My New Calling!

[Robinne Weiss]

I think I've found my new calling--sand castle advertising! On the beach today, I was thinking about my piss-poor Amazon ads and what I was going to do to improve my books' sales. Naturally, I used the materials I had at hand ... The result was a sand dragon, with the title of one of my books scrawled in the sand beside it.

What do you think? Will sand castle advertising take off? Maybe I could do this in conjunction with a little market stall right on the beach, and sell summer reading material. It's certainly more fun than creating an Amazon ad ... What if I *had* to spend all summer on the beach building sand sculptures?

 

[Marc Joan]

Fabulous sculpture!
You'd have to redo your ads with each tide or storm: potentially Sisyphean.
But if it works, cool, and if it doesn't, there's always surfing.

 

[Barbara]

Wow!!

 

[Eva Ulian]

Inconceivable @Robinne Weiss that you are pottering about on a sun drenched sandy beach, unleashing your creative instincts... it's freezing here.

 

[Lex Black]

That is amazing! I say give it a try, who knows?

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Inconceivable @Robinne Weiss that you are pottering about on a sun drenched sandy beach, unleashing your creative instincts... it's freezing here.

Well, it wasn't particularly sun-drenched that day (and today it's raining ). But, yes, it's summertime! Unfortunately, I haven't got time to spend every day lolling about on the beach. But if I could consider it 'work' ...

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Photo and tweet. Work, definitely.

 

[David Weller]

Maybe I could do this in conjunction with a little market stall right on the beach, and sell summer reading material.

That's not a bad idea. You'll certainly have higher visibility for your books than on Amazon.

By the way, I love your blog and I'm slowly working my way through through all the stuff you've posted on gardening.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

That's not a bad idea. You'll certainly have higher visibility for your books than on Amazon.

By the way, I love your blog and I'm slowly working my way through through all the stuff you've posted on gardening.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy the blog!

 

[Emily]

Oh, could I have a link please?

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Oh, could I have a link please?

Robinne Weiss
I'm afraid my blog has little to do with the books I've published ... I meant to write a very different, non-fiction book when I started writing seriously and pitched my blog accordingly, but not long after I went full-time, Barbara Kinsolver published Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which was essentially the book I wanted to write ... so I have this blog that does me no professional good. But I enjoy writing it, so what the heck.

 

[Emily]

Ah, sure, I'd love the link anyway I loved that book! We have *aaaall* the self sufficiency books and those in that vein

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Did another dragon today, and had a great time chatting to beachgoers about it and my books! Was so inspired, I came home and created a sand dragon competition for kids, to run over the NZ summer. Hoping it goes viral (at least in NZ) and I get zillions of entries!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

It's a brilliant idea, Robinne, but get the rules locked down from the start, or you've got a health & safety nightmare, with the potential for collapsing dragons of heavy, heavy sand. A couple of youngsters were trapped on Cornish beaches this summer, after tunnelling down and also building sand snowmen! Have a maximum height regulation would be a good idea.

 

[Geoff]

Good idea, very inventive!