I worked for a year from just newspaper ads only, nearly all my bookings that I took via the paper were half hour bookings  which were really good fun and it kept me very busy, I went in the paper every week without fail and only didn't go in when I was on holiday.
I also got some reviews on a well known punting website and then started to get longer bookings as well (I must admit I was scared of taking longer bookings as half hour booking were all I knew). After a year of working from the papers only I decided to get a website and venture onto the www, I  got myself a webmaster and asked him to add my reviews onto my website, joined some directories and it all took off again so now I have a mix of newspaper bookings (majority half hour) and longer bookings from my website.
My days are varied as internet bookings tend to book in advance and I get my same day half hour bookings, it keeps me busy my days are taken up with both half and hour+ bookings  but I apply the no withheld numbers or text rule
seriously as you can get a lot of timewasters  but you can also get some fantastic regular clients as well. If you do decide to advertise in the paper, be prepared for a lot of questions, questions; like what do you look like? etc as they cant see you. I choose not to show my website address on my paper advert as I live in a fairly small town.
I think I have the best of both worlds and very varied days