Just like everyone else has stated, there is no one way.
There are two ways in which magicians become famous in their own right, by being able to perform well and by being able to create well.
There are a few people who are in the middle, kind of good at both, or really good at both.
But take the earlier examples of David Blaine, David Copperfield and Criss Angel-All great performers in their own right (and they have probably created or helped create magic for their shows/routines) They're famous for their ability to do magic though.
Then there are people like Chris Kenner, Wayne Houchin, Daniel Madison, (heck) Lennart Green, Dee Christopher...etc.
The magic community knows these names well...but most laymen have no idea who you're talking about. Take my girlfriend, I was re-watching the TED videos that were news posts, she asked who I was watching, I said 'Lennart Green' and she said 'who?'...all I said was 'Watch'.
There's no point in trying to explain to laymen that there is an entire slew of underground magicians that do magic for the love of magic, not to be world-wide famous, but to make a good (semi) honest living.
Anyway-I'm not going to go through and edit, Gut instincts are usually the best, I apologize if anything was misspelled.
thanks, and I hope it helps.
