***** IMPORTANT : NO MORE 'US PARTNERS'
NEEDED FOR THE TIME BEING *****
I've been somewhat inundated with collectors wanting to participate in
this scheme, and so I'm not currently looking for any more partners. This situation
is likely to change in the future though, so please check these pages again in a few
weeks. In the meantime, I've left this page intact, so any other collectors wanting
to run a similar scheme themselves, can get the full info!
***** ALTHOUGH... *****
I have been contacted by a UK collector, who is interested in forming
partnerships with collectors in the States.
If anyone would like to contact her, please let me know and I'll put you in touch
with one another!
LOOKING FOR US-BASED AUTOGRAPH COLLECTORS
I'm currently searching for three or four US-based collectors
who might like to form an 'autograph partnership' with me.
The partnership involves each collector mailing a batch of
letters to celebrities resident in their own country, on behalf of their partner.
After a certain pre-agreed time, the resulting successes are bundled together and
Airmailed in one batch, to the other country.
The benefits of such an arrangement are as follows:
- MONEY SAVING
Instead of numerous Airmail letters going back and forth, all with costly IRCs, each
partner has to send just one Airmail parcel at the completion of the batch.
Normally, a letter sent to a US celebrity with SAE and sufficient IRCs costs me
approximately £3-00. Based on the partnership arrangement, and batches of
approximately ten, that figure reduces to around £1-10. Obviously, the same kind of
reduction will be experienced by the US collector. The saving would be reduced still
further if the quantity in the batch were increased.
- IMPROVED ACCURACY
At the moment, I currently post almost exclusively to UK based celebrities due to the cost
and time-scale of posting abroad. Therefore, my lists and databases concentrate on
UK addresses. I'm probably more likely to know the validity of an address, or if a
better alternative exists.
In addition, I'm obviously more experienced with the format of the UK postal system.
Some UK addresses I've seen posted on US websites have had really silly mistakes -
of course, that works the same in reverse! Most of the American addresses (and even
some of the abbreviations) mean nothing to me!
- FASTER
By avoiding having to airmail your letters out, they should arrive at their destinations
seven to ten days quicker. Unfortunately, it will probably take longer to get your
actual hands on the autographs - your first responses are delayed, waiting for the later
ones. However, both partners should remain in regular contact and advise of any
successes - you'll still know how well your letters are doing!
There are of course some disadvantages, most of which can be
'off-set':
- TRUST
Both partners have to be reliable and more importantly, HONEST! One could fail to
mail the others letters, and simply wait to receive their own autographs in return without
doing any work, or spending any money!
- US STARS ARE RICHER!
American based stars generally seem to send out much better photographs than their UK
counterparts. I guess this is simply because of their much higher money earning
power! The US standard seems to be 10" x 8" pics, whilst UK celebrities
normally use 6" x 4".
Of course, the important thing is the autograph... that's what we're collecting, not just
a series of pictures that could be bought anywhere. Experience and common sense seem
to dictate that a greater proportion of UK autographs are likely to be genuine. US
stars receive a much larger volume of requests - in many cases far too many to allow an
actual signature, hence the 'auto pen' machines which seem so widespread in the States,
yet are (I believe) almost unheard of in this country.
My partial solution to this problem, is to send out three requests for my American partner
for every two that they send out on my behalf. If nothing more, it should mean that
the final airmail parcels of letters are a similar weight, and therefore cost both
collectors around the same amount to post.
- MORE CELEBRITIES IN THE US!
There are a great many times more 'collectable' celebrities in the US than in the UK!
The US partner is certain to run out of potential targets a long time before I do!
Well, short of funding the British film industry by the tune of many millions of pounds
(which I just haven't got at the moment!), I'm a little stumped with this one!
That's why I'm hoping to find several US collectors prepared to participate in this
partnership scheme.
Don't forget though, there are still many stars worth contacting in the UK. Check
out my 'successes' page for some ideas (note; because of the short time I've been
collecting, the list will be rather short for a while, but hopefully you'll be surprised
how fast it grows!).
Also, we're lucky to have many of the worlds greatest musicians living, or at least
working in this country. Unfortunately, 'music addresses' seem to be hard to
obtain... but I'm working on it! If any people with suitable addresses could please
contact me, I'd be most appreciative.
Currently, I've got a number of partnerships 'on the
go'. I'll add to this page at a later date, letting you all know how theyt went!
In the meantime, anybody Stateside that's interested should
email me, and we can discuss the 'technicalities' of running a partnership!!
