Richy Roy is a motivational author for magicians. The Wealthy Magician is an excellent book to help focus or re-focus you on your goal of increasing your revenue as a full-time magician. The book is a 331 page soft cover book that breaks it all down in 85 chapters. The book measures 6 inches by 9 inches is printed on good paper stock and is well organized. The book retails for $49.95.
Everyone wants to make more money (I think) and Roy pushes magicians to be bold and ask for more, to earn more because we deserve more. He is excellent at putting the value of magical entertainment in perspective. How much should you charge for a kids party when taking 20 kids to a movie with popcorn and candy could cost $300? Should you raise your charge for a corporate gig when the person that booked you happily said yes to your $1,500 fee? Roy is a confidence booster and your cheerleader. When reading this book you feel like you have someone in your corner giving you a pat on the back and a push forward to go out and do more and do better. I think he is very effective.
The book is broken down into 3 main sections; Part 1: The Price Tag; Part 2: Marketing; and Part 3: Sales. I found each section of the book to be equally valuable for each of the very important aspects presented.
Like I mentioned above, Roy pushes you to increase your price for a show. This may not work for everyone, but he urges us to erase the feelings of insecurity when asking for more money for an appearance. He urges us to reject the status quo and to charge more to move to the next level.
Part 2 of the book, Marketing, is obviously extremely important. You may be a great magician, but that does not mean that you will make as much money and get as many gigs as a lesser magician without proper marketing. Roy reviews the prevailing various social media outlets of today (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube) and suggest useful ways to attract attention and get out your message. He engages in a useful discussion about branding, advertising, publicity and how to use all of the aforementioned to promote yourself successfully.
The final part of the book deals with Sales. Roy reviews a very uncomfortable topic for many magicians; negotiating and closing the deal. I found his overview spot on. He recommends several other books on negotiating since his chapter on this topic are not an in depth manifesto on the subject.
I am a fan of The Wealthy Magician and I believe that it is a valuable resource to entertainers that feel stuck and that are looking for a way to get to the next level. This is also a great book for magicians that are successful and don’t mind looking at what they can do better. If every magician read this book, I believe the general public would have an increased appreciation for our art and its value.
A big thank you to Murphy’s Magic for allowing me to review this book for you.
