I have a question foranyone willing to help a beginner

[Sean SJazz]

to anyone,
i am new to autotgraph collecting. i started back in september, i sent 30 letters along with self addressed envelopes to 30 differtant artest. as of since september i have received 10 autographes. is that good a good start or average? also i have read differant post regarding how long the wait i have still, have 20 unanswerd reqeust out there. i have not reaceived any for the past month and a half, is this normal? any help or advice is grealty appreacaited. thanks as i said i am new to this whoel new awesome world.
thanks Sean S.

[MissKaraLouise]

Yeah it is pretty normal as different celebrities take different times to reply. My repy from Robbie Coltrane took 11 days but i am still waiting for a reply from Maggie Smith and i have now been waiting for 105 days (15 weeks/a little over 3 months). And in 2007 i was really upset because i thought i was never going to get a reply from ant and dec but after 8 months i finaly got a reply and now it is right in the centre of my autograph wall. I am also currently waiting for 11 letters that i sent off in october. I haven't received anything since 2nd december. Don't get down heartened, just be patient and then when you get the autographs through the door it will feel so good! Just write some more autograph requests to pass the time. You sound like you've done everything right but if you're still worried, then make your letters stand out some more. Decorate the page or envelope or do what i do and ask a strange question like what is your favourite crisp flavour? or ice cream flavour? or if you could have any animal as a pet what would it be? or if you were a superhero, what power would you have? That really does get you noticed and i have had replies hand written just to answer my random question. Good luck!! from Kara

[pasfs0]

That is actually not a bad success rate for a beginner. Considering you are actually expecting real autographs and not Autopen, PP or Secretarials. I always have an average of 100 envelopes out sometimes up to 130. My longest success came 975 later from Dakotta Fanning. Yes, she is usually really fast but this must have been lost in a pile. The second was Jane Fonda with 472 days. Guess what? this are sometimes not even a lot of time, the other day at another forum this guy got a success 7 years later from a Baseball Player who decided to sign some trading cards.

I do a lot of research prior sending my envelopes, I aim for a 70% success rate to agency and 50% success rate to venues. You will never get all your envelopes back. Even celebrities who sign for everyone might not sign for you, and not because of your letter just because several factors, like lost in the mail, missplaced, agency forwarded to the wrong celebrity you name it. Zoe Saldaña signs for everyone in no more than 90 days, I have been waiting for almost 150 days and nothing.

Always research the average response time and you will now what to expect. Beginners always get desperate the more you send the less you will care of how long it takes because you will be receiving steadily envelopes in your mailbox

[GUN5L1N6ER]

I agree with the others. If you have received that many in such a short time, you are doing very well. Some get requests take longer than others. I think my fastest return time was about 10 days, my longest return time was 11 months. There are times when weeks or a months will pass with nary a peep, then all of a sudden one will show up in the mailbox. The time between receiving successes in the mail are hard, but patience is a virtue. If it makes you feel any better, I have a couple that I have been waiting 6 or 7 months to see if anything happens. Good luck and I look forward to seeing some of your successes!

[Wordsworth]

That's actually a pretty good turnaround. About 1/3 of your requests isn't bad at all. My fastest reply came within a week ("Little House on the Prairie"'s Richard Bull). Some I've never heard from.

[george2607]

What the earlier answers are telling you is about the same for me. I am in Ireland and have had a reply from the US is as quick as two weeks. On the other hand on 23 December I received a nice surprise. A signed 45 record, a stamp cover and two pictures that I had sent to Art Garfunkel back in January 2009.

The suggestion from Kara on asking questions is good advice as well. In addition, if you have an easy to read hand writing you should write the letters. Always make sure you have enough postage, you are better off over estimating.

Regards,
george2607

[bigpapi43]

Not sure where you live, but if you are starting autograph collecting it is always best to do the "in person" route as its always better for obvious reasons to get it live (then you know its real). Started when I was a kid and much easier than nowadays getting people with all the security and mobs of people that just sell it. Always check venues on where things are going on and hotels where they are staying. As for mail, I just go for people I would really really want to have vs just having a lot of autographs. Iconic people and those that provide a great memory for me are the ones that are my targets. For instance Ali would be one that I've wanted without having to pay a lot. Mail has been hit or miss and you NEVER know if real. I've heard stories of secretaries signing them that know the signature well. The easiest are the older stars that have passed their prime and have a LOT LOT more time on hands. The HOT ones are hard to gauge and have seen successes on a few only on real ones vs the pre printed. So look at succesess and see which ones are good and then use your stamps vs just sending out a lot and taking a chance.

[Blackhawks026]

Spell check my friend, spell check. But that's not bad, you'll probably get most of them back in the coming months, but keep in mind there are a few you'll never hear back from

[Annataz]

look my signature
im waiting for all that autographs
as example i sent 25 letters in one day