The Mind Play Study Guide

I'm almost finished with my next big project:  The Mind Play Study Guide.

This 400-page book expands on the material in Mind Play, adding new techniques, new topics, and new approaches that I've picked up in the two years since the first book came out.  Much of the new material is geared toward intermediate and advanced hypnotists and hypnotees.

Each chapter in the Study Guide is a self-contained lesson on one aspect of erotic hypnosis including presenter notes, discussion questions, and exercises to practice the skills in the chapter.  If you are looking for a textbook to learn erotic hypnosis, this format will serve you well because you can take the book at your own pace and know that each new chapter stands apart from the others.

If you are part of a local erotic hypnosis community group, the Study Guide is designed to make your life easier by providing presentation content.  If you need a topic for an upcoming meeting, or your planned presenter has to cancel on short notice, you can pick a lesson from the Study Guide and have a one-hour Wiseguy class by proxy.  There's even a lesson on teaching skills, based on my "The Art of Teaching Hypnosis" class.

The Study Guide format also lends itself to use by a study group, of course.  Group members can review the chapter, then meet to compare thoughts, talk over the discussion questions, and do the exercises to practice those new skills right away.

The Mind Play Study Guide will be available in paperback and Kindle editions.  Kindle Unlimited subscribers will be able to read the book as part of their KU subscription and it will be listed in the Kindle Online Lending Library.  Barring unexpected complications, it should go on sale in June.

Rules are rules ... except when they're wrong

I actually posted this to FetLife in August 2014, in response to a lot of (sometimes heated) dialog concerning the list of "rules" in Mind Play.  After some prodding from one of the discussion participants as to why there was no errata in the book yet, I realized I really should have put this on this blog as well.

Also, there will be a corrected edition of Mind Play eventually.  The way I originally formatted the manuscript is making unnecessarily time-consuming to fix all of the print and ebook editions.  We will get there, though.

-wg

Rules are rules ... except when they're wrong

As I write this, my book Mind Play: A Guide to Erotic Hypnosis is 13 months old. The reception has been everything I could have wished for and more, and I can't tell you how grateful I am to the community for embracing the work.

One of the perils of being your own editor is that you become blind to some of the little mistakes in your own text. Over the year I've become aware of a couple of typos, a missing word, and a problem with formatting for night mode in the Kindle edition. All of this is pretty minor and can wait for a revised edition to be fixed.

There's one thing, though, that really can't wait and shouldn't have waited this long. On pages 47-49 (print and PDF editions) is a list of rules entitled Wiseguy's Guide to Ethical Hypnotic Play. The first item in the rules list for hypnotees is:

You have an obligation to disclose your true biological age and sex to the hypnotist before there is any agreement to play.

This one sentence has caused a lot of grief, outrage, and some harm -- or at least an excuse for others to do harm -- to members of the transgender, genderqueer and genderfluid communities. There are those who see it as a license to persecute people, which by extension means I must be sanctioning that kind of behavior. Some people that I greatly respect and admire were among those hurt by the wording, in ways that I never anticipated or expected anyone would be.

For a year I've been quiet about this publicly because if I learned anything from reading Amazon.com reviews it's that there's no way an author can respond to a negative comment without making things worse. Some have concluded that I must be anti-trans/queer/fluid myself, which anyone who knows me well can refute but that shouldn't be their job. The arguments get emotional very quickly, and it's easy to get mired in perceived accusations and insults to the point where the real issue gets obscured: that the rule as written is harsh and wrong and potentially harmful.

There are non-bigoted reasons for the rule, which I won't go into because it would sound too much like justification. If I had it to do over again, I would rewrite the rule to say something like this:

Before engaging in sexually explicit play, you have a responsibility to ensure that everyone involved meets the legal age of consent in all of the localities and to discuss what sexually explicit terms are most appropriate for each person.

Despite the poor wording in the original, the spirit of the rule has always been be honest. Erotic hypnosis is about trust and communication, so all parties in the scene should be willing to trust and to communicate honestly. If they're not, engaging in hypno play is probably unwise altogether.

I don't know when there will be a revised edition of Mind Play -- I don't want to be like a certain RPG publisher who seems to put out a new edition every time sales for the current one slow down -- but when I do you can expect to see that new wording, or something similar to it that's been vetted by friends in the community, in place of the old. If you're one of those who read the original wording and was outraged, offended, saddened, or harmed, all I can say is that I'm sorry and that was never my intent.

Thanks for reading.

-wg

Launch party recap

The launch party for Mind Play was Saturday (7/27) and it was everything I wanted it to be.

It started with a presentation sponsored by The Eulenspiegel Society (TES) Hypnosis SIG.  MrDream, ZanyM, and Mephki put it all together for me and TES got the word out.  As a result we had over 40 people in the room, almost all of which came in pairs.  We filled the room.  Mephki's introduction was appropriately embarrassing and sweet, and then it was my turn.

It turned out that a good half to two-thirds of the room were people who were new to erotic hypnosis, so I quickly altered the plan to make the talk more useful to them.  We covered some of the basics from Hypnosis 101 and then I taught a few inductions.  For Body Scanning and the Hand Squeeze, I demonstrated on a volunteer and then we had everyone practice with their partner (since just about everybody had a partner).  Then demonstrated Terence Watts's exquisite "Seven Plus or Minus Two" induction.  About half the room opted to go into trance for that.

The First 100!

Mind Play sold its 100th copy earlier today, not quite three weeks after it first went on sale.  I'm ridiculously excited at the milestone.

So far over half of the sales have been Kindle editions sold through Amazon.  Print copies are next, with Smashwords a distant third and Nook trailing.  (Really trailing -- there have been more copies sold to Amazon users in Germany than to the whole Nook world.)

This is even before the launch party this weekend in New York, which is very cool.  I haven't blogged about them yet, but I have two more appearances coming up:

• Saturday, August 10th, in the Boston area 
• Labor Day Weekend at FetFest in northern Maryland

At both of these appearances I'll be doing a talk ("Kinky Human Tricks" at FetFest), signing books, and I'll have some print copies on hand for direct sale.  (No, those copies aren't counted in the 100 because they haven't been sold yet.)  Plans are brewing for more road trips coming up, too.

A million thanks to everyone who's bought, reviewed, or talked about this book.  This has been a great personal and professional thrill, and it's only just taking off.

-wg

The Dangers of Writing About Ethics

When I put a section on Ethics into Mind Play I knew I was painting a bullseye on my back to some extent.  After all, ethics are always subjective.  And sure enough, the first negative feedback I've seen so far on the book stems from one of my Rules for Ethical Online Hypnoplay on page 47 of the print edition:

You have an obligation to disclose your true biological sex to the hypnotee before there is any agreement to play.

The discussion, in this Fetlife thread (a Fetlife login is required to follow the link), makes some good points before it starts getting emotional.  The first person to object, for example, pointed out that the phrase "true biological sex" is hard to define and may be viewed as prejudicial to transsexual, genderqueer, or gender-fluid people.  They're right; it probably would have been better to say "gender identity" instead.  Unfortunately, the discourse has been swirling dangerously close to the drain of ad hominem -- one poster, whom I respect and generally think of fondly, has apparently concluded that because that one sentence exists the whole book is unworthy, and actually wished they'd bought a print copy so they could return it as some kind of protest  -- and the real issue is in danger of being lost.

Mind Play launch party

The Eulenspiegel Society (TES) Hypnokink SIG in New York is sponsoring an event to celebrate the launch of my book Mind Play: A Guide to Erotic Hypnosis on Saturday, July 27th at 440 Studios in New York City.

My friends Mephki, MrDream, and ZanyM are organizing the event.  I'll be presenting material from Mind Play including some Kinky Human Tricks, and I will also be demonstrating the famous Seven Plus or Minus Two confusion induction.  We'll have paperback copies of Mind Play on hand and I'll be signing copies as long as people want me to.

TES is asking $8 for TES members and students, $10 for affiliates, and $12 for non-members to attend the event to help defray their costs for the venue and support staff.

More details when we nail down the plan the rest of the way.  Until then, check out the FetLife event page for the latest.

Mind Play, Kindle Edition

The Kindle edition of Mind Play is now up for sale on the Kindle Store (see the link to the right.)  This version has no DRM and sells for $9.99.

I know a number of people have been waiting for ebook formats.  This was the easiest of the ebook formats to create from the original print files.  I'm working on an .epub version I will be able to post to the Nook Bookstores and SmashWords.

-wg

How Deep is Deep?

(This is a free sample from my new book Mind Play: A Guide to Erotic Hypnosis.  If you like what you're about to read, see the links to the right to buy the book.)

-wg

How Deep is Deep?

Like so many aspects of the art of hypnosis, the whole concept of depth is an abstraction. We tend to think of going into trance as going “down,” so it is logical to measure degrees of how far down and to call those degrees “depth.” In reality, though, hypnosis isn't a vertical thing; it is merely an altered state of consciousness, one of focused concentration. So when we say someone is going deeper, what we really mean is they are becoming more focused on the trance state and less inclined to respond to external stimuli or distractions.

In the mid 20^th century two major scales for measuring hypnotic depth were commonly used: the Friedlander-Sarbin scale and the later Stanford Scales, developed by Andre Weitzenhoffer and Ernest Hilgard. These sought to measure hypnotic depth by applying a series of test suggestions of increasing difficulty – that is, requiring an increasing ability to distort, ignore, or invent sensory information to comply with hypnotic suggestions. The problem with these measurements is that they assume everyone is identical in that everyone, if they are “deep enough,” can perform every suggestion on the scale. In reality people's minds are different; some people find it far easier than the scale's inventors thought to do some things and all but impossible to do others regardless of trance depth. The scales also fail to take into account that people get better at manifesting trance phenomena with practice. Today most of the professional hypnotists I know don't bother with these formal scales unless they are conducting research and need to cater to academia.

It's Here!!

The print edition of Mind Play: A Guide to Erotic Hypnosis went on sale today at the CreateSpace eStore.  The list price is $23.99, but I'm offering an introductory discount that brings the price down to $19.99 if you use the discount code 5WB8FDRZ when you check out.

The print edition of Mind Play will be up on Amazon.com in 5 to 7 days, but the discount code above will only work on the CreateSpace store, and only until July 31, 2013.

I'm working on ebook editions and will have those up soon.  The ebook will list for $9.99 and will be on the Kindle Store, the Nook Bookstores, and Smashwords.

I'm excited to see this project finally taking off and I hope you will be, too, when you read the book.  Free copies will be going out to local hypnosis groups starting next week.

-wg

Coming soon

People often ask me, "What book(s) are out there to help people learn about erotic hypnosis?"  Often the person asking is a local community leader who is getting asked by people in the community and wants to be able to give them a good answer.

Coming soon, I will have one. Mind Play: A Guide to Erotic Hypnosis is a genuine how-to manual on erotic hypnosis written primarily for the hypnokink community.  It contains 220 pages of material taken from presentations I've done at NEEHU, Dark Odyssey, and other functions.

Inside you'll find:

• Hypnosis 101 -- For those who are new, a primer on what erotic hypnosis is, how it is used, and basic tips on safety, ethics, and developing your own hypnotic voice and style.
• There and Back Again -- Inductions and deepeners anyone can learn to use.  This is more than just a list of scripts, though; I explain how each induction actually works so that you understand why you would choose one induction over another, and I give variations.  There is also a discussion of what "depth" really means and how you can test to gauge whether you're being successful.
• The Power of Suggestion -- A detailed discussion of how to formulate hypnotic suggestions.  You'll learn about direct and indirect suggestion, Ericksonian language patterns, and common suggestions used in all kinds of contexts.
• Kinky Human Tricks -- Most hypnosis books leave it up to you to figure out what to do with your partner once they're in trance.  Not this one.  In this chapter you'll learn how I do some of the most asked-about erotic hypnosis techniques:  creating arousal and desire, sensation play, hypnotic role play, freeze/puppet/mannequin/robot play, hypno-bondage/tickling/flogging, memory play, and of course multiple ways to give someone a hypnotic orgasm, including my Five-Point Palm Exploding Orgasm Technique.
• Resources -- Once you've absorbed everything in Mind Play, you'll need tips on where to go for more learning, more practice, and more fun.  This chapter recommends further reading resources and talks about local erotic hypnosis groups and events.

If you want to be an erotic hypnotist, this book will teach you how to be a skilled and responsible one.  If you want to be the one being hypnotized, Mind Play will teach you what to look for in a hypno-dominant and provide advice on staying safe as you play.

I expect Mind Play to be on sale on Amazon.com and the CreateSpace eStore by July 15th -- sooner if I can make it happen. It will also be available in ebook form soon after the print version goes on sale.  If you are the leader of a local erotic hypnosis group, email me about receiving a free print edition copy for your group.

-wg