I asked for the same sort of advice a couple of years ago. one thing I've noticed is that singers/musicians want different things from a festival than menbers of the gen. public. Most festivals try to cater for both and target their publicity accordingly. Gen Public don't generally want to see folk acts unless they are names but this is where charity fundraising etc... comes in. It builds up quite a lot of goodwill with the press and public.

a lot of festivals simply talk about how well they are doing and this brings people,

only one piece of 'advice'

BE Enthusiastic

enthusiasm sells.

cheers
Deni

(the Plymouth Folk Festival are still on that steep uphill learning curve :-) )