I am about to publish the first book on the 'traditional style' Hindu Cups and Balls.
I have spent many dollars and many years of my life devoted to this one trick.

Frankly I am disgusted watching the nimrods online exposing magic. I am disgusted by the counterfeiters who have absolutely no consciences and are only out to make a buck. In fact I am starting to get disgusted by most magicians in general. I have met very few who have any ethics.

I would like to share this work with those that have the same passion as I have for this trick and are hardcore-serious about mastering this-NOT the whole world.
I would appreciate any input or ideas on how I can do this and still keep the 'work' sub rosa.

Only sell to people you have personally vetted. Even then you are taking a risk.

The only sure-fire method for keeping secrets is to keep your own mouth completely shut, and killing everyone else who knows the secret.

I think that those who are most likely to hijack your material for the purpose of exposure are, for the most part too lazy to read a book, let alone master a complex routine. The print medium is a wise choice for this as the copyright protection is more easily defined and enforced. Problems with piracy or exposure arise more often in the realm of video.

It is commendable that you are thinking about this before the fact. Theft of printed work is more risky and less profitable than lifting a video or knocking-off a gimmick.

You can minimise exposure in a number of ways; Unique terminology and phrases have protection as do photos and illustrations. These can be spotted in a Google search, where you can take appropriate action.

A short promo video for the book is all you need to put online. Once a download or DVD goes out the door, you have lost all control.

Target your prospective buyer carefully and determine the most effective ways to reach them. Stealth marketing can be very effective and affordable.

Always keep a top eye open for misappropriation of your work and nip it in the bud. A "Cease and desist" letter usually does it. Your desire to protect your work for the sake of the art makes your position morally bulletproof.

I'm sure there are many folks right here on the Café who would alert you to any shenanigans that may turn up.
The nature of this project puts you in a relatively good position compared to other magic creators.

Best of luck to you!

Very sad that you have to consider this, but wise to do so. I would add to the comments above that setting the price for your book high may help. It seems many expect to get information free or very cheap. A high price for your book could serve to dissuade the cheaters from purchasing, or sharing, your work. Good luck, and let us know what develops...

Jim

Thank you 'stoneunhinged' I am very tempted to just dummy up.

Mr. Mystoffelees- Jim, I like your idea,considering how much I paid to learn this.

I can tell you from personal experience that once you let the information out in ANY form you must accept that you have lost any kind of control over it. It's too bloody easy to 'copy' anything.

If you do keep the price high...say $2-300.00 per and the edition very limited you then have to hope (or not) that someone will want the information badly enough to pay the freight. That might have the effect though of getting it only into the hands of collectors who have no interest in learning the information!

You have to decide on really only ONE thing: DO I in fact want the information OUT there to be used and appreciated by at least some small segment of the magic community no MATTER WHAT ELSE HAPPENS? That's it. If you can't answer that in the affirmative then don't publish. Do the following: Offer to teach it for a set price ONLY to folks face to face. And, hopefully do so enough that it will be 'out' there into the future.

If you answer YES, then I would suggest the following since I have had to deal with this for many, many years: Do a very detailed Video. Put everything you got on vid. Make sure it works as a 'teaching' specific instrument and then get it into the hands of every Wholesaler willing to take 100-144 up front. At the same time offer it for sale direct in the mags: Magic, Linking Ring, MUM. Use the smaller less expensive ad space. Try Linking Ring to start. Offer to lecture on it for free to every magic club within driving distance to you and offer for sale after.

Get it out as fast as you can and sell as many as you can, etc.

Unless someone has come up with a better method....that's about the best you can do. Get it to the reviewers for the three mags listed above at the least, etc.

Good luck!

I think if anyone really wants to copy your work, they will, no matter what.

Probably expensive to do but I offer this up.
If you make each copy unique by rewording a paragraph here and there, you could quite easily find out who had "leaked" your work.

I understand why you are asking the question, piracy is a crime.

Best of luck, I hope that you can find a way to beat them.

Tom

Then what?

Yes, It's important to have all your ducks in a row and release it as widely as possible with the biggest promotional push you can muster. You have a limited amount of time to generate awareness before the thieves move in.

You kind of have to let go. Anything can be copied in this environment. And you never know who is going to really benefit from your work. From what I understand the Hindu cups is an extremely skilled subset of cups and balls. Only those with real practice and serious chops will even be able to use it. THAT is your best copyright protection right there. Only people with real drive to practice are going to be able to use it. You can't "knock off" skill, so in that you actually have a lot of protection.

Right now, illusions, escapes and mentalism are the ones that are really getting exposed and ripped, and those involve simple secrets that can be exposed. But the hindu cups, how many people are capable of stealing this, or even doing it if once stolen? If someone did steal your work and managed to master many of the routines, I have a feeling that they would have deserved it by all the work they put into it, or perhaps they would be transformed, in that they would really feel grateful to you and become a great performer. In that way they'd contribute to magic history as well.

To some extent, you CAN'T expose sleight of hand. It's just too hard. The same is true of complicated shuffle systems, mathematics tricks and genuine manipulation. Anyone who has to do that much work to do a trick isn't going to want to expose it, and even if exposed you can still do it, it's such a difficult skill.

There are books on mass marketing and advertising that cover eliciting covetous feelings and purchasing behavior.

One time tested method of selling data of the sort you describe is to make it part of a complete prop kit and tutorial experience the consumer can treat as a brand-package. I suggest you might find that efficient if you're up for traveling the convention circuit and doing a direct perform, pitch and teach type sales project.

Best wishes,

Jon

I agree with Jonathan. You should definitely include Hindu cups and balls with the set. Extra balls too, or different cups if there are different varieties of cups. From what I remember, Some versions use a flexible ball such as a cherry. To have some rubber balls in there along with some harder ones so people could experiment would be great.

People can easily copy information, copying items is much harder. That's why many DVD's now include gimmicks, and focus on those gimmicks. In the computer days, these were called "Feelies". To prevent a computer game from being ripped off they would include a special decoder ring, a map or an item that had a clue in it. Some would have a physical manual that was in print that couldn't be duplicated (at the time).

Peter Eggink did something interesting. He put out "Haunted", which is a great trick. He included a handout which had a different better routine on it. If you purchased it, you got the better routine on a glossy foldout. But it was only one aspect. You had to have the DVD AND the handout together to get the effect. If the DVD goes out on the P2P sites, he's still protected because you need the foldout. Yes you could copy both and put them on the p2p sites, but information isn't sorted that way often and it gives him another layer of protection.

The boxed set by Paul Harris is on the P2P sites I'm sure, but what are you going to do with it? Nearly every trick involves special gimmicks that were included in the box. You can rip DVD's but not gimmicked cards and props. He got a lot of protection that way.

Another way is to have a password on a slip of paper, and each password can only be used by one person before it's locked out. Those with that password can access a special area of the internet with more routines on it. Can they still copy from this? Yes, but it makes it WAY more difficult.