My first birthday party price was $125.
I didn’t pick it with a spreadsheet. I picked it because it sounded like a number a mom might say yes to. And you know what? She did. So did the next one.
That’s how most of us decide how much to charge for a magic show. We guess, we get a yes, and we stop thinking about it for five years.
I’ve been a full-time magician for more than 20 years now, and I’ve made almost every pricing mistake there is. Here’s the method I wish someone had handed me on day one.
Stop comparing your fee to an hourly wage
Years ago, after a local event, I got talking with a group of clowns. Lovely people. One of them told me he got $65 a show, and that compared to his day job, that was a pretty good hourly wage.
I wanted to run screaming from the room.
I understand where he was coming from. The last job I ever worked for someone else paid $8.50 an hour. Next to that, any show fee looks like a fortune. But that’s apples to oranges.
A one-hour show is never one hour of work. Count what actually goes into it:
- Travel time. A two-hour drive each way is four hours you can’t use for much else.
- Your car. Tires, brakes, gas and the repairs that keep you from breaking down on the way to a school.
- Props and supplies. Sponge balls wear out. Silks stain. New tricks cost money.
- Marketing. Your website, your ads, your postcards, your time answering emails.
- Years of practice. The client is paying for the 20 years it took to make it look easy.
And remember, most people would rather be in the casket than deliver the eulogy. You do the thing most people fear most, and you do it well. That’s a skilled service. Price it like one.
Every market has its own ceiling
A school will pay more than a library. A library will usually pay more than a daycare. A corporate holiday party can pay more than all of them.
That’s not fair or unfair. It’s just how budgets work. When I started booking libraries, I reasoned they had a built-in budget for programs, so I priced for that budget. When I started traveling, I knew I had to cover the gas, the wear on the car and the extra hours. So my prices went up bit by bit.
Would I love to get school fees from libraries? Absolutely. But I know they won’t pay it, so I don’t ask.
So the real question isn’t “How much should a magician charge?” It’s “How much does this market pay a good performer in my area?”
Price by distance, too
Here’s a mistake I made for years. When I first went after the library market, I set one low price for a big territory. Some of my most loyal libraries were more than three hours away. Unless I booked a second library nearby on the same day, I was driving six and a half hours round trip for one small fee.
Now I price in rings. Close to home is one fee. A couple of hours out is a bit more. Beyond that is more again. Clients understand this. Nobody expects a performer to drive half a day for the same fee as the guy down the street.
Compare yourself to the right competition
When you look around your area, you’ll find two kinds of magicians:
- The people who charge almost nothing and do a show to match.
- The pros worth comparing yourself to.
You’ll know who’s who. Ignore the first group. If you price against the cheapest act in town, you’re telling clients you’re the same product.
If you’re friendly with a few working pros in your area, ask them what they charge. Most will tell you. I don’t lose sleep over what other people charge. They charge what they charge. I charge what I charge. But knowing the range helps you find your spot in it.
You can’t beat free
There’s a magician in my area who does a wonderful show about milk. A dairy group sponsors it, so schools get it for free. For years, teachers told my wife (who has a lot of teachers as clients) that he was the one magician they’d hire, because he didn’t cost them anything.
You can’t win that fight on price. Don’t try. Dropping your fee won’t beat free. It just makes you cheaper and still not free.
Here’s the strange part. When I finally started making inroads in my local market, I hadn’t lowered my fees. I’d raised them. A higher fee tells a client you’re a pro worth paying for.
The 20% test
My copywriting mentor gave his students a piece of advice that works just as well in magic.
For your next three or four gigs, quote 20% higher than you normally would.
If you usually charge $400 for a library show, quote $480. Or round it to $450 if that feels more natural. Then watch what happens.
Most of the time, nothing happens. People say yes. That’s the scary part, because it means you’ve been leaving money on the table for years.
I learned this the hard way. One person at a very poor school once told me my fee was too high. I let that one comment color my local pricing for years. When I finally raised my rates, I got zero pushback. Zero. On my out-of-state school shows, I raised fees by several hundred dollars and nobody blinked.
Say it without flinching
My mentor had one more rule. You have to be able to say the new number without a hitch in your voice.
If you quote a price and then add, “…is that okay?” you’ve already lost. The client hears your doubt and starts to doubt too.
So practice it out loud. In the car. In the shower. To your dog. If 20% feels too big to say with a straight face, try 10%. A raise you can say calmly beats a bigger one you mumble.
Expect one grumble
When I raised my library fees, one library grumbled. They’d booked me years earlier at my old price, and when they called back for a Halloween show, they were horrified that my fee had gone up by about $100.
They booked me anyway. And that was one library out of the roughly 50 I booked that year.
One unhappy client isn’t a verdict on your prices. It’s one client.
Signs your price is too low
You don’t need a consultant to tell you. Your clients will:
- Your calendar is bursting. Being booked every weekend sounds great until you realize you’re working twice as hard for the same money.
- Someone says, “That’s all?” when you quote.
- A client teases you about it. A daycare that books me every year once said, “We keep waiting for you to raise your rates!” I sheepishly sent the next invoice with a $40 increase.
When you raise your fees, you’ll lose a few clients. That’s fine. In my experience, those low-dollar shows were often the worst ones anyway. Other clients fill the gaps.
Give clients more than one price
A single price is a yes-or-no question. Two or three options turn it into “which one?”
When I did a lot of corporate work, I offered three packages: an hour-long stage show, close-up magic during the cocktail hour, and a combo of both with a discount on the close-up. I framed the combo as doubling their entertainment. Plenty of clients took it.
For birthday parties, add-ons do the same job. Simple balloon animals are a big one. My whole repertoire is a dog, a wiener dog, a sword, a giraffe, a rabbit and a mouse, and most of those are variations of the dog. Goody bags or a little magic book for the birthday child work too. Each one raises the total without raising your base fee.
Common questions about magic show pricing
Should I put my prices on my website?
I don’t. A bare number with no context invites price shopping. I’d rather talk with the client, learn about their event, and quote a price that fits it.
Should I charge more for longer drives?
Yes. Your time in the car is time you can’t spend on anything else, and your car pays for every mile. Build distance into your fee.
How often should I raise my prices?
Look at them at least once a year. If you’re booked solid and nobody blinks at your quotes, it’s time.
What if the client says I’m too expensive?
Don’t panic and don’t drop your fee on the spot. Ask what budget they’re working with, and see if a smaller package fits. Some clients simply aren’t your clients, and that’s okay.
Get a number in 60 seconds
If you’d like a starting point instead of a guess, I built a free tool for exactly this. The magician fee generator asks about your market, your area and your show, then gives you a range to work from.
It won’t set your price for you. That’s your call. But it’ll show you whether your gut is in the right neighborhood.
And if you want a full look at your pricing, your markets and your marketing together, that’s what my Book-More-Shows Custom Action Plan is for.
Charge like the pro you are. The clients who value you will still be there.