The New Jerx!

Hey, everyone. So I have some big news to share. As the announcement video above explains, after almost six years as an independent magic blog, the Jerx has been acquired by Vanishing Inc., and is now part of the VI family.

Josh and Andi have a lot of ideas for the future of this site and I’m really excited to see where they take it.

That’s not to say I won’t be involved going forward. I’ll still be here, mainly in a behind-the-scenes capacity. I will still have a monthly post here, but in the future the site is going to rely primarily on user-submitted content and funny memes found on facebook.

In July this site will be going behind a paywall. It will be just $15 a month to read the site (and the archives) or $150 for the year. Or you can have access to it with the Vanishing Inc+ plan which is only $70/month and includes Masterclass: Live; Vanishing Inc.’s Showtime; free shipping; and Vanishing Inc. Presents, The Jerx, A Magic Humor Blog™.

(This is a separate fee from the supporter fee paid a couple months ago. The rewards package for that is still set to be released in 2022. The book that will be coming out at that point will be called Magic is Fun. It’s a collection of essays Josh wrote for his local IBM ring when he was 8.)

As was mentioned in the video, the Vanishing Inc team is going to be going into the archives and deleting any posts with curse words or sexual innuendo, so if you’re interested in any of those posts you should go and make a copy of them for your own records. I understand why Josh and Andi want to make this a “family friendly” site, and I look forward to the challenge of working within those confines. (The truth is, dirty words are a crutch. As some critics of this site have said in the past, I only use them for “shock value.”)

And, as a commercial entity, it doesn’t make sense to have posts that are too critical of other magicians or their products, so those posts will be removed as well. As Josh repeatedly said during our negotiations, “It’s fun to be funny without making fun!” He wants that to be our “guiding principle” for the site.

I know some details about the future schedule for the site, but not everything has been finalized yet. I know my posts will appear here on the first Thursday of every month. So check in then to hear from me.

On Fridays, there will be a new feature called, Josh’s Joke Book, which Josh describes as, “A silly celebration of japes and guffaws to tickle you ribs and your brain. My ‘joke book’ will shine a spotlight on humor in and out of magic, and will feature some of my favorite comic voices of all time. From Cosby to Garfield!”

So that sounds fun.

On Wednesdays, Andi will take the reins with his column, “Things I Should Have Said.” Here’s how Andi describes it: “Things I Should Have Said is going to be a column that will include excerpts from my notebooks of clever comebacks and devastating heckler stoppers that I thought of well after the incidents that inspired them occurred. Whether dealing with a jerky spectator, an angry spouse, or a group of teens making fun of you on a bus, you’ll never again be at a loss for words because you’re flustered or crying too hard to put together a sentence. These clever retorts will allow you to turn your Sad Losses into GladWins!” Andi says he has material to fill this column for “at least the next decade.”

Just so you know, I no longer have access to the inner workings of the site itself. I will write my posts in email and send them to VI to upload them onto the site. If there’s a link that doesn’t work or something like that, please contact the Vanishing Inc staff to get it fixed.

Don’t expect much to change with the look of the site. One of the great things about going into business with Josh and Andi is that they’ve assured me the VI partnership will be as unobtrusive as possible. This site won’t just be some lame marketing tool for Vanishing Inc. I think they may end up putting a small banner ad in the sidebar, but beyond that, the aesthetic of the site should remain the same. Which I really appreciate.

There you have it! A new age begins for The Jerx. It’s been great running this site as a one-man operation for six years. But it’s also exhausting to be the sole content creator for the site, the newsletters, and the books. So I’m really happy with this deal I’ve cut with Vanishing Inc. I can’t wait to see where the site goes next and I’m proud to have a 2% stake in The New Jerx.