Bob, as you know, I book a lot of gigs for other people (more than for myself). For the Pacific NW Folklore Society monthly Coffeehouse Concerts I try to book them at least 2 months in advance (right now I've already booked one for next May). That's necessary to do the proper promotion - posters and fliers, event postings on various websites and print calendars (most require that information at least a month in advance), and email lists, etc.

When I was booking for the Haller Lake concert series I would book up to a year in advance in order to get the good performers who might otherwise be booked if I waited too long, and to get our publicity out in advance for the year-long series.

But we all know many part-time musicians who book a gig at a coffeehouse, for example, and then send out a few emails a day or two before the gig and wonder why only a few people show up. I figure it takes at the minimum a month to do proper promotion for a concert. With all the events going on here in the Seattle area there's a lot of competition and people need to know well in advance in order to decide which events they want to go to.

Cheers, S. in Seattle