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CardGuyMike Special user 991 Posts 
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Perhaps I don't understand this world of collectors. Taylor Swift apparently released over 30 variants of her latest album, with some being available for a limited time. I don't get it, but many collectors bought this album over and over again to collect as many variations as they could. Seems like a money grab to me, but as I said I don't understand collectors.
I have seen books come out in regular and deluxe editions. Same text, but the deluxe editions were more upscale and targeted towards collectors. Less often do the deluxe editions have additional content. What I don't understand is the rationale behind capping the number of the deluxe editions that are sold. Is the thinking that they won't sell as well if they are not exclusive? Maybe I'm wrong but I think this manufactured scarcity (combined with the speed at which it sold out) rubs people the wrong way more than the price. Which leads to sour grapes and accusations of gatekeeping. As far as the price goes, that's capitalism folks. You plot the curve of price vs number of units sold, and price it where you make the most money. How many times have you received an effect that cost many times the value of the gimmick you received? DVDs cost pennies to make -- how much did you pay for them back in the day? And now how much do we pay for downloads that, again, cost much less in hosting fees? The writers, editors, publishers, and Tim's estate are entitled to whatever they can make from his work and I think complaining about the cost is barking up the wrong tree. Remember, there used to be real gatekeeping in magic. Now all the magic you could want is available for free on YouTube and for a very low cost elsewhere. If you missed out on the deluxe edition or can't afford this set, that's unfortunate but it won't stop you from being a magician. |
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bekralik Inner circle Canada 1503 Posts
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“In Tim’s honor, Vanishing Inc. has set up a scholarship for young magicians, and we have donated copies of these books to major magic libraries across the globe. Eric has spent over a decade on this book set, and we’re incredibly excited to share it.”
Doesn’t sound like gatekeeping to me (although they didn’t say if they were donating the deluxe version or regular; and each donation means one less copy for me!). I’m kidding - I look forward to purchasing the regular version once I’ve heard some more reviews. I’m sure they’re fantastically written, just want to make sure they are up my alley and aren’t going to sit unread on my shelf. |
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magicnorm Special user 518 Posts
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Quote:
On Dec 8, 2025, JasonEngland wrote: Perfectly stated ! |
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David Rhodes Veteran user 376 Posts
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Well I just got my copy in Australia, off to calling in sick for the rest of the year
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martydoesmagic Inner circle Essex, UK 2067 Posts
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Jason, my comment was more of a remark about magic books in general; perhaps "gatekeeping" isn't the exact word we should use here, but a cheaper paperback edition (or ebook) could indeed have been produced. Derek Sivers sells his excellent books at break-even cost. So I don't think it is correct to say these aren't purposeful decisions. We're paying a premium for the delivery of the knowledge. This does feel like a form of cultural gatekeeping, just not by individuals.
However, as you mention, these choices were motivated by economics, and I'm not blaming VI or any other magic publisher for seeking to make a profit (they're a business after all). This reflects the late-stage capitalist world we live in (I'd like to live in a different one). This is clearly an industry-wide trend; The Karmilovich Collection is priced at $249.95. Maybe a better way to put it is that the prices for magic books are too *** high! I think we should be concerned about this, much the same way educators and librarians worry about it when constructing reading lists for their students. Marty |
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influentialist Elite user 464 Posts
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While there are a few cases where creators want to limit who has access to their books, there has been a recent trend in the magic business to use FOMO as a marketing tool. Everything is "limited edition", "limited limited deluxe edition" or "buy now - we don't know when these will ever be back in stock"
They are, of course, free to sell things how they wish, but when it gets to the stage where you need to sign up for an email to let you know the exact time a book is released so you can stop working and sit looking at a website and hit refresh until it goes live - I'd say it's gone too far. I'm happy if it works for them, and it keeps their business viable. I stopped playing this particular game some time ago. |
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Magic Mark Inner circle After this post I will have 1796 Posts
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Quote:
On Dec 9, 2025, influentialist wrote: THANK YOU!! I was completely unaware of the ability to sign up in advance to get EARLY access. We already know that people got access to the order page at least 30 minutes prior to the officially announced start time. Based on how hard VI's servers got hit exactly at 9:00am (Pacific), it is clear that there were a lot of people who were unaware of this early access. I never said that VI shouldn't be allowed to do what they did. I simply said it was handled poorly. And I still feel that way. Mark |
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Kardova New user 4 Posts
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Those of us who signed-up for the 30 minute notification email reminder were also not aware of early access until after the email was sent and the provided link clicked on. There was only the assumption that we were all given a reminder that the official start of the bell would be 9am PST. At roughly 8:32 PST if you clicked the email link, you were surprised to find that you had an opportunity right then and there to start the transaction with the open buy button. I’m sure most of us were already logged-in, so it was off to the races at that point before most knew it even started. By the “official” start of the publicly announced 9am PST open, the race was probably mostly over with a few unaware stragglers claiming the last few remainders. Insider trading? I’m just glad I was paying attention and claimed my copy.
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Investigative Mentalist Special user Seattle, WA 576 Posts
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I received my copy of the Conover Standard Book set. I bought it for the mentalism book only, I do not do any magic. Here's my quick review of the Mentalism Book: If you are looking for new or unique methods, you will not find them here. However, if you want to see how a top rank professional used well known principles and methods in his show, this is a good book.
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fireisyummy Veteran user 321 Posts
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On Dec 9, 2025, martydoesmagic wrote: Derek Silvers has an awesome model, but it is not break-even cost. |
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JVal New user 18 Posts
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[quote]On Dec 8, 2025, JasonEngland wrote:
PPS: For those of you that think VI gave preference to certain people: I was a proofreader of the Conover books. I was comped a copy of the Deluxe Edition for my work. (I have found typos and incorrect captions. Clearly, you being "comped" a copy of the Deluxe Edition is evidence there was preference to certain people. Please.) |
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MorrisCH Veteran user 394 Posts
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[quote]On Dec 12, 2025, JVal wrote:
Quote:
On Dec 8, 2025, JasonEngland wrote: What? Lol |
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fireisyummy Veteran user 321 Posts
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[quote]On Dec 12, 2025, JVal wrote:
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On Dec 8, 2025, JasonEngland wrote: I guarantee you that Jason did far more than $500 of work. Yes, he didn't proofread it like it was his job. That would have costed thousands of dollars. |
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martydoesmagic Inner circle Essex, UK 2067 Posts
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Yeah, Jason was an official technical proofreader of the book. That's a lot of work and worth much more than the cost of one dexule set. He had to learn all of the routines to check the instructions for accuracy.
@fireisyummy, the purpose of Derek Siver's model is to make the cost of the physical books cover the materials and production costs ($4). That's the part that's break-even. The ebooks are priced at $15 for the content. Derek then gives the profits to charity, so I'd say the whole model is break-even from his point of view. I'm not suggesting this model would work for this particular project, but I could see a variation of it being used for some releases. Marty |
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fireisyummy Veteran user 321 Posts
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On Dec 12, 2025, martydoesmagic wrote: Thanks. Agreed |
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Bill Mullins New user 93 Posts
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Received my copy last night, but I wasn't able to crack it open until today. I can't say enough about this book. All volumes had sufficient pages to keep the covers separated, the corners were square and the sides perpendicular on the slip case, and the font on the spine of three of the volumes was consistent.
https://i.postimg.cc/c4sHyzwk/Conover2.jpg And regarding whether or not any proofreading or other services provided by Jason England is worth a copy of the deluxe edition: You would be much better served to have him review a manuscript than Mark Twain, who said "It's a poor mind that can think of but one way to spell a word." (Plus, Twain is dead.) |
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Magic Mark Inner circle After this post I will have 1796 Posts
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Quote:
On Dec 12, 2025, Bill Mullins wrote: 
Wait, what? Deluxe Edition 539 of 500? 
Mark |
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Magic Mark Inner circle After this post I will have 1796 Posts
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I received my set too (standard edition) and I can confirm Bill's comment, there are PLENTY of pages between the covers! And those pages contain some fabulous material!
Mark |
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| The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Latest and Greatest? » » Tim Conover Book (69 Likes) | ||||||||||
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Posted: Dec 9, 2025 02:28 am 
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