After reading this thread so far, we had some further thoughts.

Rule 4. Keep meticulous records of every phone call and letter from you or to you.

Rule 5. "No" means "no" until someone else is doing the booking. Our most common entries in our records are "Wait for new principal" or "Call next year and see if there's a new PTA president".

Rule 6. Booking sucks!

We made our living playing folk music in schools for over 20 years but it meant writing over 1000 letters per year and making over 6000 phone calls per year. Genie is right. Performing is only a small part of the job. We have a friend who, when asked what he does for a living says, "I'm a telemarketer and, occasionally, I play a gig." That's why we retired a couple of years ago. Now we spend less than five percent as much effort booking and we play about twenty five percent as many gigs.

Loving it.

Bev and Jerry