The Genii Forum

Kaufman and Company publishing schedule this year:

1. Big book by Ryan Matney coming in the spring.

2. Big book by Harapan Santoso Ong coming in August at Magic Live.

3. Really really BIG book on Theodore DeLand coming in time for the Christmas holiday.

Sounds great!

That huge stack of papers you held up in the More Genii Speaks column -- was that one of these, the Vernon book or something unannounced?

Exciting news!

I only answer questions about the three books announced.

Jennings?

Jennings??

I really ought to get off my ass and finish that. The problem is that I have to relearn all 600 pages of material in order to pose for the 1500 photographs. That's months of work. I've been trying to years to figure out a way to get that done.

Perhaps you can ask a number of "guests" to each take a piece or two (or three) and be featured in the book.

There must be some young card star that would love to help you out with this.

I can't use a young guy. I need a mature guy who's an incredible sleight of hand expert with decent sized hands. And these are the easy tricks!

You might want to publish the Jennings book before its fan base dies or grows to old to care after all these years. I see a lot of magicians in their 60s selling off most of their magic book libraries. I wonder how much demand exists for Jeninings in the younger demographic. You are potentially leaving a lot of money on the table...

PickaCard wrote:You might want to publish the Jennings book before its fan base dies or grows to old to care after all these years. I see a lot of magicians in their 60s selling off most of their magic book libraries. I wonder how much demand exists for Jeninings in the younger demographic. You are potentially leaving a lot of money on the table...

Now THAT is an interesting observation. What will interest in Jennings be in another decade? In the meantime the auctions of the collections of old and deceased magicians continues unabated: Haversat & Ewing, International, and Potter & Potter.

Genii articles on Jennings and Vernon can keep the flame burning.

They're probably the only thing that will.

For reputations to endure, they must constantly be propagated.

Big book by Ryan Matney? That's interesting. I thought he was set on publishing a series of small paperbacks on his own? I've purchased a couple and really like the guy's thinking and material, so I will most likely be pre-ordering.

BTW, thanks for the update, Richard!

I'm completely ignorant about the world of magical publishing; so I probably shouldn't even ask this; but - wouldn't sales of the Jennings book vastly outweigh sales of those others?

Perhaps, but perhaps not. No one can predict what will sell in the world of magic books anymore.

PickaCard wrote:You might want to publish the Jennings book before its fan base dies or grows to old to care after all these years. I see a lot of magicians in their 60s selling off most of their magic book libraries. I wonder how much demand exists for Jeninings in the younger demographic. You are potentially leaving a lot of money on the table...

I never thought about that. To us, Mr. Jennings is a giant, but it would be interesting to poll some place like ellusionist to see if the younger set even knows (or cares) who he was.

I wonder if any of Jennings' protege's (e.g., Goodwin, Fisher) might be willing to lend a hand in posing for the photos.

Young people don't care about Jennings.

And card magic (among young people) is about visual effects (and flourishes) which you don't see very often in the work of Larry Jennings.

That is my opinion. I am 34. I have a foot in both camps.

They can care about Jennings if Jennings' moves get used by the new generation.

Harapan Ong uses Jennings' Optical Add-On in his gorgeous Direct Triple Prediction in the December 2016 Genii.

There's also material for Mr Jennings Takes It Hard, yes? And that book will almost certainly never happen, right? So some of that material might potentially be put out in Genii to keep Jennings in the public eye...

Tribute projects by popular performers can also serve as a booster shot for the old masters. L&L's Malone Meets Marlo video set delivered a pile of Marlo material with a giant dose of charisma from Bill Malone.

A well done video trailer -- or even just releasing the performance-only video that often accompanies today's books -- might also be a useful marketing tool for books these days. I know people got excited about youtube video of So Sato performing his Bushfire Triumph. That sort of promotion might be something to deliberately harness.

I sympathise with what has happened to the Jennings books but, bloody hell, what a tragic waste.

Both books WILL be published!


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Anthony Vinson wrote:Big book by Ryan Matney? That's interesting. I thought he was set on publishing a series of small paperbacks on his own? I've purchased a couple and really like the guy's thinking and material, so I will most likely be pre-ordering.

BTW, thanks for the update, Richard!

I'm sure I'll continue the small paperback books at some point in the future. And, my anthology series Ultramodern is still active.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. If you liked the small books, you will like this one. I gave Richard every good trick I had!

Of course there are still young magicians who care about Jennings and his material. Are they in the majority? No, certainly not. But the ones who truly study an art form are never in the majority. (If we're going to paint people with as broad strokes as that we might as well just say that all magicians love corny stock jokes, ugly ties and have no social skills.)

I personally look forward to both Jennings books and the other three mentioned in this thread. If one may be so curious, can we get a hint about what a "big book" by Harapan Santoso Ong might contain?

Almost 40 items.

Well now I'm even more excited about it.

I'm looking forward to the Harapan's book! I love his magic

BTW, for the ones that say young magicians don't care about Jennings, let me tell you that I'm a young magician (22 years old, I'm studying Jennings work since I was 19) and I have Classic Magic of Larry Jennings, Cardwright, Jennings' 67, Larry Jennings on Card and Coin Handling, Up in Smoke and Neoclassics. Classic Magic is my favorite book in my library, I re-read it often and a lot of Jennings's material is in my professional repertoire.

I'm a very good friend of Fenik (he has performed at the Magic Castle several times, he had a show at the Caesar's Palace in Vegas). He was a Jennings' personal student, we always talk about Larry's work, last year I showed him my take on Prefiguration, and he asked for my permission to add it to his repertoire (we live in different cities, so we only see each other once a year at the convention that I organize [Michael Ammar was the Guest of Honor last year]).

So please, don't say that ALL young magicians don't care about Jennings, maybe we are a few, but certainly not none. When Mr. Kaufman releases Jenning's books I will pre-order them because I WANT to learn more magic from my favorite magician.

I read somewhere that the LJ books will be published next year, is that true?

Sadly, I think there may be some truth in the statement that the younger magicians would have little interest, if even any, in Larry Jennings. Not all of them of course but alas most of them. The ones who will be interested in him will be the serious students of the art and thank goodness for that. Alas they are in the minority.

I base this on feedback from the local magic shop owner and my own observations. The old legends of magic are not as legendary as they used to be. The young magicians are not buying their books any more, and even have a slightly contemptuous attitude to them. They prefer the new hot shots that are coming on to the scene with their so called "street magic" and flourishy handlings. They don't like good magic any more. They like visual quick stuff --in other words what I call "chewing gum for the eyes"

I have heard them decry old masters such as Slydini, Lorayne and I am not sure half of them even know who Vernon was. Too much internet exposure and a culture of magic shops selling anything to anybody instead of as they did in the old days, be a little more guarded as to what secrets they gave away and what they would sell to people.

But it works in reverse too. I am not in the slightest bit interested in these new hot shot heroes are who have lately come on the scene and in fact I have no idea who they are. Vulgarity, trivialisation of the art and what to use that awful American word "cool" is all the rage nowadays.

The Jennings book will sell to the older generation who will be so riddled with arthritis they can't do the tricks anyway and a few serious students of the younger set.

I doubt Richard is going to make a fortune out of it, if indeed any money at all. Certainly not to compensate for the amount of effort put in. However, I don't think money is his priority with these things. He obviously does it as a contribution to the art. I remember him bringing out Greater Magic once again and thinking that was an incredible gift to the magic community let alone the Berglas book which seems to be somewhat of a masterpiece and all the other stuff he has published. The time and effort expended on these things cannot possibly be done with monetary goals in mind but for love of the art. We and indeed future generations should be grateful to him for that. I suspect he doesn't get the recognition he deserves for that effort. In fact it may well go unnoticed.

Not by me though and I thank him for it.

Mark, you might actually like my book that Richard is publishing soon. It's all easy to do card tricks that work for real people.

Any word on the Jennings book? Has it been worked on? Will it be another 5 years? Jennings material works for real people as well. Just sayin

Ryan Matney wrote:Mark, you might actually like my book that Richard is publishing soon. It's all easy to do card tricks that work for real people.

Oh, are you one of the new hot shots? Still, I suppose that is OK since not only have I heard of you, you have actually spent money with me so that does raise you somewhat in my estimation. How are you getting on with the pitch course?

We are planning on taking the photographs for Mr. Jennings Takes It Easy before the end of the year. The text itself is essentially finished.

Richard Kaufman wrote:We are planning on taking the photographs for Mr. Jennings Takes It Easy before the end of the year. The text itself is essentially finished.

Whoop!!!

My wife has finished the layout of Ryan Matney's book ("Spoiler Alert!") and she's fixing the contrast on the photos (big job). We're running late, but that's life.

Well said, Mark. Richard is a hero. His efforts will be treasured for a very long time to come.

Joe Mckay wrote:Well said, Mark. Richard is a hero. His efforts will be treasured for a very long time to come.

I am glad that someone has noticed it anyway. It reminds me of the fact that Harry Stanley got little recognition from the magic community at the time he brought out the incredibly influential Vernon and Slydini books along with all sorts of other classic titles by Lewis Ganson. I don't think either he or Ganson made any fortunes from doing so and any money they did make certainly wasn't worth the effort put in. They did it for the art. But Harry was never recognised for his contribution to British magic despite his books and the events he produced. And of course the fact that he brought both Vernon and Slydini over to the UK and cemented their reputation for evermore. I expect the reason being that he was somewhat of a prickly individual and not always easy to get along with.

I still remember the time when I was in his magic studio and a young magician came in and started to browse through one of the Vernon books. Harry, sensing a potential sale, remarked, "Very good book that. I brought Vernon over to this country you know". The young man did not appear impressed and was daft enough to say, "They say he is showing his age now and can't do the stuff he used to do"

Harry was furious! He lost all interest in selling the book and berated the poor fellow with great vehemence, "Young man, you are showing YOUR age by a remark like that. Vernon has done more for magic than you ever will. He has more knowledge of magic in his little finger than you have in your whole body" and continued in this vein until the poor chap ran scurrying from the studio with a flea in his ear never to return again. Or if he did he must have been very brave!

Harry turned to me after the guy left and snorted, "I can't stand people like that!"

performer wrote:

Ryan Matney wrote:Mark, you might actually like my book that Richard is publishing soon. It's all easy to do card tricks that work for real people.

Oh, are you one of the new hot shots? Still, I suppose that is OK since not only have I heard of you, you have actually spent money with me so that does raise you somewhat in my estimation. How are you getting on with the pitch course?

I wouldn't say I'm a new hot shot. There are others that fit that title better. I just know your taste in card magic and think you might find something you would like in the book. If you like Leech and Trost and that kind of material.

The pitch course is a good learning tool. My own pitch is on hold pending my finding a good spot to do it. How about Royal Road annotations, are you still working on it? I'm interested to see them.

Ryan Matney wrote:

performer wrote:

Ryan Matney wrote:Mark, you might actually like my book that Richard is publishing soon. It's all easy to do card tricks that work for real people.

Oh, are you one of the new hot shots? Still, I suppose that is OK since not only have I heard of you, you have actually spent money with me so that does raise you somewhat in my estimation. How are you getting on with the pitch course?

I wouldn't say I'm a new hot shot. There are others that fit that title better. I just know your taste in card magic and think you might find something you would like in the book. If you like Leech and Trost and that kind of material.

The pitch course is a good learning tool. My own pitch is on hold pending my finding a good spot to do it. How about Royal Road annotations, are you still working on it? I'm interested to see them.

I am indeed working on the Royal Road annotations. However, I have been distracted by other matters which have slowed things down a bit. Thank you for reminding me to get on with the bloody job. Still, I suspect this distraction element affects many writers. As for your book I wish you luck with it. Alas somehow my enthusiasm for new card tricks are somewhat diluted. Not a good thing but it has been like that for a long time. After all, how many card tricks can one man do?

performer wrote:

performer wrote:After all, how many card tricks can one man do?

It turns out, about 50 more. And, oddly enough, that's exactly how many you get in "Spoiler Alert!" coming soon from Kaufman and Co.

I can already do about a hundred or so and indeed very well. And about another hundred or so I can half do. How many more am I supposed to bloody do? I know too many already. It is about time I gave up magic not learn more of it. I have already done 60 years of it. It is about time I took up stamp collecting or something.

Richard,

I just would like to know if you are going to MAGIC LIVE and if so, are you going to sell the Harapan Santoso Ong book there? How much is it?

Thanks for your response...