WRITING TO CELEBRITIESThere is a rule of thumb that corporate executives, politicians and others follow. The feeling is that for every letter they receive with complaints or comments, there are 20 people who feel the same way and are thinking the same thing but don't take the time to write. You can calculate the effect of your single letter has by multiplying by 20. People in various fields keep a close watch on their mail as an indication of how people are thinking and feeling. Often times, a celebrity is surrounded by a small group of associates (assistants, agents, bodyguards, their entourage, etc.) who tend to isolate the star from the public. These people are their "yes" men, not wanting to tell them anything negative. Your letter helps break down that barrier and lets' them know what the public and their fans are thinking and feeling about them. WHAT SHOULD I SAY State your request up front right away. They may not want to read through a long 2 or 3 page letter to find out what you're looking for. Again, they're busy people. They may put your letter aside if it's long and read it another time if it doesn't say upfront what you're looking for or then again, they may not read it at all. If you keep the letter short, tell them what you want and how you like their work or performances or how you've been a fan of theirs for years, etc., and thank them. You'll have a better chance of them reading and acting on your letter. Also be sure the letter is easy to read and legible to anyone. While a relative or friend of yours will take the time to read your letter and decipher your handwriting, a celebrity will not. Don't get carried away with the number of autographs you're requesting from each celebrity. Celebrities are busy people and as much as they'd like to keep in touch with their fans and fulfill your requests, they also don't like to be taken for granted. If you want an autograph for yourself, they're thinking why do you ask for IO or even 5 autographs. They may suspect you'll turn around and sell them. Or they may even think you're a dealer yourself who wants to sell them. The demand for autographs is so great, many sports celebrities have been charging for their autographs. They may charge directly at card shows or autograph shows or they may charge a dealer to autograph 100 photos ofthem for example. The dealer would then turn around and offer these for sale. Because of this, many sports celebrities may be reluctant to offer their autograph free of charge for fear that it may be sold to a collector or someone else and they won't get any cut of the action. Some celebrities have asked for a donation to their favorite charity in exchange for an autograph or some have even requested money direct to themselves by sending an offering of what items they have for sale or what they charge for an autograph. One idea to overcome this is to request 2 autographs, one for you and one to donate to your local church, hospital or nursing home. Mention this donation in your letter and you may increase the chance of a response (only do this if you will in fact donate one of the autographs - it really does make a nice donation). Don't send obvious computerized form letters or even worse, a photocopied letter where it states: "Dear and the celebrities name is written in. Every letter should be personalized. Even saying the standard- "I've been a fan of yours for a long time, please send an autograph" is very impersonal. This could apply to anyone and is easy to spot as a form letter. The celebrity may recognize that you're sending this same letter to a number of people at the same time. Take a little time and effort and personalize your letter to that particular person. Also, write your letters, don't use a computer or typewriter. Be honest and sincere and try to be original. Don't make them feel like just one in a large crowd. Many celebrities have large egos that need to be stroked. Show the celebrity your knowledge of him or her and their career. Mention a particular event (movie, sports achievement, etc) and tell them how much you liked it or admired it. Often times a birthday card is well received or even a get well card if you know that person's been ill. I had a long time correspondence with a baseball Hall of Famer after I sent him a get well card. He wrote back and we became pen pals. Celebrities of almost every area (sports, entertainment, politicians) have publicity photos of themselves that they send out to newspapers, magazines and to their fans. If you ask for a photo, don't get greedy and ask for too many. Be aware that some offices keep track of what they send. out. They may write and tell you that they already honored your requests months before (this happened to me). The celebrities who do send photos send whatever they happen to have at the time. It could be a publicity shot from their latest movie, a studio photograph, a team photo or even a very old publicity shot like the photo Bob Hope sent to me. It would be rude for you to make an unreasonable request for a specific item. You may mention to them you're looking for a particular item and ask if they could tell you where to find it. The may let you know who has it or give you the name and address of their fan club. Or, they may surprise you and send it to you themselves! But, never assume they will. SHOULD I SEND THEM SOMETHING TO SIGN Always. While you can request a signed photograph, there's no guarantee they'll send you one. If you have a picture, send it to them. If not, the best item to get an autograph on is a 3" x 5" index card. Since index cards are made of a heavier stock of paper, an autograph on a card will withstand alot more handling and abuse than an ordinary piece of paper. It also gives the celebrity a large surface to sign and you'll probably get a large signature. One note of caution when sending items to celebrities. While there's no guarantee they'll sign a particular item for you, by the same token, there's no guarantee they'll send an item back to you either. So be careful about sending items you treasure, you may not get them back. I once sent a 1968 baseball card of a particular player to him and never got it back. Perhaps he liked the card as much as I did! It is important to remember that nothing of significant monetary or personal value should normally be sent through the mail to be autographed. The person you're sending it to is under no obligation to send it back to you. If you can't afford to lose the item, don't' send it. Also, be sure to put your name and address on everything you send including pictures. You don't want your items getting mixed up with the other requests. Use a post-it note or write lightly on the back of the item. KEYS TO INCREASING YOUR CHANCES OF A RESPONSE The number one key to increasing your chances of a response from a celebrity is what's known as an S.A.S.E. - a self-addressed stamped envelope. In other words, an envelope already addressed to yourself with a stamp on it ready to mail. As mentioned early, celebrities are busy people. Whatever you can do to make their life easier (especially when it's you asking for something) the better. If you send in a request for an autograph without an SASE, what you're saying to them is in effect, you're expecting them to provide an envelope and stamp, as well as go through the time to address the envelope. They may not want to go through the hassle. If however, you're sending them a way to send it back to you with little trouble (sign picture or paper, put in envelope and mail) you'll not only be doing them a favor, you'll increase you're chances of a response tremendously. HOW SHOULD I ADDRESS THE CELEBRITY First of all, always with respect. Address them as Mr. Smith or Ms. Smith. While you may familiar with them by their first names, they may not appreciate you're being so informal. Even though you may know them quite well, to them, although you may be a big fan of theirs (which they appreciate having), you're still a stranger they don't know. STAMPS, ENVELOPES, ETC. Always use stamps, not postage metered mail. You may need to go to the post office to get the proper weight and postage for a package you're sending. Even then, don't let them put a metered stamp on your package. Instead ask for the stamps to cover the postage. Also, don't send by bulk mail. Even though you can save quite a bit in postage, too often, bulk mail signals "junk mail" to people. In addition, bulk mail is not forwarded or returned by the post office while first class mail will be. Sometimes, the post office will attach a yellow "Return to Sender" sticker on your envelope and return it to you. Always read this sticker carefully. Often times it will have a forwarding address on them even though the forward order has expired. The post office is telling you what their new address is! Just resend it to their new address!. ADDRESSING THE ENVELOPE When addressing the envelope, don't use labels. It's sure sign of a mass mailing. You don't want them to think they're just one of many people youtre contacting to get autographs from. Make them feel special that you're requesting their autograph. Address the envelopes individually, by hand if possible and always neatly and accurately. Also be sure to spell their name right! If however, you are doing a mailing to many people, computer generated labels may be your only logical choice instead of handwriting or typing hundreds of envelopes. If you do need to do it this way, remember though, you may decrease your chances of getting a response. Sending a letter or package return-receipt requested, certified or by any other means in which someone has to sign or take responsibility for the package puts more importance on the item and often gives positive results. The item might also be refused, but on the other hand, it may cause the celebrity to treat it with more value. After all, if you're willing to spend the additional time and money to send it with this special handling, it must mean a lot to you and they may treat it that way. The worse that can happen is that they refuse to sign for it and it will come back to you. You can then take a chance and send it by regular mail. Remember though, even if they did sign for it, doesn't mean they're obligated to return it to you or even answer you. RESPONSE TIME Response times can vary greatly from a couple weeks to a year or longer. I've had numerous request come back after a year from my original request. Reasons for delays in better back to you are many including: 1 .They may have moved recently (celebrities move with great frequency) and their mail needs to be forwarded. 2. They may be away on vacation, living at their summer or winter home, filming on location, on tour, or traveling with their team and not home much. 3. Your request may have been misplaced or temporarily lost. 4. If they're in the prime of their careers and constantly in the limelight, they could be receiving hundreds or thousands of letters a week and it takes time to answer them. That's one reason why you need to make it as easy as possible for them to answer you. 5. They may just be busy in general with their careers and other business and haven't gotten to their fan mail yet. WHERE TO WRITE Often times, you'll have more than one address for a celebrity. You could write them at their home (or homes), in care of their agent, business manager or management company or even in care of their team. Most people feel that sending a request to their house would get the best response. This may not be necessarily true. Many celebrities don't respond when they're written to at home. This could be because of a number of reasons- 1. They feel when they're home, they don't want to think about"business" or do any "work". 2. They don't' want to bother opening envelopes, writing addresses, etc, when they often have secretaries or an assistant in an office to do that work. 3. They're paranoid about the public knowing where they live. They don't want any visitors, friendly or otherwise. If they respond to an inquiry to their house, it might confirm where they live to that person. For any or all of these reasons, some celebrities only answer mail that comes through their office, managers or agents. It's a lot easier for a secretary to open the mail, separate it out (one pile for autographs, another for photos, etc.) than it is for them to do it at home. Also realize that celebrities can change addresses at any time, or decide to just stop signing autographs because of too many requests or just stop reading their mail for whatever reason. You'll find that many addresses are not valid anymore. Celebrities move, change agents, management companies, production companies, etc. Sometimes the mail is forwarded, other times it will come back to you. Be sure to check the return address on items that are sent back to you from the person. Often times, a more up to date address may be on the envelope. You may wonder why some deceased people are often on address lists. Many fan clubs continue after a celebrity passes away. Or sometimes a surviving relative may have some articles or pictures to share with you. Also you may encounter addresses for television shows that are no longer on the air. Even though a TV show may be off the air, the production company for the show may still have an active address for correspondence for the people associated with the show. Or, they may forward the request to the right address. CONCLUSION There are many celebrities out there who do care about their fans and will take the time to answer their mail and give autographs. After all, they realize if it wasn't for us, their fans, they may not be where they are today. GOOD LUCK!
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