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Autograph Collecting Is A Competition
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| Author | Message |
| autoexpert 24-May-06 5:00PM | It's a competition, of sorts, this autograph collecting stuff. If you think about it, there are loads of people like yourselves, people who get all the basics right, and send an SASE, a typed letter, know stuff about the celeb of their choice and so on. To be very simplistic, if someone receives 1000 fan letters a day, 500 requesting autographs, and decides they can reply to 20 a day, as they actually sign themselves on their day off (or whatever the situation is). They will eventually get around to signing some more, but, then again, they've shown no effort so they might just get returned to the sender and told that person doesn't sign, or something similar. Of these 500, 50 just say 'gimme your autograph now' whilst another 50 are written in illegible handwriting and there's no please or thankyou, and so on. Another 300 show some knowledge, but are of the 'fill-in the blanks' type. That still leaves a hundred from more serious, or more knowledgeable collectors like yourselves, who have done all the 'normal' things correctly, and were polite and showed a good knowledge and so on. But only 20 will get signed, so there's competition out of all those decent letters for those which are most LIKELY to get the autograph; the better the letter, the higher your chances of success. So, unsurprisingly, what you have sent needs to stand out, be something more original than the others, since remember: the only contact this person has, or has ever had with you, is that letter of request and its contents. So this is what you will be judged on what do you think?  |
| dannyboy 24-May-06 5:00PM | Agree Hi There I totally agree with you, a further point that if I may add, as I expressed in a previous posting to Eli_03 is that, be genuine, don't just write off to someone just for the sake of adding another autograph to your collection, for example, it's human nature that not everyone in showbiz is going to be liked by all of the public (fans aside) so why bother this nice person who, although you have seen them in various roles, you don't really like and admire, when they could be signing for genuine fans who really do like their work. The autograph would in it's entirety not be worthless but you wouldn't rate it as highly as someone you really admired. Courtesy and research, as Autoexpert mentioned is a must. Also as Autoexpert mentioned, you really have to be in that 1% of letters received by the celebrity to get a reply, although I myself have been collecting now for 11 years, there is still some that I send away and never receive an answer but am I bitter, no, there could be extenuating circumstances as to why the celeb has not or cannot write back to you. Another point is that if this happens, try again at different address later on to what you last sent (Please see my posting re Eli_03 on Dame Diana Rigg and you will see roughly what I mean). Thanks for reading.  |
| JEA2880 22-June-06 12:40AM | Not Exactly... I understand what you're trying to say, but the point you are making in your analogy doesn't make much sense. If a celebrity receives 1,000 letters, they aren't going to read each one and pick and choose which request to fill. The issue is more the celebrity not getting to your actual letter or envelope as opposed to them not appreciating it. Sure, you'd like to have a sincere letter or note that shows ones true "fandom", but to think that someone is only going to honor 5% of requests as if they were grading an essay is somewhat ridiculous. Just wanted to play a little devil's advocate |
| middlemay 22-October-06 11:14AM | Autograph Selection Hi all Dont you think a secretary will filter the mail and select certain ones to be signed,i genuinely agree that a better letter will have a better chance of a result middlemay |
| law69law69 12-December-06 1:29AM | Luck I think it is good to write on quality envelopes and send sae but keepin the letters short and to the point is better i mean how would u feel reading the every day bull s**t that we send wen all we want is to open the mail and see that signed autograph. THe satisfaction that for one short minute you was under the attention of your favourite celeb. Merrry xmas and good luck collecting |