The Jerx 2.0: Good Guys Win

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Almost every person who I have communicated with over the past couple weeks has thanked me for giving them the opportunity to donate to the site. At first I was like, "This is crazy. They've just donated a not-insignificant amount of money to someone they don't know to keep a blog going, and they are being so effusive and kind about it." But actually the more nice things people were saying to me, the more it made sense. The best relationships are the ones where two people are both giving, not out of obligation, but out of a desire to give. I cook you dinner, you bake dessert. I wash your car, you rub my shoulders. I leave a love note in your bag, you write a poem on a post-it and stick it to the bathroom mirror. I go down on you, you go down on me. We tend to associate this type of reciprocation with young love. But we don't stop doing these things because our love grows old; our love grows old because we stop doing these things.

What am I going on about? I wrote this site every day for months, but not out of any obligation. When I gave people the opportunity to give back, they were grateful for it. As I said above, this give and give is emblematic of all the best relationships. And it's what makes this site different than any other magic site on the internet.

I'm sure some people had an issue with the idea of me taking donations for the site. If that's how you feel, I don't know what to tell you. It certainly suggests that you don't value your time or have many requests for it. I'm in the opposite situation, I'm afraid. Or you may think my contributions aren't valuable. That's okay. You don't get this site. And I don't mean that in a bad way. You don't get this site the way I don't get modern country music. You just don't connect with it. I don't mind that. In fact, I love it. I look at some of the boring shit most of you are doing in what should be the most outlandish, untethered art-form and I'm relieved you don't get this site.

In general I don't like blogging about blogging, but some of you may find how this whole donation period played out interesting. So here is my last post (of any significance) on the subject.

The Past

A couple months ago, Andi Gladwin and Joshua Jay wrote me asking if I'd like to publish a book with Vanishing Inc. As far as I'm concerned, they're the premier magic book publishers of our time, so obviously I considered that an incredibly flattering offer as an unknown guy who had been writing a blog for a few months. My main issue with the idea is I didn't think my audience was vast enough to support a book release and I didn't want them to be stuck with 100s of books they couldn't sell. In addition to that, I didn't want them to be guilty by association for something dumb I said in the book, or, more likely, on this site. 

To their credit they were both like, "We don't care if we don't sell many books, and we don't care what you say. We just want to publish interesting things." So that was one path I thought about taking, continuing to write the blog and then to publish a book with Andi and Josh. But I wasn't sure how the timing on that would work. The blog was already becoming a big time commitment and I figured it takes a while for a book to come out. Would I end up saddling them with a book by a guy who used to write a blog a couple of years ago by the time it came out?

Then a month ago I got another offer. This came from a semi-pro here in NYC and two other amateur magicians who work in the financial industry. They had a very interesting and generous offer for me. Essentially they wanted to hire me at close to my normal writing rate to continue the blog, but only for them. They would split the cost between themselves and two or three other people they would bring in. It was as close to a wealthy benefactor writing me a fat check as I was going to get, and would have been what amounted to a decent paying part-time job for me. But they essentially -- and understandably -- wanted exclusivity on any magic ideas I had. I would still write commentary and criticism for this site. But anything that was a routine -- even a half-thought out idea for a routine -- or had anything to do with theory, would be on a private site that only they had access too.

This appealed to my love of all things clandestine and secretive, and I'd actually be perfectly content writing a blog for 5 or 6 people. But, at the same time, I'd received so much positive feedback and made a bunch of new relationships with people from this site that I didn't want to take my ideas and run off if there was another way to do things. So the simple solution was if I could get 20 times the number of people to donate 1/20th of what these guys were offering then it would essentially be the same thing. 

The Present

So did it work? Somewhat yes. Somewhat no. And somewhat it still remains to be seen.

We made enough to cover the cost of physically creating and printing the book. 

We made enough to pay some people who have helped with the site in the past - technologically, artistically, testing ideas, etc.

But we didn't really exceed that amount, which means at this point in time I'm limited to working on the site in my spare time. (For much of the past 5 months I was turning down legitimate paid work to fuck around here with you. I sadly can't afford to do that anymore.)

And we fell way short of my goal of getting enough donations to do the really crazy shit I had in mind. Like tracking down the old L&L audience and doing a scripted mockumentary "Where Are They Now"-style web-series with them. 

The Future

The site is going to continue. Monday will start the next iteration of this site. Here is how it will be different. 

- The posts will be frequent, but they won't be daily. For those who were around during the MCJ days, it will be more like that schedule. I think I will keep the practice of putting new posts up at 3am ET, that way you don't have to check more than once a day.

- The posts are generally going to be shorter. You won't see many posts with full routines. Those are very time-consuming to write and I think, fairly, will be reserved for those who donated for the book. 

- Soon there will be two new links at the top of the page. One will say "Buy the Book," and one will say "Want More?." The first link is obvious. The second will present people with a bunch of different ways to support the site in the future if they're interested in more content than I can provide in my free time. My goal is to make the site very symbiotic. So if there is a demand for more content or content that is longer or more involved, then people will have a direct way to affect that via these two links because any money this site makes will go directly back into the site. For those people who have an issue with a blog being anything other than a completely philanthropic enterprise where I donate my time and ideas for free, this will probably annoy you. Tough. I have a gift for you. It's in my pants. It's my girthy dong. Blow me.

So we'll see what happens next. The site won't be exactly the same, and it will evolve in ways I don't even know right now. But it's going to here for some time to come. 

Update 6 - The Last Day

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First, a reader sent me the link to this version of triumph which somehow escaped my attention when it was released. And that's crazy because it has the greatest false shuffle ever. Go ahead and stare right at it -- you won't see it.

But it does bring up an interesting question. This only seems to be available as a download. So, in regards to the dust you blow in your spectator's eyes to temporarily blind them... is that something Ellusionist mails you separately? Or is it something that's available around the house?

Condom broke? Dealing with a pregnancy scare? Botched abortion?

Sometimes you need a trick for just the right occasion.

Have your friend remove her underwear and tell her you know a way to test if she's pregnant. It's a way of touching her that will cause the embryo (if it exists) to shift in the uterus, giving evidence of its presence. Then perform this variation on the classic Bob Farmer effect (as popularized by Michael Ammar). 

Uhm, this is probably considered not safe for work

Hey all,

So we've come down to it. This is the last day to donate in order to receive the The Jerx Volume 1 and receive the bonus items with it.

I'm a bad salesperson. A couple people have castigated me for not even mentioning this on my twitter or posting it on message boards. I admit it's a bad instinct in some ways. But it's the way I think about things and the way I interact with the universe. I'm not trying to push things too hard. I wanted to present people the opportunity to support the site and get something in return, but I didn't want to take money from anyone who needed convincing. I'm like that in relationships too. I'm not like, "Look, I'm going to be the best boyfriend, and I'll rub your shoulders, and I'll cook you dinner, and I'll be nice to your parents, and I'll be cool with your friends, and I'll play your body like a harp." Yes, all that is true, but that's not why I want you to date me. I want you to date me because we have a connection and chemistry and we're on the same wavelength. 

Similarly, the most positive thing for me in this process is that it has helped me identify people in the magic community who I have a connection with, and chemistry, and who I'm on the same wavelength as. And before having this site, there were very few people in magic I felt that way about. But now I can plot them on a map. 

So here you go, if you're compelled to donate, please do. 

One time donation:

The Jerx - Volume 1

Weekly donation (The Coffee Club):

Coffee Club Donations


Update 5 - A Gift For Us All

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Pledge week is coming to an end. Here is the schedule for the upcoming days.

Tuesday, Oct. 20th - 11:59 PM ET - This will mark the end of the initial donation period. This means the last chance to get the book with the bonuses. 

Wednesday, Oct. 21st - I will be reaching out to everyone who donated individually via email to say thanks and verify the contact info I have, as well as to give them some info about the bonuses to come. If you don't hear from me at some point that day, and you're pretty sure you donated, double check your paypal, and then send me an email

Thursday, Oct. 22nd - I'm going to gather the information I have and come up with a plan for this site. For example, as of now, about 3% of the regular visitors to the site have donated for the book. Since the book is going to be filled with mainly routines and some essays, then that would suggest that those things aren't a big draw for most of the people who visit this site. And that's a good thing, because those are the things that take me many, many hours to create, test-out, and write up. Trying to include stuff like that with some regularity was a huge chunk of my time. So if I can re-prioritize and write-up those sorts of things just for the book and for that percentage of the readership that is particularly interested in them, that will free me up to do so on my own schedule. And not only that but it gives more value to the people who do connect with my style of routines because it gives them some measure of exclusivity.

Friday, Oct. 23rd - I'll update you with what's going to happen with the site going forward. 

And now, a gift for us all.

You know what this site has been missing? (Compared to the old Magic Circle Jerk blog, that is.)

It's been missing some weirdo yelling at me over email. 

Well people, the wait is over. Below you can read what is essentially the only overwhelmingly negative response I've had since this site started. It's not a stone-cold classic like the ones from MCJ, but it has its moments. I included my responses as well so you could follow the conversation.

It all started when I got this email from a "Max Wexler." "Max Wexler?" you ask. "That has a phony ring to it." Yeah, I don't know. Maybe. To me it sounds like a 1980s action-drama on NBC: Max Wexler, PI or Max Wexler, Basketball Doctor or something.

Wait... Max Wexler is the guy from Mars, right? No, that's not it. That's...

Let me tell you about our email interaction. I'm going to copy and paste them here so grammar and whatnot are going to be a little f'd up.

The first email I got from him simply said:

What's the total amount needed to make your goal?

I wrote back: 

The bare minimum to keep the site going in a (reduced) form is to sell 80 copies of the book. That's what's required to break even.

To which he replied:

And how much are the individual copies again??

Why wouldn't he get this information from the site rather than than write an email and wait for a response? Well, because he wanted to engage, of course. I told him it was $260 and he wrote back to say.

So you need a minimum of $20,000 to keep yor website going? For what, an eternity? 

I'm asking these questions because I'm considering purchasing a block of books (ten or more), so I'm wondering if there is a breakdown in costs to used to justify that budget? 

I replied:

Sadly the book elves aren't going to come and leave the books for me while I sleep. A third of the 20 would go to taxes. Another third will go towards the publication of the book. And the last third will be split among 5 people who have given their time to the site in various regards since it launched. Anything above that would be considered profit and would determine how much time I'd be able to work on the site in the future.

Now that we'd gotten past his pretend interest in the book, we could get to what he really wanted to do, which was lecture me about my bad attitude.

Fair enough. 

I have a sort of love/hate relationship with your site. 

You are a clearly a bright guy who knows how to write (and that alone separates your work from most, if not all of the magic blogs on planet earth), on the other hand I disagree with a good half of what you say, especially the stuff about mentalists and the performance of mentalism, in general. 

The trouble (for lack of a better term) is, your snarky, pull-no-punches style is what makes your writing so vibrant and worthwhile, but it also walks a thin line where you can come up sounding arrogant and holier-than-thou. 

I make my living as performer, and it's a very good living (if my previous offer to purchase several copies wasn't an indication of that). And I don't say this to jerk myself off, I say this because you are perhaps a bit too confident in your opinions given that you aren't a professional (as far as I know), and don't have the expereince of working routines into the ground for years until they are ground into a workable pulp. And sometimes I think your too quick on the draw making some rather large assumptions about what works and the many things that don't work when it comes to creating professional presentations, and this serves to undermine your work a bit. 

Having said that, you clearly have your wits about you and your ideas and solutions are often quite clever and that leads me to wonder why you're not a performer. 

So let me ask you this: what is that you actually do for a living? Are you a designer or engineer or a consultant of some sort? I'm not asking you reveal your identity yet, but I'm quite curious as to how you make your living in the world because I admire your thinking quite a bit. 

(On a side note, I don't often add pieces to my set until they've been worked over like an exotic dancer at "red cup" free-for-all frat convention. But just for the fun of it, I threw your Rubiks cube stooge solution onto the end of a larger routine anout finding solutions to "life's puzzles"...and it killed. So, I must give credit where credit is due. 

Now, to be fair, I don't necessarily disagree with anything he wrote there. Except... wait... is he saying that fraternities gang-rape exotic dancers? I don't know that I can fully get behind that. 

I wrote:

Well, the good thing about me is I don't really write like I know something unless I know about. When I talk about things that don't work in magic and mentalism, it's not because I don't like them. It's because I've tested the concepts on people in a formal setting and seen that they don't fool people. As far as I know I'm the only person doing this regularly and actively seeking out real people's thoughts on magic effects and magician's performance.

I'm not a full-time performer because I have no desire to "work routines into the ground." I like coming up with new ideas and moving forward.

Writing is my day-job.

Now, I don't know what tone you take this in, but I can honestly say, there is no tone.

Regarding me passing judgment on things, the only time I say, "This doesn't work," or "This doesn't fool people," is when I've shown people the effect -- ideally performed by the creator -- in a focus group setting. Otherwise, I have no idea if something works. And I'm excited when the testing of a concept proves my initial instinct wrong. Take Miraskill, for instance. I never thought that could fool people. How could it? If you have an equal number of two types of objects and you pair up some of the objects, then obviously the unpaired objects will be equal. How does this fool people!? Well, it does. I've tested it a bunch of times and it's rare that anyone sees the "obvious" logical flaw in it.

You might say, "Well, Andy, you say [some trick or concept] doesn't fool people, but I know it does because I use it in my show." Well, I will happily show a clip of your show to a group of 10 random people and offer them $3 if they can guess, generally, how what you did was accomplished. I'll record the whole thing for you. It won't be pretty. I don't doubt that you've performed certain things and not been called out on them, or even received a nice round of applause for them. Your mistake is in thinking a paying audience will be the most critical when really they're the least.

Moving on. My answer about why I'm not a professional performer is the same answer I give anyone who asks. I'm not interested in doing the same effects over and over. I like thinking up new ideas or working on new tricks or testing new concepts. That attitude is great for an amateur who might perform dozens of times for the same people, but it's not really conducive to performing professionally. As "Max" says, you need to work those things into the ground to be a pro. 

Anyway, I answered his questions as plainly as I could. But that's not what he wanted. I think what he wanted was for me to be like, "Well, gee, Mr. Wexler, you have a good point. Aw shucks, I've been such a little stinker on my site. I'm sorry. You know what I lack? Respect. That's right. Good old fashioned respect for the pros like you. Please forgive me, Mr. Wexler, please? Now about those 10 books you said you were thinking of buying. Whatcha got? A whole lacrosse team you're buying copies for? Well, you'll still buy them, right? Now that I'm on the straight and narrow?"

But, that's not what he got, and this apparently that set him off because he fucking flipped his shiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttt.

I regret trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and offering up what was sincere proposal to support your site.

Working routines into the ground via rehearsal so they can be presented  as professional presentations for PAYING audiences--you know, just like Penn & Teller, Copperfield, Tamariz (and on and on and on) is what is called being a professional, you ignoramus. And nice of you to try and misinterpret that statement and then use as a defense of your own rather laughably obvious shortcomings.  

You think that is a legitimate argument as to why you're not paid performer? A 12 year old fledging debate team member could come up with a less absurdly ridiculous defense than that. 

Testing concepts to some woman you picked up in the bar or your friends and family simply in order to approve and/or disprove methodologies that you find to be suspect is what amateurs do. 

You're not a professionally paid performer because you lack the wherewithal, dedication, perserverance, twork ethic and talent to make a living at it. 

You may be a good writer, but you are also a professional dilettante who stands in judgment of actual professionals, while criticizing others from the sidelines and arrogantly suggesting to those who are actual professionals that you know better while hiding behind a soon-to-be-revealed pseudonym...because that's what cowards do. 

My message to you was both complimentary and respectful and contained an offer to purchase several of your books in order to help keep your  site going. And what do you do in response? Act like a cowardly, arrogant, narcissistic blowhard. In other words, you're a real class act. And I think it's time for the professionals in this community to be informed as to your true identity. 

You may try and and hide behind your shitty domain registrar, but that won't last very long, child. 

Thanks for the IP address. It's time for the troll to be smoked out of his little cowardly hiding place. This is going to be so much fun. 

Wowee Zowee!! Did Max have a stroke? Gee, he seems like a delight to spend time with. Completely level-headed.

If you have your old Magic Circle Jerk Bingo cards, make sure to mark off "cowardly," "troll," and, "hiding place."

Max, and others, here are some tips for writing me an email and not having me think you're fucking brain-dead. (Seriously, Max, Terry Schiavo's got nothing on you.)

1. Don't let your opinion of me change based on jack-shit. It makes you seem like a nutcase. You're like a guy who comes up to a woman in a bar and says, "Want to dance?" And when she says no you say, "Well fuck you, you're ugly anyway." In fact, I guarantee you've done that in your life. I realize you didn't think this whole thing through well enough at the start, so for you there was no issue with saying, "Ten books, please," one moment. And, "You're an untalented blowhard," the next. But it completely comes across as someone who is chock full o' shit.

2. When someone quotes you and uses your statement in an identical context and doesn't "interpret" what you've said in anyway, try not to complain they've "misinterpreted" you. The only way to misinterpret your own quote is if you yourself read it differently the second time.

3. Don't you ever, EVER, question my twerk ethic. 

4. Try not to write under a pseudonym and then come back later and suggest that writing under a pseudonym is "cowardly." You, unfortunately, painted yourself into a bit of a corner with this one. "I'm Max Wexler!" Okay. "I'm a successful performer!" Well, at least one of these things has to not be true (I'm guessing both) because there is no record of anyone named Max Wexler who is a successful magician or mentalist. Not a lot of foresight with that ruse, Max.

5. Don't threaten me with shit I don't care about. Track my IP address. Knock yourself out. You'll end up in NYC or LA. You can track anything I've done online back to the source and you will be brought to one of a few people who will be more than happy to take credit as the writer behind this site.  

Although I am curious what your end-game is. Let's say you get to one of my friends, torture them, and find out who I am. What's the plan after that? You're going to out me? Oh gee... please don't. Whatever will I do if a bunch of people find out I write the site that they like. How will I handle all the hi-fives? This idea that there's some cadre of "professionals" who don't like me that I'm hiding from is your own cornball narrative. Mabye that's why you chose a pseudonym, because you're a chickenshit through and through. But I'm not hiding my name from anyone who reads this site. I'm hiding it for them. This way I can be more open about my friends and experiences related to magic because the stories or the secrets won't get back to them. If my name ever became commonly associated with this site it would just mean I wouldn't write about personal stuff. That's all. 

Now, I didn't actually write all this to "Max" because none of his shit really got me worked up. I just do it for your reading pleasure. What I actually wrote Max is below. But I haven't heard back and it's been days. I thought he would write back to apologize for losing his mind, or to lose it some more. I'm worried about him. I hope he didn't need those ten books for ballast on a wayward ship or something. I mean, that seems like a wildly inefficient way of solving that problem, but it makes as much sense as anything he suggested in his emails about why he'd want all those copies.

My actual last response:

What a bizarre way to misinterpret my email.

Yes, I'm not a professional magician because I don't have the desire to work on routines to the extent I would need to in order to perform them for a paying audience. We seem to be in agreement on that. So I don't know how that could be considered a "ridiculous defense." It would seem, "I'm not a professional X because I don't have any interest in putting in the work to be a professional X" is the only defense that matters. 

If you'd read my site, you would know that I test routines and methodologies and performers in front of focus groups of strangers, covering every age range, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc. You thought I meant performing for friends and family? How on earth would I be the "only person" doing that.

Now, go back and re-read my email. Tell me where it's "cowardly," "arrogant," "narcissistic," or "blowhard-y." You won't find it. There was no emotion in the email at all. 

If you're trying to argue against my supposition that most people in the mentalism community are delicate personalities with dreadfully low self-esteem who see what they want to see in things rather than what's actually there, you're doing a spectacularly bad job at it. 

You seem mad because I didn't lick your balls because you offered to buy books. You have my motivation backwards. I'm not doing this to push a book on people who don't like me or like the site. I'm doing it to make a book available for the people who do. 

I wish you continued success with your performing career.

Update 4 - The Coffee Club

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It's been a long week for me and I'm just about completely out of sorts from having my sleep-schedule turned upside down, but it's been a fun and interesting week too.

We are a few days away from the deadline to donate to the site and receive the The Jerx book and the extras as well. In all honesty, barring a huge push of donations over the next couple of days, The Jerx as a daily blog is dead. So if that's what the main motivation for your donation would be, then you should save your money. On the other hand, if you want to donate to show appreciation for what we've already done and to reserve your copy of the book, that would be great.

As for the what that means for the future of this site, I'll have more news next week, but essentially it will mean I have to reprioritize things with this site taking a backseat. My first priority will be my paid writing work, my second will be working on the book, my third will be writing the monthly email newsletter (the initial one will go out in November to those who donated -- imagine MAGIC or Genii's review section, but written from the perspective this site is written from), and then, when time permits, I'll post here. It will be rather infrequent, but if it makes any difference to you, my darlings, I did spend half a year where you were my top priority. And daddy will be back when possible to toss the Nerf around. Okay, buddy? Buddy... okay?

Oh, speaking of the book, it's going to be one of the most beautiful ones in your library and the contents are going to be the most bonkers. There will be a ton of all new stuff as well as the best from this site. I'm really excited about it. 

And finally, I've changed my mind about people donating via subscription. I changed my mind because a friend convincingly argued that I shouldn't not make the book available to someone who isn't able to to make the full payment at this time, even if I think that's the "ethical" thing to do. If I think about myself in college, for example, I probably couldn't have shelled out $260 in one go, but $5-something a week wouldn't put me out and I'd want to have the opportunity to own the book if I was in that position. So, now you can donate via The Coffee Club -- going along with the idea of buying me a fancy coffee once a week. If you donate now you'll be eligible for the book and all the bonuses as well. It's kind of like if K-mart sold limited edition magic books on layaway. Obviously you're free to stop your donations whenever you want, but if you do so before you're paid up for the book, then it will essentially just be a straight donation with no bonuses. It will be $5.30/week in the US and $5.80 outside the US, and you do need a paypal account (I believe), you can't just use a credit/debit as you can with the full amount.

As long as you're not paying me money when you should be buying baby formula, I don't really care if you do a lump sum or weekly payments. For the sake of my friend who is handling the accounting for all of this, it's easiest if you do it at one time, but that's up to you. (To pay in one lump sum, see the links in the original book launch post.)

Coffee Club Donations

You have a few more days to get on board if you're interested. I really appreciate those of you who have enjoyed the site enough, and believe in what's to come enough to donate already. Your faith will be rewarded.

Update 3 - Early Morning Cold Taxi

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I wasn't planning on writing today, but my sleep schedule is all screwed up so I've got some time and I wanted to give you an update. For the first time since May, I accepted work on a full-time freelance project this week since I knew I wouldn't be busy producing content for this site. And that has meant 14 hour days and being up at times I don't normally see. Like 7AM. This is some straight-up bullshit, right here. I know a lot of you get up this early every day. You're the true heroes. I mean, even if you're getting up before the sun rises to assault someone in the park, I still admire your work ethic.

Let's look at the tote-board.

So, we're a little over two days in and just about a quarter of the way there. That may seem like a good pace, but the majority of that was done in the first twelve hours. We'll see what happens. People may be waiting, or I may have over-estimated the demand to keep the site around. I'm genuinely perfectly happy with either scenario.  

(To be clear, I'm not looking to make a living from this site. My goal amount of books to sell to keep this site going is not out of the double digits. After taxes, fees, the cost of doing a small run hardcover printing, shipping, and the costs of running the site, I just want to be able to pay some money to the people who help with the site and anything above that will just mean more time I can put into the site itself. But it won't even get close to minimum wage. If it was just money I was after I'd put these hours in at Denny's.)

So, while this site's future is up in the air, I want to make it clear to the people who have donated that you have nothing to worry about. The amount of content you get will be very similar either way, it's just that some of it will come in a different format (email and the book). You will definitely be getting a bunch of exclusive routines, and if the site doesn't continue, then it just means a bunch more ideas and routines that you have access to that the riff-raff won't.

And I promise you the book is going to be fucking amazing. It won't be hard to be better than most magic books which are 90% telling you where to put your pinky and stuff. But I truly believe if you like this site you'll really treasure the book. It's not just going to be blog posts reprinted in book form. It's going to be it's own thing. You'll see.

UPDATED: The Jerx Volume 1 - The Book

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[See the bottom of this post for continuing updates about this project.]

Would you take me out once a week and buy me one of those fancy Starbucks coffees, perhaps a Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino® Blended Crème, if it meant keeping this site going?

Yes?

We are at a fork in the road, you and I. Writing this site has taken up a big chunk of my day for almost half a year now. 

When I was a couple months in to working on this site, I realized I could keep this going indefinitely, if there is an audience for it. The issue is one of time. You see, my day-job is essentially the same as working on this blog -- it's writing, consulting, and creating. And if I spend 25-30 hours a week working on this site, that's 25-30 hours I'm not only not making money, but I'm losing money because I pay people to help with the site. So it's not sustainable. So, for the the sake of, like, paying rent and having food to eat, I've come to the point where that chunk of time needs to go to people who are into what I'm doing enough to support it financially.

When most blogs want to monetize, the first thing they think of is ads. Well, I can't do ads because the readership is too small. And besides that, part of what people like about this site is that I can compare some dumb magic thing to an ISIS beheading video or something and there is no advertiser to worry about upsetting. Without that freedom, I wouldn't be interested in doing the site. 

So for the site to continue, it will need to be reader supported. I kind of look at this site as the small-town newspaper for a community of people who have a particular relationship with magic that isn't what you read about in traditional magic media. The question is, are there enough villagers in this community to keep the newspaper afloat?

It was my friend Andrew Steele who came up with what is, I think, the best and most fair way of seeing if we can make this work. His idea was to follow the public television model. Essentially I've given away half a year's worth of content. I am now giving you the opportunity to back the second half of the year and get something in return if you do.

How much to charge. Well, I left that up to simple math. I estimated how many hours I work on this site in a given week, multiplied that by 25% of my standard hourly rate for freelance work, and then divided that by how man regular readers I think I have. Estimating how many regular readers I have is the difficult part. I can look at the stats on my site, but that counts the people who visit the site because they dislike me, as well as the ones who stumble across the site because they search for something unrelated that I happened to mention like "ISIS beheading videos."

What I end up with when I'm done with that calculation is a somewhat significant chunk of change for the whole year which makes me hesitate. But then I see books and even ebooks in our art that sell for $400, $600, even $1000 dollars and some of the ones I've read absolutely suck dong, so I don't feel so bad asking for a fraction of that to keep this site going.

What I like about this plan is that now the longevity of this site is a problem that solves itself. If there is a community to support it, then we're golden. And if not, then I stop. Stopping the site won't upset me. I still get to have the thoughts and create the routines that make up this blog, I just don't have to write them up, so it's not like I'm missing out on that aspect. What would upset me is if I stopped it when there were enough people out there who cared enough about it to keep it going and I didn't present them that opportunity. 

So that's what we come back to. Would you buy me a fancy $5 coffee once a week to keep the site going? That's $260 for the year for what amounts to a 365 chapter online book AND you will receive The Jerx Volume 1 which collects the best essays and routines from what would be the first year of this site. They will be revised and updated with additional thoughts and all new typos! In addition there will be at least half a dozen unpublished routines that will be unique to the book.

So here's how it works. At the bottom of this post you will find a link to donate. If you want to keep the site going then click on it. There is a price for outside of the US that covers the additional cost of priority shipping internationally. If you are a regular reader of this site and you want to see it continue, you pretty much need to be on board. The readership of this site isn't large enough that it can be supported by a minority of the readers. 

Now, I have a magic number in mind of how many people I need to contribute in order to continue the site as I've been doing it. There are two paths things can take, either enough people donate to back the second half of the year, or they don't. I've tried to set this up so it's a win-win-win for me, the people who enjoy the site, and the people who don't, regardless of what happens. 

Below is what you'll receive if you contribute and we do or don't reach the goal amount.

Here is what you get if you donate and we reach our goal amount.

  • You get to enjoy the second half of year one of the Jerx blog with postings every day.
  • A copy of The Jerx Volume 1. 300+ pages that includes the best of the first year of the site and at least half a dozen new effects that will never be published in any other book. (See below for more details about some of these effects)
  • A hard-copy booklet of an extended essay I wrote called The Amateur At the Kitchen Table, a long treatise on the performance of magic in informal settings and connecting with people via those performances. Writing this essay was the inspiration for launching this site.
  • You'll be on my private email list and receive a monthly email newsletter of short reviews, recommendations, and alternate handlings of new and old magic releases. This is the sort of stuff I didn't write about too much on the blog, as I didn't want the site to just be a critique of other people's stuff. I've distributed this email newsletter for a while now to a small group of friends. If you're supporting the site, then I consider you a friend.
  • A sponsored post on anything you want. If you offer a product or service or if you hate someone's guts, I will write all about it. I won't lie. I won't say your trick is good if it blows. But at  the same time I won't say it blows if it blows either. These entries will be included in the Sunday posts and identified as bought and paid for.
  • And I'll be less likely to talk shit about you, your product or your services if you're a supporter of the site. Yes, this is how the mafia works. "Pay our fee and we won't burn down your bar." I don't mean it that way. It's just, as I said above, I consider anyone who is helping the site to be a friend, and I'm not going to talk shit about my friends (at least not in a serious way).

Here is what you get if you donate and we DON'T reach our goal amount.

  • You will get one EXTREMELY LIMITED EDITION book called The Complete Jerx. I know it will be extremely limited edition because in this case we didn't meet our target amount and our target amount is pretty low. This version of the book will include over a dozen new routines that will never be reprinted in any other book or online.
  • The hardcopy version of The Amateur At The Kitchen Table.
  • The newsletter mentioned above.
  • You will receive a day's worth of consulting/writing on any project you're involved with. This is dumb for me to do because my day-rate is significantly more than the donation amount, but if you're involved in anything creative I'm sure there is some aspect of the project I could help out with. And I would be happy to help someone out with their project who was kind enough to contribute to mine.

The initial donation period will go for approximately a week from today, although the book will be available (without all the extras) at the same price until it is released. The blog will be on hiatus during this period. At the end of the donation period I'll know if we've met the goal or if we're nowhere near where we need to be. If we've met the goal I will pick right back up with daily posts. If we're nowhere near, then I'll shut this site down (I won't delete the contents, I just won't be publishing new posts).

Some of the effects that will ONLY be available in the book, The Jerx Volume 1 are:

And Now He Is Me: You show your friend some of the highlights from the 1978 movie, Magic, starring Anthony Hopkins as a psychotic magician/ventriloquist. You watch a few of the best parts but focus on the scene where he terrifies/seduces Ann-Margret with a Do As I Do routine. You then re-enact the scene with your spectator, through failure then triumph. Then things take a turn as the cards in the real world transform to those from the film, all culminating with you arguing with a puppet that unexpectedly appears on your hand about whether you should murder your spectator or not.

Dear Penthouse Forum: A story deck trick (that actually uses the full deck, unlike my other ones) that is genuinely funny and has a twist ending.

I Know What You Need: You have your friend over for dinner and she secretly decides what she would like to have based on dozens of options. Without ever telling you anything you place a delivery order (or you can do the cooking yourself) and when the food shows up it is exactly what she had secretly chosen. You then show that you didn't actually know what she wanted to eat, but you were able to get in her mind and swap what she was craving for what you had planned on ordering in the first place.

A Most Unusual Camera: Your spectator's cellphone camera takes pictures of things 5 minutes before they happen.

You want in? Here's your chance. 

F.A.Q.

Q. I can't afford $260. Can I just send you something less as a general donation?
A. No. Look, I really appreciate the thought, but if $5 a week is too much to spare (and trust me, I've been in that position when I was younger) then you shouldn't be giving any money to some magic blog. Keep your money and hope enough other people support it to keep it going. My goal is not to wring as much money out of this as possible. My goal is give people who can support the site the opportunity to.

Q. How do I know you're not going to take my money and run off with it?
A. Well... you don't I guess. You've caught me in the midst of the world's dumbest con. I thought I would spend hundreds of hours writing an extremely narrowly focused blog with limited appeal in the hopes that some of the fans of the site would back the second half of the year. Look, the people who will be handling the finances for this and the delivery of the book are AC Costello and Michael Sullivan. They have spotless paypal records and have perfect ebay feedback scores going back 15 and 20 years respectively. But besides that, I would hope that if you've read this blog for any amount of time that you see beyond the crass, obscene, and impudent persona, and have come to see me as a genuine person who is not here to take advantage of anyone. I know magic has a history of people taking money for projects and then just being like, "Peace out, bitches," but that is not what I'm about. If this is a success, my goal is to keep this thing going well into the future, so I'm not going to flake out on you.

Q. When will the book be released?
A. Since it's a collection of the best of the first year, then it will come out when the first year is complete. If we don't reach our goal for continuing The Jerx blog, then the book will come out in the late winter, early spring.

Q. Will it be hardcover or softcover.
A. Hard, baby.

Q. Can I buy more than one?
A. Hell yeah. That's what I would do. Buy a dozen or a gross. Get on board before I'm recognized as a true genius and these books are worth a fortune.

Q. I come here at least once a week, and $5 a week is no issue for me, but I'm not going to donate.
A. Hey, that's not a question. But that's perfectly fine. Just know that the sustainability of this site is predicated on people in your position donating. So if you think, "Oh, I'm sure others will pick up the slack," that's not the case. There are no others. It's just us. I don't want a single person to pay if they don't think it's worth it. But don't come to me and complain about the site not being here if you don't contribute.

Q. So what exactly will happen to the site if you don't reach your goal? 
A. Poof! Well, not like I did with my old site. This old posts will still remain, and I may check in on a very irregular basis, but the daily postings will end.

Q. Do you want to keep doing the site?
A. Yeah, I like doing it a lot. And I have a lot of ideas for longer-term projects I want to do with it. But unfortunately I'm very much an all or nothing type of person. The site only interests me as a daily publication, but obviously that's a big time commitment. I also think online is my best outlet as a writer. It allows me to do timely things, visual things, and incorporate all sorts of media from around the web. But, that being said, if we don't reach our goal, then I think people will still be satisfied with similar content in the book and via the email newsletter.

Q. Okay, I'm in. What do I have to do?
A. Click that bad-boy below.

Update 2 - October 13th - 3:12 AM

It is so strange for me to not write a post for this site. It feels like trying to go to sleep without brushing my teeth first -- like I'm forgetting something. There are very few things in my life I've ever done everyday for 6 months. I mean, like other than basic biological things. Have I ever gone a day without peeing?

Well... have I? Answer me, dammit. 

Sorry. Lost my mind for a second there.

The fundraising continues. You know, people always complain about public television's pledge drives, but I always kind of liked them. I find something comforting about them. It's like, "Oh, here they are, interrupting the Peter, Paul, and Mary special again, just like the did last year, and the year before." I have a thing for traditions, even if they stink. 

Update 1 - Oct 12th - 11:00 AM

First, I want to thank those of you who have already contributed. I will be emailing you individually in the coming days, but let me say a general thanks now.

A couple people have asked about donating by subscription, and Jack Shalom wrote in with this astute email.

I just paid via Paypal to subscribe to your site. It's well worth it.

A suggestion: I work for WBAI radio, (99.5 FM NYC) a listener-sponsored radio station that uses the model you are using, so I have some experience in this area. An amount like $260 at one time is a lot for many folks.

But...there are ways to set up recurring monthly donations credited from one's credit card or bank account. A recurring donation of $24/mo for a year is a lot easier for many to handle than $260 at once. I think your response rate would be much greater.

Just something to think about depending on how things go in the next week or two.

Now, he is surely right about this, but I want to explain where my head is at. I don't want supporting this site to be, in any way, a hardship on anyone. So if this isn't an amount you're comfortable dropping on a magic product, then I'd prefer you keep your money because I feel like you can put it to better use.

This is probably bad business sense on my part, but just as a human I would feel bad taking money from someone for whom this amount isn't well within their impulse purchase point.