|
|
|
|||
| Go to page [Previous] 1~2~3~4~5~6~7~8 [Next] | ||||||||||
Ed Oschmann Inner circle Lake Worth FL 1022 Posts 
|
People have very different point of views on what they consider "valuable". I would much rather plop down $10,000 towards a family vacation versus a payment towards a car or whatever. Giving my children a memory that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives against a really swell toy will always take precedence. So for me, when making financial decisions I am very likely to spend my money on "intangibles".
In the case of a book we come to a gray area. The book itself is tangible. I can base my decision on whether to buy it based on its aesthetics, binding, page count etc. However the information contained therein is intangible and its value is whatever I assign to it. Books like the new Johnny Thompson book have (and I say this without reading the finished product- it's sitting on my kitchen table unopened) do not come down the pike very often. He embodies everything that I personally love about magic- a working pro who has been living on Planet Magic way longer than any of us could ever imagine. For me to trespass through his brain is an invaluable experience that I'm looking forward to undertake. So hell yeah I'll pay! Will this drive the prices up and consequently change the behaviors of magic publishers so no one can afford a book any more! No way. People simply won't pay. But for those of us who know a little something about a little something will know that $300 is a steal. |
|||||||||
|
Energizer Special user 581 Posts
|
Anyhoo ... Did anyone from the UK order using the free shipping option? If yes, has it arrived yet. I looked more closely and the website said 2-6 weeks. I'm hoping I don't have to wait that long. Wish I'd paid the extra ...
Do please let me know. Thanks |
|||||||||
|
landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts
|
Quote:
On Apr 26, 2018, Tim Cavendish wrote: Tim, not a fair analogy. If the Shakespeare were: a) signed by Will b) 2 large volumes with hundreds of photos c) only available in the edition you are selling then you might have a point. But none of that is true, so the analogy doesn't come close to holding.
Click here to get Gerald Deutsch's Perverse Magic: The First Sixteen Years
All proceeds to Open Heart Magic charity. |
|||||||||
|
Tim Cavendish Inner circle 1406 Posts
|
Quote:
On Apr 27, 2018, landmark wrote: Hi landmark, Material issues and scarcity were not elements of leomagnus' initial, highly romantic argument for the price. He argued that great work by a great master was enough: Quote:
Anyone (and on this thread there are a mind-shattering amount of you) who is shocked at the price of these volumes displays both naivety and a sad disregard for the value of a man's life's work. This is the last of magic's renaissance masters. A lifetime was spent developing these routines and honing them through decade after decade after decade of performance. These routines were this man's living. $300 is too much? Cry me a river! After my Shakespeare response which fully met those terms on which he argued, he added a more mundane scarcity argument: there is a monopoly on the supply, so the price can be set at any arbitrary point. Your own additions reduce to: fetish value of a signature, cost of materials (and to support this you should mention the slipcase), and scarcity through monopoly of supply. These factors hardly justify the raw emotion being shown by leomagnus and others -- except that those who know they have overspent exorbitantly on an item often feel insecure about that decision and that insecurity can manifest in emotional outbursts or public attempts to save face. |
|||||||||
Arnaud New user 55 Posts
|
||||||||||
|
Ed Oschmann Inner circle Lake Worth FL 1022 Posts
|
Tim, you seem to be making sweeping observations about the motives of why we purchase. It's simply unfair, and (insulting actually) to generalize all of us who are willing to pay the asking fee as a bunch of fanboys or idolaters, as you put it more or less. I'm a working pro who has a strong and varied relationship with the art. I know that this book will increase my knowledge, but also put food on the table so to speak. If one or more of his tricks happen to make it in my repertoire and consequently improves my performance and increase my value then I effectively made my money back and then some. And yes, many many other books and lecture notes have done the same at a fraction of the cost. True dat. For me, and many others who understand what is being offered with the JT book $300 is a pittance. I also think that there are some who did not have the funds and bought it anyway for similar reasons.
Sure there are those who want to feel like they are part of an exclusive club, but certainly not all. |
|||||||||
|
Tim Cavendish Inner circle 1406 Posts
|
Quote:
On Apr 27, 2018, Ed Oschmann wrote: Ed, I haven't tried to explore why people are buying at this price. I've focused on factors involved in the publisher setting the price. While related, that's a different matter than why people buy. I have also noted that after people buy an overpriced item, many feel an insecure need to defend their buying decision to others. But that too is a different matter than why people make the buying decision itself. |
|||||||||
|
thomasR Inner circle 1189 Posts
|
What would be a fair price? it's a bit high... But not THAT high compared to other hardbound magic books out there.
|
|||||||||
|
asherfox Veteran user 367 Posts
|
Quote:
On Apr 28, 2018, thomasR wrote: It may go higher in near future. |
|||||||||
|
asherfox Veteran user 367 Posts
|
Quote:
On Apr 28, 2018, asherfox wrote: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/The-Book-of-Wond......SypZACoB we will see. |
|||||||||
|
Ray Haining Inner circle Hot Springs, AR 1907 Posts
|
When Tommy Wonder's two volumes were published, they weren't issued as a collector's item. They were just an ordinary set of books. In fact, I had them twice. I sold the first set I had, but then later, I decided that I shouldn't have done that and I got another set.
Many times it is not obvious what will become a collector's item or not. And magic books, anyway, in my opinion, are not good investment items, outside the worth of their contents, which, in certain and various occasions, can be priceless to some people, to others not so much. |
|||||||||
|
landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts
|
Quote:
On Apr 28, 2018, thomasR wrote: In a niche market, that's the correct way to evaluate price. Also, I suspect a lot of those sales were at the pre-publication price ($250 including shipping). @Tim: you say that in the rest of publishing, it's higher sales that make the money for a worthy book. But not in a niche market. There's too low an upward bound for sales, even for a magic "bestseller." The whole question of the value of artistic works, fetishism, and the labor theory of value, which is where I think you may be going with this, is an interesting one. If you PM me, I can point you to some thoughtful online discussions.
Click here to get Gerald Deutsch's Perverse Magic: The First Sixteen Years
All proceeds to Open Heart Magic charity. |
|||||||||
Nigel Quinn Regular user U.K 118 Posts
|
SECOND PRINTING SHIPPING JULY 2018 http://www.magicana.com/buy/publications......thompson
Q U I N
|
|||||||||
|
Ray Haining Inner circle Hot Springs, AR 1907 Posts
|
And note that "second printing" is not the same as "second edition." You can have 47 printings of a book with it still being a first edition.
|
|||||||||
|
hpcman New user NYC 68 Posts
|
Are these books sets numbered ex. 1/1500??
|
|||||||||
|
acortest Regular user 124 Posts
|
No, they're not individually numbered
|
|||||||||
|
atkinsod Regular user VA 196 Posts
|
A lot of good discussion here. When I first heard about this book I thought I might be interested, but when I saw the price I realized that it wasn't for me.
People will buy this for various good reasons: 1. As a worthy memorial of Johnny Thompson's work 2. As a potential collectors item - and even if not, a nicely produced set of books that will last for many years AND look royal on the shelf 3. For the working performer who will learn some highly valuable routines & tips. For all of those reasons, $300 is worth it. As a hobbyist, however, I'm not looking to buy a memorial, I don't care how it looks on my shelf (I have tons of great lecture notes - they look horrible on the shelf), and since I'm not a paid performer, I won't earn back my money. However, this book was obviously not marketed toward me, and that's okay too. |
|||||||||
|
farmerkarl New user 62 Posts
|
Does anyone know how many copies will be in the second printing?
|
|||||||||
|
msmaster Special user 522 Posts
|
Just read this thread, my feeling is the market determines the price. I just clipped and pasted this from an art website regarding the pricing of numbered prints and original paintings
- perhaps some of you may see a correlation here: The artist’s position in the art world is probably the most important aspect to consider. Emerging artists haven’t developed a name yet, so they can’t demand thousands of dollars for a single artwork. The majority of emerging artists will usually sell an oil painting within the $100-$1,000 range. An artist who can sell an oil painting for $30,000 would be considered by most people to be very successful. Then there’s the top of the art world where some artists can sell an oil painting for $500,000 and more. These artists are the select few who are internationally renowned and showing at the top museums. |
|||||||||
|
ixnay66 Inner circle Denver 1525 Posts
|
I see a lot of people saying the price is justified but Marlo, Slydini and Vernon books were sold for typical magic book prices when they came out and these are giants of magic as well. I'm sure the material is top notch though!
|
|||||||||
| The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Books, Pamphlets & Lecture Notes » » Johnny Thompson Book by Jamy Ian Swiss (144 Likes) | ||||||||||
| Go to page [Previous] 1~2~3~4~5~6~7~8 [Next] | ||||||||||
Posted: Apr 27, 2018 01:34 am 
X
| [ Top of Page ] |
|
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.04 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
|
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < 
|