Announcing Ultramodern.

[Ryan Matney]

Gentlemen,

For the last few months I've been working on a special project. I'm now ready to announce Ultramodern.

This is a new ongoing anthology project collecting new and unpublished tricks from some of magic greatest minds.

This is the copy from the back of the book:

This is Ultramodern.

A collection of tricks from some of the greatest creative minds in the field of magic. An antidote to current trends. Contemporary, Practical, and Magical.

All new, previously unpublished, magic from:
Robin Robertson, Martin Lewis, Paul Hallas, Marty Kane, Jozsef Kovacs, Steve Dusheck, John Carey, Al Bach, Ryan Matney, Peter Duffie, John Bannon, Gordon Bean

Twelve tricks clearly illustrated with 98 photos.

Are you Ultramodern?

This has been a dream project for awhile. There are no magic trick periodicals now and I dearly miss them. I also wanted a book with some decent tricks you could actually use. Practical stuf. I've worked very hard to bring this book up to the standard of the contributors.

If you are someone that loves magic books; if you are tired of tricks that are "great for your youtube channel"; if you wish you could spend less than a new DVD and actually get material of value; then you are Ultramodern.

Ultramodern releases Feb 14.

So you see, this is what I'm trying to do: bring back mid-priced books with useful stuff in them.

However, printing costs are expensive and let's face it; I'm the underdog here in a digital world. So, I'm doing my own "kickstarter" project to print the small run of this book.

Guys, I need your preorders to make this work an offset the printing costs.

If you want to join the listed names who are all supporting this project and help the little guy, please send $25.00 to retrorocketmagic@gmail.com Shipping is free in the USA and you will be among the very first to have access to this material.
International orders, please send $35.00 to cover shipping.

[fredreisz]

Sorry. Right now PayPal will not accept your posted e-mail address.ie. retrorocketmagic@gmail.com

Any one else having this problem? I will try later. Peace..Fred (Reisz)

[Ryan Matney]

Not sure what the problem is.
That is my correct address and I do transactions with it daily.

retrorocketmagic@gmail.com

My website will be back up soon.

[Ryan Matney]

Good News.

My website is back live.

Please go to www.retrorocketmagic.com to preorder Ultramodern.

[Ryan Matney]

Here to tease and tantalize.

Thought I would share the table of contents from Ultramodern.

Contents

Robin Robertson Fast Fusion Pg. 8
Martin Lewis S8ed Pg. 16
Paul Hallas Voodoo Jokers Pg. 30
Marty Kane Car-Jack-King Pg. 36
Jozsef Kovacs Outing Bottom Pg. 42
Steve Dusheck Time Travel Inc. Pg. 48
John Carey Double Decker ACAAN Pg. 58
Al Bach Shooting Star Pg. 61
Ryan Matney Double Speak E-Z Pg. 73
Peter Duffie In the Dark Pg. 81
John Bannon Mate Accompli Pg. 89
Gordon Bean The End Pg. 95



Please order now at www.retrorocketmagic.com
Ships in about 2 weeks.

[Ryan Matney]

Book is now at the printer.

Order now and be the first on your block to have a set of nifty new tricks from some of magic's best.

[Ryan Matney]

More good news. Thanks to everyone who ordered and my friends at H&R Books, this is going to start shipping a lot sooner than expected.

[Ryan Matney]

I can now say that Ultramodern will begin shipping Monday.
Please order now.

It's ok to discuss the product here, guys. I like feedback; good, bad, and indifferent.

Anyone have any comments about the project? Excited? Bored?
Do you love and miss smaller magic books? Do you hate them?

Any questions about the contents?

Did anyone notice that there is a NEW trick in the book from Steve Dusheck?! I'm very excited to be publishing a new effect from Mr. Dusheck.

[Richard Morrell]

Hi Ryan,

I love these smaller type magic books, your previous two have been great, I have the few that John Bannon put out as well in the run up to High Caliber, as you say it feels that gap and there is still nothing like holding a book in your hand! Very excited to receive my Ultramodern, and what a list of contributors!

You say this is part of a series, how often do you see this coming out?

[lybrary]

Guys, I need your preorders to make this work an offset the printing costs.

Ryan, I don't understand this. Today with POD there is no upfront cost for printing and no minimum print runs either.

[Ryan Matney]

Hi Ryan,

I love these smaller type magic books, your previous two have been great, I have the few that John Bannon put out as well in the run up to High Caliber, as you say it feels that gap and there is still nothing like holding a book in your hand! Very excited to receive my Ultramodern, and what a list of contributors!

You say this is part of a series, how often do you see this coming out?

Thanks Richard! Yes I am hoping this could be a series in the style of Steve Beam's Semi-Automatic Card Tricks. No set schedule. I would like to release four volumes this size ever year. But, it all depends on how well it does and the contributions I can get. This first one has great material and I wouldn't want to lower the standard just to release them more often.

[Ryan Matney]

Guys, I need your preorders to make this work an offset the printing costs.

Ryan, I don't understand this. Today with POD there is no upfront cost for printing and no minimum print runs either.

Chris, There's no mystery, I'm poor. All of the major distributors pay on a Net 30 model. That means you provide your item first and then get paid 30 days later.

[Ian Kendall]

As has probably been mentioned, there are no upfront costs with POD printing. My experiences with Lulu have been favourable; I upload the book PDF and a cover (don't use their cover designer!), set the price and it's all ready. Then, once a month, I get some money (if I've sold any that month, natch!)

That's the second thing about POD; although Lulu does have a marketplace, they will not really sell the book for you. You have to do all the promotion yourself, and that has to be constant.

The possible profits depend a lot on the size of your book, but I found that it works out at around 65% of cover cost. Since you don't have to worry about fulfillment, warehousing, or even postage costs, it's a good deal (the postage thing is another bonus; because places like Lulu and Amazon have print works all over the world, your customers will only pay local postage. To send my big book to the States would cost almost as much as the book if I had to do it myself).

Finally, you get the advantage of quick and easy edits; when I got the first copy of Basic Training, I noticed that there were a few typos and mistakes that had crept in. It took less than an hour to correct them, and upload the new version.

[lybrary]

Chris, There's no mystery, I'm poor. All of the major distributors pay on a Net 30 model. That means you provide your item first and then get paid 30 days later.

I doubt that you couldn't finance the cost for a few dozen POD printed copies for 30 days. We are talking literally $100-$200. If it sells they will order more but by then they will have already paid you. You might also sell some directly if you have a Paypal account. For those you will make profit immediately.

With this I don't want to say that Kickstarter is a bad idea. It can work very well, but I think for most books it is not particularly effective. I believe small ticket items, like a book for $25, are better sold right there and then when you pitch it and folks are ready to buy it.

[performer]

My own book was a print on demand effort. Lightning Source was my printer. It seemed to work tolerably well. I liked the fact that they printed books in the UK and other countries. It saved on delivery times and shipping costs. And Print on Demand does save you a lot of upfront costs.

I shall be doing a lecture tonight for the Rotten Habit club.......sorry, I meant the Hat and Rabbit club in Toronto. I shall be selling my books there. A most worthy memoir and I know the author personally.

[Ryan Matney]

Chris, There's no mystery, I'm poor. All of the major distributors pay on a Net 30 model. That means you provide your item first and then get paid 30 days later.

I doubt that you couldn't finance the cost for a few dozen POD printed copies for 30 days. We are talking literally $100-$200. If it sells they will order more but by then they will have already paid you. You might also sell some directly if you have a Paypal account. For those you will make profit immediately.

With this I don't want to say that Kickstarter is a bad idea. It can work very well, but I think for most books it is not particularly effective. I believe small ticket items, like a book for $25, are better sold right there and then when you pitch it and folks are ready to buy it.

Well, I didn't think my financial situation would be more interesting than the book I've written. I'm sure a lot of us on the forum are struggling.

No Chris, I can't even afford that much. If you can get an idea for a business and have a few hundred dollars $300-$500 to SPARE with which to start it, then you are lucky.

But I've written a great book full of 12 great tricks from people you know and trust. I'm NOT going to let being busted (my preferred terminology for being broke; not in jail) stop me from getting it out there.

I have big plans for Hardcovers and trick releases but POD is the only way I could think of to build up slowly without a loan from an institution or private individual. I'm hoping that releasing smaller great products will allow me to go further and produce some of the passion projects I have in my head. Hoping.

I do appreciate everyone who has already ordered and now you know just how much I appreciate it! Some of the books have already shipped and your orders have taken some of the pressure off. Thanks.

[lybrary]

Ryan, then I hope it is a big success for you. The material is certainly worth what you are asking for it.

Of course, if you are that tapped out, I would suggest that you do an ebook where there are no printing costs whatsoever. And once you have made some profit you can finance a little POD project. I am not tapped out, but we have still used that strategy, first ebook and then POD, very successfully with a book like "Ask Roberto".

[Ryan Matney]

Ryan, then I hope it is a big success for you. The material is certainly worth what you are asking for it.

Of course, if you are that tapped out, I would suggest that you do an ebook where there are no printing costs whatsoever. And once you have made some profit you can finance a little POD project. I am not tapped out, but we have still used that strategy, first ebook and then POD, very successfully with a book like "Ask Roberto".

Thanks for your well wishes. I'm thinking of trying the e-book approach. I've often wondered with the thousands of downloads in magic how many more sales they would have if nobody was pirating. I would rather have 300 satisfied customers than 10k pirates enjoying my hard work. But then again, everything is pirated as soon as it is released.

Not a good time or economy to be selling anything creative.

[Ryan Matney]

Just in, a comment about Ultramodern.

“A thoroughly enjoyable collection of modern card magic, with the promise of more to come. This could be the start of something big!” - John Bannon

Books are shipping daily. Order today at www.retrorocketmagic.com

[lybrary]

I've often wondered with the thousands of downloads in magic how many more sales they would have if nobody was pirating. I would rather have 300 satisfied customers than 10k pirates enjoying my hard work. But then again, everything is pirated as soon as it is released.

Generally speaking piracy is overstated. It exists, but there are ways to fight it. I have just made major progress in my fight against Chinese download pirates. And don't think that print will prevent piracy. Pretty much all magic books, even those which never were released digitally, have been pirated one way or another. On the other hand a digital media business like Lybrary.com could not exist and flourish for 16 years if piracy would be a killer. In other words, don't let piracy discourage you from your creative pursuits. Watch it, stamp out the biggest coCkRoAChes, and continue to create.

[Ryan Matney]

All "Pre-Orders" have now shipped and I am shipping daily. Thanks to everyone who has ordered. Please let me know your thoughts on the book when you receive it.

[Ryan Matney]

Just in:

" ... packed full of excellent magic!

Editor Ryan Matney claims, "There is not one effect described within that I would not use myself." And I totally agree." - Martin Lewis

Martin is one of my all time favorite magicians. I'm very happy he likes it and thank him for trusting me to describe his trick.

[Ryan Matney]

A lot of people have received the book by now, anyone had a chance to look it over?

[Ryan Matney]

I am actively collecting material for Ultramodern 2 to be released sometime later this year. If you have something great you would like to submit for possible inclusion in the next volume, you can contact me at retrorocketmagic@gmail.com

If accepted, your trick will be in good company.

[Leo Garet]

Everything I have is great.

I'm sure that applies to everybody else, too.

[Richard Morrell]

Ryan has managed to invoke a sense of nostalgia in me with this publication. In the days of one trick downloads, and ebooks, that you can purchase instantly, with nothing more than your Paypal password, it feels good to hold a physical product in your hand. Something that you know will contain good solid commercial magic, and not a heavily edited trailer in sight.

In releasing this publication I believe Ryan hoped to capture the spirit of the magazines and trick journals of days past along with the anticipation of waiting to receive them in the mail. Lots have come and gone that I remember, Onyx, Channel One, Antinomy, Penumbra to name a handful. They all had one thing in common good solid magic from well respected magicians and you always looked forward to receiving the next issue to get that trick fix.

In current times lots of magicians are now experimenting with the self-publishing format, and it is something that works very well for this type of booklet. You receive a smart, well printed 100 page booklet containing 12 tricks. Ryan introduces each trick and they all contain black and white photographic illustrations.

To simply list the tricks would lessen the anticipation if you intend to order this, and you should. I will point out a few of my favourites however, the volume starts with Robin Robertson’s very simple quick version of the fusion plot, one of my favourite card magic plots. Staying with the simple in the spectators hands card magic, Paul Hallas’s contribution Voodoo Jokers is a version of a Steranko/Hollingworth classic. Paul has distilled this into its simplest form and it may get dismissed for its simplicity, but I can see this playing very strongly.

Steve Dusheck contributes a very commercial time-travel themed piece ideal for giving away your business card. John Carey in his usual style of simplifying method contributes a novel and easy two deck ACAAN.

Ryan himself contributes a a coincidence effect utilising a powerful Paul Cummins technique. I am a huge John Bannon fan so I read his contribution first which is an Any Mate at Any Number routine based on a JK Hartman trick, and as you would expect from Bannon you get a lot of effect for minimal sleight of hand. The last trick in the book from Gordon Bean is a version of one of Ryan’s tricks. It is a very strange, freely selected card through box routine, that again takes place in the spectators hands. It has a kicker ending they won’t see coming, and on top of all that works very well for walk-around as it doesn’t require a table.

The other tricks I haven’t mentioned I will leave you to read and digest, you should have at least some anticipation and excitement to receiving a book in the mail! I believe Ryan’s wish is to make this a regular publication and he is already soliciting contributions for volume 2, so seek him out if you have material to give. If not buy this volume and every volume after that safe in the knowledge you are receiving good solid magic, a well produced physical product, and a little bit of anticipation and excitement as you wait for it to arrive!

http://magician.org.uk/2016/03/ultramodern-by-ryan-matney-review/

[Ryan Matney]

Thanks Richard! I'm glad you enjoyed the material. I've wondered if magician's would appreciate the more subtle things in there. Paul Hallas's trick is very strong and also doesn't need a table.

I think you got my intention. I'm definitely nostalgic for the old magazines. I would add that Pallbearer's Review and Richard's Almanac are a real high-water mark for me too, full of practical and interesting magic from a variety of creators. I'm trying to get different kinds of thinking and different types of effects in Ultramodern.

[Ryan Matney]

I just updated the site and I wanted to tell everyone I am running a spring sale for a limited time. You get a 20%discount and you still get FREE shipping!

It's only for two weeks so hurry!

http://www.retrorocketmagic.com

[Ryan Matney]

Some nice chap wrote to tell me that the checkout was not working on the site. I believe the issue has been resolved now. But, somebody order something and let me know if it is working now.

[Dustin Stinett]

I have posted my (lengthy) review of this book on Light From the Lamp Online:
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=48087