Lessons from my Left Testicle is a new book in town. It’s about finding out you have cancer, going through the rollercoaster ride of pain, relief and emotions, then surviving to find yourself a little wiser and, mentally, a lot stronger.
So how do you get that message to the masses, on just an author’s income?
Our answer was to build a bookshop in an inner city gallery space. Selling hundreds of copies of just the one book, Ben’s Charity Bookshop was open for one week only, allowing passers by to come in and get a feel for the book before even opening the cover.
We displayed books on drip stands and made a hospital bed the centrepiece. Books were sold at bookshop prices, the difference was, when you bought from our bookshop, half the money went to the Cancer Council. So you got a good book and did a good deed at the same time. The whole thing was kicked off with a launch party with over 100 guests.
The results? The bookshop was featured everywhere from local Sydney media to international blogs. We sold over 150 books and donated hundreds of dollars to cancer research.
What we did
- think it up
- build the bookshop
- spread the word to blogs and media
