Having been self-employed as a calligrapher since 1957 (full-time since 1989) and having retired a couple of years ago, it occurred to me that the following might be of interest to those of us just starting out in the business of calligraphy.
For some time I periodically produced and sent out letters with examples of my calligraphy to prospective clients, with mixed results. It eventually occurred to me that calendars were the way to go, if they are large enough to be noticed but small enough to be pinned to a wall or notice board, without taking up too much space, they are likely to be left there for the duration.
Working on the basic A4 size (297 x 210mm) I positioned the months down the sides and used this as my template every year. It left a substantial space in the centre for an example of a style of writing of a quotation, anything which I felt showed my calligraphy to good advantage and would be noticed. Every year from 1989, I produced on average, around 300 of these by having them laser copied onto good quality card and sending them all over the country to District and Regional Councils, Hotels, Restaurants and Clubs. I read somewhere that out of every 100 sent out, two positive responses is a good result and so it proved to be, and I developed several good relationships over the years. The initial cost of production and posting was soon recovered by steady ongoing work.
This is just a suggestion and others may well have different approaches. This worked well for me and may work just as well for others. NB This is an update from a previous post.
