I am very interested in inventing and selling new stage magic ideas....I was just wondering if you can make good money doing this, and if you have any tips. I have sent in 1 idea to penguin magic and they said that it looked really good...Is this a good sign?

thanks

If it's a good item, it will sell. In magic 98% of us are looking for the new cool magic prop so that we can amaze our friends or coworkers. And the other 2% will be practical and if the item suits their needs, buy it. So yes, there's always a market. Maybe establishing yourself some how either as a performer or with a performer would help. Otherwise why should anyone believe your claims?

Yeah, I do perform, and own many tricks..and I have 2 of the Paul Osborne books. Do you know how much money you get just selling your idea...not royalties?

dave

It has to be more then an idea. You should have made it up and tested the product.

If you have a product, you can market it youself or write a book or DVD. The other way is to convinence someone to produce it for you. This is sometimes known as a invester.

I do not know of any dealer that just buys ideas. They could just market it unless you have copyrighted the instructions or patented the apparatus. Then there is the research that is involved in finding if it is an original idea and not "re-inventing the wheel."

Chris Kenner was so original that David Copperfield hired him full time as an idea man. He has been touring with him for many years now. Chris worked for years to get this unique offer.

As far as making a living doing this, there are a lot of part-time magic manufacturers that could share their experiences with you. I would imagine that you will find it is a labor of love and extra income instead of their sole income.

The good sign would have been if Penguin sent you a check for your effort. The other good sign is if you see that they are selling it in the near future.

It wasn't an idea. I drew up drawings, made up an image in photoshop, and made a prototype, because they wanted to see it performed. So I did and sent them the vid and they thought it was cool!

Good job! Keep up the great work! Maybe you can invent something I will purchase from you some day.

Really? What's your website? What do you offer and how do you run your way of buying tricks?

Before you sell or even disclose your ideas, you may want to get a handle on just how to protect any intellectual property rights you may have in your tricks.

I have an article coming out in the June 2004 issue of Magic Magazine which addresses this topic, entitled “Tricky Protections: A Brief Overview of Intellectual Property Protections for Magic Tricks.” You may want to give it a read through, then sit down and chat with your attorney before you offer to sell your tricks.

In the business of inventing magic tricks, it's quite easy to lose the ability to control your own ideas, tricks, and routines.

I used to work for one of the best magic companies and the one thing we hated was people calling or sending an idea to us. If you want advice, make sure your idea works then practice it one hundred times in the mirror or on an empty stage. Then take it out and show it to a lay audience for an additional hundred times. Next, show it to a hundred magicians or close friends that are not in group 2. By then you will have worked out all the kinks and hopefully have some live footage of the trick. Then send the footage along with what ever gimmic needed for the effect to a company that you know is looking for stuff such as Penguin Magic. I would also do what clone man says.
Cheers hope this helps,
Chris

Coming up with the ideas might be the easy part; it is learning how to market those ideas that takes time, dedication and a willingness to learn. This goes for any product whether the product is a trick or if the product is you.

Kyle