Frequently Asked Questions

Questions for Acts

Q: Why should I use "Book the Act"?
We have provided acts with a range of tools to make promotion, booking, organising and performing as simple as possible. "Book the Act" is a unique site built with you, as an entertainer, in mind.
We are not an agent and do not charge you fees per booking or an annual subscription to use the services.
All that we ask is that you encourage as many bookings to be made through the site and keep your details and availability up to date.

Q: Do I have to pay anything to use "Book the Act"?
No, as an act at present, the services are available for free. However, the more bookings you get on the site, the more we promote you. More promotion = more bookings!
If we are able to get you 3 or more bookings which you decline in a year, we will ask you to pay a re-listing fee to cover our administration costs of £14.99 which will re-activate your entry on our system.

Q: Is "Book the Act" my agent?
No, we are introducers. Although there are similarities, we facilitate bookings to be arranged directly between event organisers and acts. Once each booking is concluded, you are free to discuss specific details directly with your client. We do not take a commission from your fee, nor are we part of the final agreement between you and the event organiser.

Q: I have an agent/management company, can I still use "Book the Act"?
Absolutely. The arrangements on "Book the Act" do not conflict with any of the standard arrangements you may have with other agents and management companies. However, we would always advise notifying interested parties and establishing any fees that may need to be paid in the event of accepting a booking through "Book the Act".

Q: Can I continue to accept private bookings directly?
Yes, you are free to make as many bookings as you wish. We would welcome the use of the "Book the Act" system to facilitate such bookings as you are able to take advantage of automatically generated contracts, diary entry and additional promo points at very low cost.

Q: What happens if I can't accept a booking?
We understand that, for a variety of reasons, you may be able to (or not wish to) accept a particular booking. If you can inform us as soon as possible, we can let the event organiser know and credit back the booking fee. If you decline more than 3 bookings in a year, we will ask that our administration costs are covered by you with a £14.99 charge.

Q: What is a "promo point"?
Each booking you accept gives you a promo point. Each "Hot act" is listed at the top based on the "promo points" during searches. The highest performers will be listed on the Front page for premier promotion.

Q: Do you supply contracts for the booking?
Yes, we supply you with a general contract between you and the event organiser which can be signed electronically and are stored on our database for reference.
You may, however, use your own contracts if you wish to do so.

Q: How does a booking work?
All acts mark their availability on our system - the full date sheet is never shown publicly. When an event organiser finds the act that they wish to use, they register and pay a booking fee. You are then notified by SMS and email that you have a new booking and you are able to accept or decline within the following 48 hours online or using your mobile.

Q: How quickly do I get notified of a booking?
Your notification is immediate using both email and texting to your mobile number. When you respond, the event organiser is also notified immediately of your decision.

Q: How do I confirm a booking?
Upon receipt of your email, you can log-in to your "Book the Act" account and accept or decline the booking. You can also reply back to the SMS you receive with "confirm" or "decline" which will perform the same operation.

Q: How, and when, do I get paid?
Arrangements for paying are negotiated between you and the event organiser. We suggest that a deposit provided before the event and the balance paid on the day. At present we are looking to provide an escrow payment system which will allow the cleared funds to be paid to us before the event. After the event if both parties are happy, the funds are released directly to the Act. Comments on this would be most helpful.

Q: Why doesn't my page appear in searches?
1. You need to check your email. You should have received an email from us asking you to activate your account. This enables us to verify that you are who you say you are and that your email address is valid. It helps us to stop spammers and spoofers from using BookTheAct for their purposes.

2. When you are ready to show your page to the world, go to Your Details and check the "Put my page live " checkbox.

Q: How do I link to "Book the Act"?
When you are signed in to "Book theAct", you will have a unique ID and you will see 2 lines of code here, which you can copy into your web page.

Then you should see a link like this on your page:

Note that pages such as mySpace.com prevent you from using javascript and so this will not work in such pages. In that case you can still create a simpler link by including the line of code that you will see here when you are signed in.

Then you should see a link like this on your page:

Q: How does the star rating work?
Your star rating is influenced by the following factors: If you were an early sign up, If you have uploaded media (quality and variety) and if you have received any bookings. Your rating is relative to all the other acts and so can decrease relative to other acts as well as increase.

Answers for Event Organisers

Q: Can I book acts online?
Yes, the "Book the Act" system allows you to search, view and book acts based on their availability. Your booking is sent directly to the Act who will be able to confirm or decline to you within 48 hours.

Q: How can I discuss details of the event with an act?
Once a booking has taken place, you will be able to discuss details of a particular event through the site or directly with the Act.

Q: What if I have questions for the act before I book?
You can send questions to the act at any time through their web page where the act can answer you online.

Q: Why don't I book directly with act from their website?
You can but you may find the act has a preference for booking directly on the system. All of your documentation is provided online and the act benefits from additional promotion on the site with each booking.

Q: Can I log-in to the system to review my booking/s?
Yes. A key part of the system is the ability to keep track of the booking online and communicate with the Act if there are any questions as the event date approaches.

Q: How quickly is my booking confirmed?
As soon as the payment has been taken, the Act is immediately informed by email and SMS. The Act then has 48 hours to respond (if we do not get a response, we assume that the booking is declined). You will then be notified by email and SMS of the outcome.

Q: Why can't I book an act for today or tomorrow?
We only allow bookings for dates 2 days from today and beyond, to give acts and organisers time to communicate and set up the gig.