Autograph Collectors I Need Your Help Please!

[EugeneE]

Wow. I really didn't think an author would write such a suggestion in a book.

Given the difficulty in getting autographs from some celebrities, there are many problems with this:

- The cost (as Lucas mentioned - I know I have issues with spending so much on stamps and IRC's knowing that I might not ever see an end result!)
- Time wasting trying to get autographs in the first place
- eBay - too many people are already trying to make money from this scheme
- Novice collectors - they may receive PP's/Autopenned/Secretarial/Stamped autographs and may believe they're real (and pass them off as the real thing when they sell them)
- Not receiving anything at all

I gotta agree with nowandagain espically about the Novice Collectors. When I started autograph collecting, I never knew about PP's, autopens, secretarials, rubber stamped autographs, et al. A novice collector who doesn't know about fake autographs might receive a Studio Fan Mail autograph & then sell it as the real thing because they don't know about PP's, autopens, et al. I'm an Alyson Hannigan fan & several months ago, I saw someone on EBAY selling the Studio Fan Mail autograph of Alyson Hannigan as the real thing.

I also agree about the cost. You have to provide the envelopes & if you really want a response, you will need to provide an SASE & also, you will need to pay for the postage to & from the celebrity.

And then, there is the waiting game where you wait for the celebrity to respond to you which can be days, weeks, months, even years & then there is also a chance that the celebrity might not even respond to you.

But there is the chance that you might get an RTS. Let's say that you write to an actor/actress at a TV show & they are no longer on the show, you will probably get an RTS telling you that they are no longer there. Which means, that if you want to get their autograph, you will need to write to their other addresses to get in contact with them.

And I definitely agree about EBAY. Too many people are selling autographs on EBAY & most of them are PP's, autopens, et al. Also, some sellers on EBAY print up a photo of a celebrity & then the sellers sign the pictures themselves & then claim that the celebrity signed the photo.

[nowandagain]

Did you get a responce nowandagain?

I totally forgot about this. I did receive a response, very similar to what Lucas42 received.

Anyway, not every single reader who reads her book will use every tip in the book (such as the autograph suggestion), but even if someone did they wouldn't know where to look for addresses anyway ... or receive a response (as I would assume they would try for some bigger name celebrities), or keep the autographs for themselves

I don't think we should worry too much about the book and what's been said, considering (I believe) it's really only available in Australia. So, the audience for the book isn't going to be that large.

nowandagain [rockon]

[EugeneE]

Did you get a responce nowandagain?

I totally forgot about this. I did receive a response, very similar to what Lucas42 received.

Anyway, not every single reader who reads her book will use every tip in the book (such as the autograph suggestion), but even if someone did they wouldn't know where to look for addresses anyway ... or receive a response (as I would assume they would try for some bigger name celebrities), or keep the autographs for themselves

I don't think we should worry too much about the book and what's been said, considering (I believe) it's really only available in Australia. So, the audience for the book isn't going to be that large.

nowandagain [rockon]

Excellent point nowandagain. I agree about people who read the book wouldn't know where to look for addresses anyway. When I first decided in August 2006 to start autograph collecting, it took me a while to find fanmail.biz & Star Collector located at http://www.star-collector.net/ which are my favorite autograph sites. I looked at many celebrity autograph databases but they require that you pay a subscription fee to get a celebrities fan mail writing address. I like fanmail & Star Collector because you don't have to pay to get the celebrities fanmail writing address.

[mookie728]

But that is how people are society these days is all about the monitary value of every thing

it is a darn shame