I must admit I cannot count the number of magic magazines
that have featured my articles and effects.
Their number must surely go into the fifties.
Over the years some of the magazines I have
written for have sadly ceased publication including,
sadly, my own Magical Express. Printing and
publishing magical magazines is just not a feasible
or profitable business! Just consider the magic
magazines that have gone out of business: Magic
Wand, Magical Digest, Wizard, Magic Magazine
(Andrews), The Mag, The Tops, Pentagram, New
Pentagram, Magigram, Alakazam . . . the list
is endless.
The ones I write for these
days are Magic Circular, Budget, Linking Ring,
Joe Steven's Magic Emporium Network, Abra, Repro
and, of course, the magic club magazines. Small
though the readerships of the society magazines
are, they're still important to me, and I love
writing for them. Within their pages I feel
I am sharing things, and often new things, with
my friends in magic, and with the next generation.
I am often asked "How do you
think up so many ideas?" I tell them "it's easy."
I carry a notebook around with
me at the time, and sometimes a pocket Dictaphone.
I use the latter at night when going to bed,
switching it on and off as required, and recording
a new idea when it popped out of my mind. Sometimes,
when playing back the recording I can't understand
a single word of it, and several times I've
been 'told off' for awaking my partner.
But one thing is sure, however
I jotted down the ideas, it will sell in thousands.
(Not going to the extreme of saying millions.)
How little did these people know or realize
that magic products do not sell in the thousands,
often they don't sell in the hundreds unless
you have a real 'winner' on your hands.
But let's get back to writing
for magic magazines. Many struggle. A friend
of mine said "if you find it hard to write a
letter, you will certainly find it hard to write
an article or write-up an effect or two!"
"Why do you do it Ian?", they
ask me. "Is it to see your name in print?" "No,"
is the answer. I know I can write articles,
can write-up magical effects and routines. There
is no real challenge any more. What I like about
it is that I get an idea out of my system, share
it with readers whom I love and respect, and
hopefully they can use the material. There's
nothing better than learning that someone, somewhere,
in this country or overseas, is using an item
of mine. I know for a certain fact, that four
people at least, are using my "Pair Trick",
which I gave readers freely and willingly in
The Griffin. Good! It could well have appeared
in a large circulation magazine, but I wanted
the members the North Wales Magic Circle to
have it. Writing for 10,000 people makes you
sit up and wonder -- that's the circulation
of the Linking Ring for example. But writing
for the Griffin's 70 or so readers means a lot
to me. I have about 80 effects, ideas and notions
in the pipeline for different magazines at this
moment, with another hundred or so in preparation
-- many for the Griffin. And hopefully, long
may they continue.
