorithms (and then you’ll have magicians lecture you about how you could never get your social following to buy tickets to your show — it’s hard, but you can, I promise).
The Fringe festival is not housed within a discovery platform — there is no like button. Without a budget, you’re restricted to handing out flyers and sticking your poster up in pub restrooms. This year, they even dropped the ball and dropped their app:
If you can’t be a salesperson — find someone who can.
Build it, promote it, and try your absolute best to bring the audience back. It is hard to make a career performing magic. Don’t be a dick about it, but also don’t be discouraged — you will need to sell every now and then. If you’re a “younger magician” taking your show to the Fringe this year — good on you.
Younger magicians: Make mistakes. Learn. Grow. Sure, there are tasteful and refined ways to sell yourself, and you’ll figure that out along the way. No matter what — you will regret your first Fringe poster in twenty years. That’s how it works, we make choices, and if we’re good at what we do, we look back and wince and get better.
Unrelated early promo shot of Brown.
You’ll figure out what you need to do to get bums on seats, and I trust your ability to learn how to keep them coming back. Oh, and if you do read this, and you are a younger magician with one of the questionable Fringe festival posters Archer is on about, do make sure your show is not shit; it’ll really take the wind out of this newsletter post.
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