Open vs Closed Books (and Respecting Artists Time)
In the tattoo industry, every artist does things differently. Especially with booking appointments. There are 2 types of bookings that we see: open books and closed books. Open bookings are when you can book at any time for a future date. Closed books are when an artist will only accept appointment bookings within a short window for a few months at a time.
There are different reasons some artists may opt for open books or closed books, it’s for the most part personal preference. Most artists manage their own books. We are in a unique situation that Chris decided to hire me as a receptionist. At reception a lot of my time is spent handling the schedules and bookings. It is a full time job on its own and lots of artists are trying to do this on their own while also doing their artwork and tattoos. Closed books can make this a lot easier on them. Closed books allow an artist to control their time and focus on artwork a majority of the time with windows set aside to deal with bookings; when their books are open. Within open and closed books there are still different booking procedures. Almost every artist books differently and requires different information to book. You can usually find these instructions on their social media or website. We also don’t mind helping you along the booking process if you are not familiar, which is very common with everyone booking differently.
An artist I found online has in her FAQ about closed books that by having closed books she can work in a shorter time frame and people don’t have to think about and remember their appointment months or even a year in advance. This can definitely be an advantage. Sometimes when we book 3 – 4 months out people end up forgetting their appointment and accidentally no show resulting in a lost deposit and having to rebook. She expressed that having a closed books policy helped minimize this risk, because no one is happy when an appointment doesn’t get done.
Closed books can also be done for personal reasons like health issues, or anything going on in an artist’s life. Having closed books with narrow booking windows can help them to manage their workload and life balance, which is vital to everyone. Open books are advantageous because anytime someone wants to book in they can.
Along with this is a cancellation list or waitlist. Some artists choose not to keep a cancellation list. Again, these can be hard to maintain as an individual artist. This is something I keep track of as well, as reception, to let the artists focus on their artwork. Many artists just post cancellations on social media, we do this as well if none of the pieces on our cancellation list can come in; or none of them fit in the slot available. It is worth following your artist online and even having notifications on if a cancellation is something that you’re interested in.
Booking is also different on the piece, femaletattooers.com explains this by saying, “You may need to wait for your tattoo appointment. If you’re looking to get a sleeve started or bang out a big thigh piece tomorrow, all I can say is good luck and Godspeed.” I just love how they put that. Artists aren’t an art factory, everything takes time from the moment you start chatting about a piece, to booking, to the actual tattoo process. Having closed books helps plan around these kinds of big projects. I’m not an artist myself but with the volume of calls and bookings I can’t imagine trying to have open books and working out a schedule while also doing art when I can spend my whole day working on the scheduling alone.
While we’re talking about scheduling I also want to talk about respecting your artists time. I don’t think I could put it any better than femaletattooers.com when they say, “You should expect a delayed response. As previously mentioned, tattoo artists are business owners who have to balance their time between a variety of things. In addition to spending hours tattooing, their time is devoted to designing custom tattoos and drawing, managing their social media accounts, doing their bookkeeping and finances, purchasing supplies, and attempting to have family and social lives.
Reviewing booking requests and responding to emails is a time-consuming process, so you shouldn’t expect to hear back from the artist right away. Sometimes, it could take weeks or even a month or two for artists to get back to you about scheduling a tattoo appointment.
Be patient. Sending multiple emails asking for a status update or reaching out to an artist via Instagram DM will not be appreciated and will continue to slow down the process. Only resend your request if an artist or a booking assistant instructs you to do so.” We are fortunate that we are able to have reception to minimize these wait times but it is still relevant if you are contacting your artist directly.
At our studio the fastest way to get a response is to message or call the shop where I can assist you and if I need the artist to be involved before booking we will set up a consult, this allows me to prioritize their time and let them focus on the current tattoo at hand. I can usually answer inquires in a few minutes, unless I’m super busy but you will definitely get an answer before the end of the work day. Contacting the artist directly will take longer, they aren’t checking messages while tattooing and have many other things to focus on where as that’s what I’m here for!
Thanks for another great suggestion Megan!
Sources:
- https://www.jdawntattoo.com/faq#:~:text=What%20does%20’books%20closed’%20mean,on%20new%20projects%20or%20clients
- https://www.femaletattooers.com/tattoo-tips/8-things-you-should-know-before-booking-a-tattoo-appointment/
- My own huge brain
