Ian Usher - A Life Sold

New blog for 2013....

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 20:01:00 +0000

Well, time for a change again!!!

For 2013 I'll be writing a new blog: "Caribbean Life 4 Sale"

That's right, my little slice of paradise is up for sale!! For full details see:
http://www.CaribbeanLife4Sale.com

The CaribbeanLife4Sale blog page can be found here:-
CL4S Blog
and as always, all of my blogs, displayed in chronological order, from ALife4Sale, 100goals100weeks and everything since, can all be found here:-
All Ian Usher Blogs

Oh, and there's a new book too:-

Paradise Delayed - The pitfalls and pleasures (mainly the pitfalls) of Caribbean island life in the beautiful archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Panama

Full details here:-
Paradise Delayed

2012 - the year in pictures.

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:14:00 +0000

Once again, as much for myself as for anybody else still reading, here is a quick review of the year in pictures:-

January 2012

Bocas del Toro, Panama

February 2012

Bocas del Toro, Panama

March 2012

Bocas del Toro, Panama

April 2012

Bocas del Toro, Panama

May 2012

Bocas del Toro, Panama

June 2012

Bocas del Toro, Panama

July 2012

Florida

England

August 2012

Whitehorse, Canada

September 2012

Skagway, Alaska

October 2012

Bocas del Toro, Panama

November 2012

Bocas del Toro, Panama

Panama City, Panama

December 2012

Bocas del Toro, Panama

Boquete, Panama

Bocas del Toro, Panama

Welcome back, family.

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:13:00 +0000

Six weeks has flown by, and I booked a flight to Panama City to meet them, along with Marty and carol, friends from Australia, along with their two kids on a fortnight's holiday. We had a lovely couple of days in Panama, then caught the overnight bus back to Bocas del Toro.

The house is now jam-packed with eight of us, but we'll manage for a week or so.

I got most of the important jobs done around the house before everyone arrived, but there are still a few more things to finish. However, all that can wait for now. My family and friends are here, and there are parties, outings, and swimming and snorkelling to attend to. We even have an invite to a luxury beach resort for a couple of nights in beachfront cabins.

Once our visitors leave, and the home-schooling starts, I will get back to finishing the final jobs... along with plenty of snorkelling and canoeing, of course!

Pressure is on....

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:56:00 +0000

Cameron has done a great job of looking after my little island home for three months, and by all accounts has had a great time down here. He described his time her on one of his facebook posts as "life changing". I'm glad he enjoyed himself.

I too enjoyed myself in Canada, but it was starting to feel a little wintery, and I was ready to return home. It still feels a little odd, after several years of travel, to have somewhere that I can truly call "home", but this place really does feel like a home now. I know most of the neighbours - it's a wonderfully friendly community - and have found a few great social hang-outs.

It wasn't such a wrench leaving Moe and the kids this time, as in just six short weeks they will arrive here, planning to stay this winter for more than three more months. It will be a very different experience this time, having our own house (and island) rather than renting in town. I'm really looking forward to it.

But now the time I have available to me is starting to feel very short. I still haven't finished the bathroom. The kids' bedroom needs a lot of work. The living room still has open walls and exposed plumbing and cabling. And the island, after three months with very little grooming, has reverted to semi-jungle. It is amazing how quickly things grow here.

I also have quite a few party invites and social outings to go to, so it's not all work and no play. And there is always the constant temptation to down-tools and go snorkelling...

Oh dear, pressure is on!

Return to Whitehorse.

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 23:09:00 +0000

In May, when the house still had no doors, a pair of Panama Flycatcher birds had built a nest above the light fixture in the kitchen area. I was happy to let them share my home, and one day heard cheeping noises from the nest - I hadn't realised there had been eggs, but now there were three babies!

I watched with interest as they grew, but was alarmed on day to hear a "thud". One of them had fallen out onto the kitchen counter. As I examined it, another fell out with another thunk onto the hard wooden surface. I quickly set up some towels to soften further falls, and using a paper kitchen towel, carefully re-installed the two tiny babies, hoping the mother wouldn't now reject them.

All went well, no problems with rejection, but for the next few weeks baby birds rained down from the nest, and I had to keep returning them. They became quite tame, and as they grew bigger one was quite happy to sit on my finger. The parents didn't seem to worried either, accepting me as part of the parenting process.

When the babies started flying I felt like a proud father seeing his child taking it's first tottering steps. Two of the three made it, the tamest on unfortunately dying in an early failed flight effort. The house felt pretty empty when they all left.

But warmer weather has arrived in Canada, and it's time for me to fly too, north for the summer to see Moe and the kids again. I have found a house sitter to look after this place while I am away, a friend of a friend from Australia.

I plan a quick stopover in Florida before heading to England for a few weeks in July to catch up with my brother, and see my mum and other friends and family. I will be in Whitehorse again for August and September, then plan to be back here in early October, before Whitehorse begins to get too cold.

House progress.

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Thu, 31 May 2012 23:08:00 +0000

Wow! Doesn't time pass quickly when you are busy with a project you are thoroughly enjoying?

It's already more than a couple of months since my building crew completed the frame of the house. At almost the same time Moe and the kids' winter visit came to an end. After seeing them off, I returned to the island, and moved in to the newly finished house.

To say I have been busy is an understatement, but progress has been quick and satisfying.

When I first moved in back in early March I literally had no facilities. The roof had the water collection pipes installed, which directed water down into the tank below the house, but I had to bring that up in buckets to have water inside. I had no electricity, no kitchen, shower, bed, or even doors and windows. I was sleeping in a hammock, and simply working during daylight hours to tey to get as much done as possible.

Each day saw progress, and every small step forward made life a little more comfortable. I had bought a decent-sized 12 volt battery, and along with the wood I had shipped down from Florida to build the house, I had shipped a small solar panel. Once I had these connected, I installed my first lightbulb upstairs. I also connected my water pump, and a tap upstairs added a new level of luxury. A mattress borrowed from my neighbours made my nights more comfortable too.

I needed all sorts of household stuff, and took another trip over to David, where I spent several thousand dollars on all sorts of hardware for plumbing and electrics, as well as for my own mattress and other soft furnishings. I also bought a generator, a bank of 6 volt batteries, and planned on buying a new propane fridge-freezer too. However, I managed to find an almost brand-new one locally at a bargan price, and saved myself almost a thousand bucks there.

With power available from the generator I could return the tiny little thing I had borrowed from my builders, and really get on with construction. Kitchen counters and a couple of sofas added a new level of luxury, as did the installation of my projector and a large screen.

The last part of the puzzle almost fell into my lap when my neighbours told me that they were buying a pallet of 18 solar panels, but would only need ten of them. Did I want to buy the other 8 panels? They were available at a great price, and I could put up double the amount of wattage I had planned for at much the same price.

In David I had bought a 12 foot "swimming pool" - more like a large paddling pool - and so made an area for it at the side of the house, covered by a roof on which the solar panels could be installed. With everything connected, I can now watch movies without having to run the generator. Luxury indeed!

With doors finally installed, a chicken laying eggs, and the delivery of ten more baby chickens, this place is now really beginning to feel like a home.

Movie Star!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:04:00 +0000

Well, it has been quite some time since my last blog posting, but I have an update on one of my goals for you.

In October 2010, I achieved Goal #61, by securing a small role in a Hollywood movie. I played the part of a diner at a hotel/bed and breakfast establishment in the hills above Malibu. It wasn't a speaking part, but it was still enormous fun to hang out on set with the other extras, and meet some of the main actors too. You can see my original blogs about the achievement of the goal here:-
And... Action!

The movie was being filmed under the working title "Storage", but has recently been released under the title "2nd Take". The movie's home page is here:-
2nd Take - the movie

There is a trailer for the movie which is just over 2 mins long. I am very proud to also make a small appearance in the trailer, although you only see the back of my head at about 1 min 17 secs. Don't blink or you'll miss it!

Yes, that's the back of my head over the leading actor's shoulder!

As yet I haven't actually seen the movie, but I am looking forward to doing so very soon, as I have ordered a copy for delivery. You can buy a copy here if you like:-

So what next for my flourishing acting career? Well, if Disney ever pull their finger out, and get around to making their "Life For Sale" movie (they bought the rights to the story in November last year - see the previous blog post here), I would love to score a small role in that too. I haven't heard anything from them at all about progress, so really have no idea what is going on.

I'll keep you updated...

Island Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 23:55:00 +0000

2012 is going to be an exciting year!! And hopefully somewhat more successful than 2011.

Last year began with the excitement of a new business idea, and associated website launch. Having learned a great deal about self-publishing during the second half of 2010, I launched Dog Eared Publications with the idea of assisting others to publish their own work.

However, with other exciting distractions, I did very little to publicise or promote the fledgling business, and so very little happened with it.

I did however, manage to enjoy two summery months (Jan and Feb) in New Zealand, where I learned to paraglide properly. I spent March in England (less summery!), where I acted as best man at my friend's wedding. In April Moe and I enjoyed a trip, via Florida and Costa Rica, down to Panama. I bought my own Caribbean island, followed by a few months of summer in Whitehorse again. In August and September I joined my friend Val and his dad for a road trip through Alaska, and then after some time in Colorado, flew back to Panama again.

Somehow I managed to get back to Colorado again towards the end of the year, where I met up with Moe and the kids, as well as my brother Martin and partner Rachel. We enjoyed a bit of early-season skiing and snow-boarding, and then all travelled together down to Costa Rica, and on to Panama.

When I write it out like that, it does strike me that it really is no wonder the business didn't take off - doesn't sound like I had too much spare time, just another year of crazy travels.... but wait a minute.... yes, you did read that correctly:-

"bought my own Caribbean island"!!

How on earth did that happen?

Well, here's the story (the brief version). For some time after completing the "A Life Sold" book, I wondered what I wanted to do next, and where I wanted to live. I was certain that I had no intention of spending my winters in chilly Whitehorse. I much prefer the tropical lifestyle. So I started to do some research on cheap and interesting places to live.

One of the most interesting possibilities I had discovered was on the Caribbean coast of Panama, an picturesque archipelago of islands. The trip Moe and I took in April was meant to be merely a property fact-finding mission, but my impulsive approach to life, coupled with my often-stated belief that it is all supposted to be a big adventure, meant that before I knew it, I had made a ridiculous offer on a small island.

To my surprise, with the smallest deal of haggling, my offer was accepted (a very motivated seller, I believe they call it in the real estate business), and in July payment was made, and I became a Caribbean island owner.

"What do I do now?" I wondered. "Better get on and clear the island, and start building, I guess."

I arrived in September 2011 to make a start, and spent the first couple of months trying to get to grips with the mountain of new challenges that I faced. I needed somewhere to live, a boat, a team of local workers to clear the island, and plans for a house.

Things came together slowly, and in December I met Moe and the kids in Colorado as they were making their way down to Panama for three months, avoiding the worst months of the Whitehorse winter. The island was almost clear, and a large materials shed was under construction, but we had to rent in town, as there was nowhere to stay on the island.

House construction began in January 2012, and we managed to camp out on the island with the construction crew a few times. However, timing has been unfortunate, and the frame of the house has finally finished just as Moe and the kids are about to depart. We have managed one night in the new house, hanging from the rafters in hammocks.

Now it's time to catch the water taxi to the mainland, and the bus to David, where they will continue their long journey back to Whitehorse. I come back here to an empty house, with more challenges ahead, and a lot of work to do.

At the moment there is no solar power, no running water, and no refrigiration. There are no doors or windows either - it's going to be like camping long term on a tropical building site!

Well, well, well, the places life takes us. I never in my wildest dreams thought that one day I would own a Caribbean island, but here I am, now looking forward to living in Panama on my own little tropical island construction site.

2011 - the year in pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:54:00 +0000

Here, as much for myself as for anyone else who may still be following my blogs, is a pictorial review of 2011.

January 2011

LA, USA

New Zealand

February 2011

New Zealand

March 2011

France/England

April 2011

Panama

LA, USA and Vancouver, Canada

Edgewood, BC, Canada

May 2011

Whitehorse, Canada

June 2011

Whitehorse, Canada

July 2011

Whitehorse, Canada

August 2011

Whitehorse, Canada

Whitehorse, Canada to Anchorage, Alaska, USA

September 2011

Colorado, USA

Bocas del Toro, Panama

October 2011

Bocas del Toro, Panama

November 2011

Bocas del Toro, Panama

December 2011

Colorado, USA

Costa Rica

Bocas del Toro, Panama

Movie news - Disney buys "A Life Sold" !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:29:00 +0000

Well, it's been quite some time since I last wrote a blog.

But I have just received a very exciting confirmation. My "life for sale" story has been bought by Walt Disney Pictures.

As you may (or may not) be aware, I have been under option for quite some time now. Interest was first expressed by several studios in the very early days after I announced that I planned to sell my whole life on eBay.

Those crazy days seem like they were a long time ago now, but I look back with fondness on a fantastic experience.

Eventually, after several months of talks with several studios, my Hollywood agent (I still can't say that I have a Hollywood agent with a straight face!) finally suggested that the Disney deal had the best possibility of eventually coming to fruition.

Disney purchased an initial 18-month option in November 2008, which didn't commit them to anything, but meant that I couldn't sell the story anywhere else. In the contract, they were able to extend the option for a further 18 months, for a further payment. They did this in May 2010. The extra funds came in very handy towards the end of my 100 goals in 100 weeks adventure, as funds were beginning to run a little low.

The extra cash injection meant that I didn't need to return to work immediately after completing my two-year journey, and I took time out to write "A Life Sold", my book about the whole amazing adventure.

Since publishing the book, I have done some more travelling. spending time in New Zealand, England, the States, Costa Rica and Panama.

I stayed in Canada again for summer 2011, but as winter drew nearer, I felt the draw of a warmer climate, and headed back to Panama.

I've been here for a couple of months, and am thoroughly enjoying myself here. And it was here that I heard once again from Walt Disney as the November deadline approached, and their second and final option was about to expire.

They emailed and informed me that they intended to exercise the option, and asked where I would like the cheque to be sent. How exciting!

Well, the cheque arrived in timely fashion, and has now cleared into my bank, so it is official - my story has been purchased for development into a movie!!

I have no idea what happens next, and have asked Disney about their plans and potential timelines. I'm still waiting to hear back from the creative executive on the project, but apparently he is on holiday for a while. I'll keep you updated as and when I hear anything.

In the meantime, if anyone wants a copy of the soon-to-be-a-movie "A Life Sold" as a Christmas present for that special someone, it is available at Amazon sites around the world, as well as many other online retailers.

I'll keep you updated with movie progress as and when I receive details.

USA	Canada	UK	France	Italy

I Wear Your Shirt.

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:34:00 +0000

My current travels come to an end in a week or so, and Moe and I return to Whitehorse with Finn and Maible. I have been away for just over four months, as I left Whitehorse just after Christmas.

I spent January and February in New Zealand. In March I returned to England for a month, and was very proud to be best man for my buddy Bruce at his and Lizzie's wedding. I then returned to Los Angeles, where I met up with Moe at the airport, and we spent three wonderful weeks down in Panama.

We are now back in Canada, and are visiting with Moe's family for a week or so, before we return to Whitehorse once again. I hope the snow has all gone by the time we get back - it has been a bit of a shock to fly from the tropical Caribbean in Panama to the snowy mountains of Canada.

There are some pix from my travels here, but I have yet to upload any from Panama - it's difficult to find the time (and motivation) to do so while sipping chilled beers on a sunny Caribbean balcony!

It has also been very difficult to do any sort of publicity for "A Life Sold" while travelling, but I have managed to appear in a few magazine articles, which has helped. See the previous blog for full details.

However, it is now time to get back to "work", and really try to get behind the book and give it a bit of a push.

And so with wonderful timing, I have booked a day with publicity website "I Wear Your Shirt". I came across Jason Sadler's site via my internet-publicity buddy Evan. Jason has been wearing t-shirts for a living for a couple of years now, and does a great job with the publicity work he and his team do.

My day for publicity on their t-shirts is tomorrow, 23rd April. There are a few live video shows throughout the afternoon (2pm to 5pm USA Eastern Standard Time (EST)), and there is also going to be a prize draw giveaway. The prize for the day is an Amazon Kindle, loaded with a digital copy of "A Life Sold". Entry is free, and entry details will given on the live video feeds.

The live-feed shows play on the uStream player online, and feature interactive chat too, so are a lot of fun. I plan to be online to chat as much as possible throughout the shows. The shows are on live from 2pm to 5pm EST. They are recorded too, and can be accessed afterwards on uStream.

The live daily show can be accessed here:-
http://www.ustream.tv/iwearyourshirt
There is a countdown clock on the page which show how long it is until the show starts.

Hopefully see you online tomorrow, and good luck if you enter the prize draw.

Millionaire!

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 06:40:00 +0000

Last year, while staying with Moe and the kids in Whitehorse, we had a couchsurfer come and stay with us for a couple of days. His name was Gabriele, and he was working as a freelance photographer for an Italian newspaper.

He took a few photos of several people in Whitehorse, and was keen to do so with me too. I was surprised when he contacted me a couple of months later, to inform me that his article had been featured in the colour supplement, "D" that comes with national daily newspaper Repubblica:-
http://periodici.repubblica.it/d/?num=731 (page 36)

There was a bit of interest in the following days from a couple of other Italian publications, and I sent off some pictures and answered some questions. And then just yesterday I received an email from Italian glossy magazine "Millionaire"! I have just been featured in their latest edition. I'm surprised to be featured, this time because I am in no way qualified to appear in such an extravagantly entitled magazine.

I also had a double-page feature a couple of months ago in UK magazine "Pick Me Up", which was a follow up to an article they published a year previously. After that article came out, I was contacted by the UK-based reporter for US magazine "National Enquirer".

They have a huge circulation, and the US-based office just sent me a copy of the story they are going to run. You can see the article below (click on either side of the article to see a larger version). The magazine itself is due to hit the shelves next week, I think on Friday 29th April. It is in the issue dated 2nd May.

On-going travels.

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 19:05:00 +0000

Well, as I previously suggested, I don't intend to do much more blogging about my travels. Since the 100 goals journey ended, and the book eventually came out in print, it has been a bit of a relief not to have to stick to my self-imposed regime of regular blog updates.

I have been doing a bit of travelling, and simply enjoying the travels for myself. I left Canada just after Christmas - it was getting far too cold for my liking - and headed to much warmer summer weather in New Zealand for a couple of months.

In March I arrived in England, and spent some time there and in France. The highlight of the month was acting as best man for my friend Bruce as he married Lizzie. Congratulations to you both!

While in England I did a couple of TV interviews. The first was televised last month on ITV's local news programme, Calendar. Apparently the second interview I did has just aired this week on BBC TV, but I haven't managed to get a copy of it yet.

Here is the Calendar interview:-

It is still my intention to do very little further writing about my travels, but as mentioned in a previous blog, there are some photos available from recent travels, really just for friends and family, but available for anyone else interested too.

Pix here (click on any of them to see a larger version):-
http://www.ianusher.com/2011.php

Happy travels.

Better late than never...

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 13:21:00 +0000

It's been almost two years in the editing process, but Colin Furze has finally got around to editing a video of Goal 47, achieved back in June 2009 - riding his "Wall Of Death"!

The video is in two parts, both shown below. What a great reminder of a fantastic weekend. Thanks again Colin and friends.

Check out a few of Colin's other videos on his YouTube channel - he has a couple of world records, and has been arrested for one of his stunts too:-
http://www.youtube.com/user/colinfurze

Help needed, another competition entered...

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:41:00 +0000

As you probably know, I have expressed interest on a couple of occasions in doing some motivational speaking.

I have therefore been particularly interested in courses run by a guy called James Malinchak. And he is currently running a competition to find a guest blogger to write an article appear on his blog - it would be great publicity, as he has a huge mailing list.

Anyway, I wrote a blog, and have made the final cut of seven! Marvellous! As most of these things now operate, it is votes that count, so if you could do me the favour of a quick vote I would be very grateful.

Just scroll to the bottom of the page (link below), and make a comment.

Thanks!

http://www.bigmoneyspeaker.com/myblogentry/ianusher.html

Resistance is futile...

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 00:58:00 +0000

Oh dear, I just can't stop! I promised myself that I was not going to do any more blogging about travels, and therefore wouldn't have to sort out photos for the blog either.

But New Zealand is just so stunning, and the photos are mounting up quickly. So I have found a suitable compromise, I think.

I have decided to keep an online photo album, which should be relatively easy to maintain. I'm not going to do any writing though!

The photos are merely for myself, and any family and friends interested in seeing where I have been and what I have been up to.

2011 pix can be found here:
http://www.ianusher.com/2011.php

Dog Eared Publications.

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 20:33:00 +0000

My timing for setting up a new publishing company could have been a bit better. By Christmas I had stayed a couple of months longer than I had originally intended in Whitehorse, and the weather really was getting colder than I like. When it dropped below -20 deg C I had had enough, and with a wedding invite in New Zealand in February it was time to hit the road and warm up a bit.

So as I have travelled I have written an occasional blog about the new publishing venture. I have also been at work on the new website, and it is almost ready. There are a few issues with it that need resolving, the main one being the contact page, which isn't currently working - not sure why. If you have any questions, for now, please feel free to use the "Contact" page on the IanUsher.com website.

At the moment I am travelling down the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand in a small camper van I bought last week. Internet access is somewhat limited, and the library I am in at the moment won't allow me to connect via FTP to change any of the web pages! Slightly frustrating.

Anyway, as I suggested in a previous blog post, I am changing the direction of the blog a little. I intend to do a lot less blogging about my travels from now on, and plan simply to enjoy the journey, without the self-imposed requirement to take suitable photos, and to write about it all.

The blog will now be much more about books, writing, printing, and publishing. You can follow my progress as a fledgling publisher, and hopefully I will have the pleasure of dealing with a few of you if you wish to see any of your own work in print.

So, publishing...
Dog Eared Publications can offer the budding writer some significant advantages, I believe, over both traditional and self-publishing:-

The traditional publishing route can take a long time, with typical timelines being up to two years to see your book in print - that's if you are one of the lucky few to be offered a publishing deal.

Self-publishing is now a viable option, but the learning curve can be very steep, and offers many challenges. This can take quite some time to figure out, and any mistakes can set you back by several weeks.

With Dog Eared Publications, you will have the first copy of your book in your hands in a matter of weeks, and see it on sale online a few days later.

As with self-publishing, profit per book will be significantly higher than traditional publishing, perhaps around five to six dollars per copy sold, rather than about a dollar or so. This will obviously vary from book to book, and on your retail price, which you choose yourself.

Your book will be listed on Amazon, and with hundreds of other online retailers, but instead of being tied to Amazon's higher retail charges, you will only pay 20% of the retail price of your book on all sales, wherever they are generated.

All the hard work of preparing your book for print is taken care of by us, and your book will be a professional product that you will be proud to show off.

But our biggest advantage to you is that WE WILL PUBLISH (almost) ANYTHING. That's right. We will publish any type of book - fiction, non-fiction - if you tell us that it is ready for print.

We charge a small fee for preparing your book for print, but in terms of the learning curve you would have to climb, and the weeks, or months, that it would take to learn what you would need to know, the fee is very reasonable.

How does this work? Well, we don't do any form of assessment of the merit or sale-ability of your book. That is entirely up to you. We suggest that you employ the services of proof readers, copy editors, and designers, as you see fit. But when you tell us your book is ready to print, we'll publish it. Simple!

How much does it cost? Well, take a look at the DogEaredPublications.com website for details on what we offer, what is included in the price, etc. The "Pricing" page can be accessed from the menu on the left of any of the pages on the site.

I look forward to hearing from you if you have any questions, or have anything you wish to see in print.

Happy writing.

Ian

A publisher's journey (Part 4)...

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:28:00 +0000

Having gone through the process involved in setting up Wider Vision Publishing in order to publish "A Life Sold", it occurred to me that I have left open the possibility to publish other books too.

I am now interested in helping out others who have their own stories to tell, and am open to all submissions of manuscripts that fall into the loose category of travel/adventure/personal journey.

I would like Wider Vision to maintain a narrow focus (oh, the irony!) on this type of book, and hope eventually to publish a small range of complementary titles, actively marketing them as best as I can alongside my own book.

Just before Christmas I stumbled across a blog about moving to Costa Rica to start a new life. Nadine and her husband decided to opt out of the rat race and move south, and make a fresh start. Nadine is a very entertaining writer, and has some hilarious stories - take a look at her blog "Happier Than A Billionaire", and my particular favourite story, "Stop, or my husband will shoot!"

I made a couple of comments on her blog posts, and we ended up writing back and forth a little. Nadine told me that she is just about to start the arduous process of trying to find an agent to represent the book she has been working on, and then hope that the agent is successful in brokering a deal for her.

Prompted in part by Nadine's story, and in part by my idea to help others who fit into the Wider Vision category, it occurred to me that there must be thousands of other people out there who have other types of book that they would like to publish, and are struggling to do so.

What if I set up a separate publishing company, with the view of publishing any type of book that someone wanted to get into print, whatever style of book it is - personal memoires, fiction, cook books, guide books, short stories, family histories - absolutely anything? I could be the publisher that will publish (almost) anything! After some excited discussions with my partner, Moe, the idea became firmly rooted as a strong possibility.

I thoroughly enjoyed the process of working my way through the minefield of information on setting up a publishing business, and dealing with one of the world's largest printers. When creating something I tend to be very focussed on the small details, and like to have everything just right. I wanted everything to look perfect in the book, and happily spent hours arranging and formatting pages to make it look just how I wanted. I am very pleased too with how the cover looks. When I received the first copy of the book I was immensely proud of what I achieved.

It took me weeks to do all of this, and including setting up Wider Vision Publishing, I estimate that I spent over a month just on the practicalities of publishing the completed book. Now however, having completed the process, with everything in place, I could do it again in a much more timely fashion.

And so, on Christmas Day, when one of the presents I received was the domain name Moe and I had discussed in some detail, I realised that this was something I really wanted to do.

Dog Eared Publications had just been born!

To be continued...

A publisher's journey (Part 3)...

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:39:00 +0000

To become a publisher is relatively easy, depending on where you live. With my home base being in Australia formalities were minimal, and eventually I set up Wider Vision Publishing, in order to be able to deal direct with my Print On Demand (POD) print and distribution company.

It took quite some time, however to register with the POD company, and there are a few hoops to jump through. Finally though, as far as they were concerned, I was a publisher.

At the same time I had been working on the files for the book, trying to ensure that they met the printer's exacting standards. The whole process took around a month all-in-all, but I was finally ready to submit my two files - cover and content - to the printer.

The files were accepted, and setup fees were paid, and before too long my proof copy was mailed out to me for final approval. I opened the package when it arrived with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. This was my telling of a story that had been in the creation phase for around three years. I had been working full-time on the project for the previous five months, and at last I was finally going to see the very first copy of my book to be printed.

It looked exactly as I had hoped and imagined it would. I was incredibly proud of what I had produced. The print quality of both the cover and the contents is fantastic, and is indistinguishable from a book you would buy from the shelves any bookstore. It is an incredibly professional-looking, high quality end product.

Within a day or two of my acceptance of the proof copy the book appeared on Amazon, and over the following days started to pop up all over the place.

Just as I would have had to do if I had been accepted by a traditional publishing house, my task, now that the book is available all over the world, is to publicize it. But the beauty is that I receive about $6 from each sale, as opposed to perhaps a dollar per sale. I only need to sell about one sixth of the number of books to make the same income.

During my travels, and now since completing my journey, I have met several people with fascinating stories of travel, adventure and inspiring personal journeys. A few of these already have books in print. I have met several people who have either completed a book, or are currently working on one about past or current journeys.

One such example is Yvette Francino. Our paths first crossed online, and we eventually met in Los Angeles in November 2008. I was honoured to become part of Yvette's adventure, and ultimately included in her book, "The Laptop Dancer Diaries" as "Mr. November". We have kept in touch, and met again a couple of times since then, and she gave me many tips and assistance as I worked on publishing my book.

More recently, as I passed through LA, and stayed with my friend, and internet publicity guru Evan White, I was introduced to one of his buddies, Kyle MacDonald. You may remember Kyle as the guy who started out with one red paperclip, trading it for increacingly bigger or better items, until he eventually traded up to a house.

He published his book, "One Red Paperclip", via more traditional publishing channels, and it was an honour to make a trade with him, swapping a copy of my book for his. I think we came out about even! He's a fun guy.

There are many others out there with similarly unique, adventurous, exciting, quirky and inspirational stories. Further examples might include, but is certainly not limited to:-

Eat, Pray, Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert
(Marriage crisis leads to worldwide journey in a search for answers and meaning - sound familiar? I could use that overview as a description for my book too!)

Yes Man
by Danny Wallace
(English book by a guy who decides to say "Yes" to everything! The Jim Carrey movie of the same name was based on this book - the book is FAR better!)

Honeymoon with My Brother
by Franz Wisner
(Another story similar to mine, in which the author is ditched by his wife-to-be just hours before his wedding. He ends up going on the already-booked honeymoon with his brother, and then decides to continue travelling for a further year.)

Are You Dave Gorman?
by Dave Gorman
(A tequila-fuelled wager leads to an entertaining round-the-world quest to meet 100 namesakes)

Since finishing my travels, and ending up in Whitehorse in Canada, I have been able to host other travellers passing through, much as I was assisted many times by strangers on my long adventure. Several of these have also been working on their own manuscripts about their adventures.

So it occured to me that as I am already set up as a publisher, it would be a relatively easy process to assist others to get their work into print. And that is now what I am hoping to do with Wider Vision Publishing. I plan to focus almost exclusively on travel, adventure, and inspiring personal journeys. I only intend to publish a few great stories, whenever I find them.

However, more recently it occured to me that there must be so many more people out there with all sorts of books, either finished, or in progress. With everything I have learned recently about publishing, perhaps I could help them get their work in to print?

If you have something you think would be worth publishing, read the next blog, "A publisher's journey (Part 4)..."

To be continued...

A publisher's journey (Part 2)...

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 21:47:00 +0000

The final goal on my list of 100 was to secure a book deal for the whole eBay sale/goal achieving adventure, and I came pretty close to achieving that. I had a literary agent in London, and another person in LA interested in representing me. However, by the time the book was almost complete, I still didn't have any firm offers.

I began to look at alternative options, as I was still keen to get the book into print, and complete Goal #100 from my original list.

I read a lot of information on the publishing industry, and on self-publishing options, and was intrigued and encouraged by some of the discoveries I made. Publishing seems to be very much like the movie industry, with much of the mainstream business being controlled by a few very big players.

These large international publishing houses are really only interested in guaranteed sellers, and are more than happy to take on and promote well-established authors. But they are very reluctant to take a gamble on unproven writers. Even when they do take on a new author they are unlikely to offer much more than printing and distribution, and the author is expected to do the bulk of their own publicity and marketing.

And by publishing through the traditional publishing houses, only a very small fraction of any sales ever makes it back to the author. After the bookshop takes their 55% of the book's retail price, the print and profit costs are taken by the publisher, and the agent takes his 15% there is very little left for the creator of the book. A typical royalty, or profit per book, might be around $1 for a book priced at $15.

However, I discovered that as in the movie business, where small, independently produced movies can compete, and often succeed, a similar opportunity exists in the literary world. "Print On Demand" is now becoming very common. As an independent author, or small publishing house, it is now possible to create a book, and store the files for the book with a Print On Demand (POD) print and distribution company.

Typically there are two files needed to produce the book - the cover, and the content. With these two files the POD printer can create copies of the book one at a time, as needed, and some will also distribute direct to the customer too.

This offers a huge advantage for an independent author or publisher. There is no longer any need to print large runs of a book, as a single copy can be created and despatched whenever one is needed. The initial cost to set up a new publication is no longer prohibitive. There is no longer need to store boxes and boxes of book in the garage or spare bedroom.

A second advantage is that a good POD company provides details of all books it has available for print, to a whole host of online and offline suppliers, so a book listed can be offered for sale by many retailers all around the world.

The third major advantage is that retailers tap directly into the POD supplier system, and as orders come in, the POD company prints and despatches the books. The independent author or publisher does not have to do any form of order fulfilment if they do not wish to.

I eventually decided that I would publish the book independently. I was very lucky, in that I had the luxury of time, as I could put in a full-time effort into searching out the information I needed.

It is quite a minefield out there, and the options for authors wishing to publish a book independently are varied and confusing. However, I bought a few books, and studied hard.

There are a few relatively simple options available, and Amazon's own POD offshoot, CreateSpace, at first seemed to offer the best potential.

While the CreateSpace program is very accessible and easy to use, Amazon take a hefty mark-up. On any CreateSpace-published book sold on Amazon they take 40% of the cover price. If you opt to enrol for their expanded distribution program, and sell through other retailers too, they hit you for a whopping 60% of the cover price as their sales commission. After Amazon get their cut, CreateSpace deduct printing costs, and the remainder goes to the author, either directly, or via his/her publisher. Once more this leaves a very small profit margin.

But the more I read about the publishing industry, and the more I learned, the more I began to discover that there were even greater possibilities on offer. I finally discovered one of the world's largest POD companies. As part of the Ingram Group, they feed their huge catalogue of books into Amazon's system, as well as to many other big name retailers.

A book printed and distributed through them is automatically listed with hundreds of retail outlets around the world. Their service, in terms of distribution, far exceeds anything else I could find anywhere else.

There was another huge advantage too. Unlike Amazon's CreateSpace, instead of taking 40%, or even 60%, it is possible to choose for yourself the percentage of the cover price that is given to the retailer - and you can set this as low as 20%.

In financial terms, this means that per book sold, at a cover price of $15, you, as an independent author earn an extra $3 for every book sold, when compared to CreatSpace's 40% cut given to Amazon. When compared to their "Expanded Distribution Channel", which takes 60%, each sale nets a whopping $6 more! Three to six dollars of extra profit per sale - that's fantastic.

Publishing my book independently had suddenly become very appealing.

However, there was a small problem. unlike CreateSpace, who are only happy too deal directly with authors (and also very happy to take a huge percentage of the proits too), this POD company will only deal directly with publishers. They simply don't want the hassle of dealing with individual authors.

The answer appeared to be obvious - I needed to find out how to become a publisher!

To be continued...

As a footnote, my book now appears on book retail websites all over the world. I have no idea how many suppliers now offer my book, but here are a few random examples of international outlets carrying "A LIFE SOLD - What ever happened to that guy who sold his whole life on eBay?"

USA (Amazon)
Canada (Amazon)
UK (Amazon)
UK (Tesco)
Sweden (Adlibris)
Australia (Berkelouw Books)
South Africa (Loot)
Russia (!!)
Estonia (!!!)
and so on...

To see for yourself, just type the book's 13 digit ISBN (International Standard Book Number), or the shorter 10 digit ISBN, into a Google search:-
9780980865301
0980865301

A publisher's journey (Part 1)...

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 23:42:00 +0000

Happy New Year, welcome to 2011. I hope you all had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I wonder how many of you have been working on your New Year Resolutions. I am not really one for making resolutions, and have never had a great track record of sticking to them.

However, as a goal-oriented person, I have been working on a few new goals for this year. And because of this I feel that the direction of my blog is going to change a little. I hope my new journey is one that you may be interested in following.

Once again, for me, it is a step into the unknown, but as I have always said, that is where life begins to be exciting!

More details to follow in Part 2 of this blog...

In the meantime, for anyone just joining me at this point in my journey, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ian Usher, and here is a quick overview of my recent history, which leads me on to the next adventure, to be outlined in the next couple of blogs.

I began my blogging "career" in March 2008, when I announced that I was going to sell my whole life on eBay. This attracted a huge amount of international publicity, and resulted in quite a wild ride.

My old website, ALife4Sale can be viewed here, and all of the blog posts from that crazy few months, in chronological order, can be found here:-
ALife4Sale blog posts

I was asked many times in interviews in the run-up to the auction what I wanted to do when I sold my life. I wondered the same thing myself, and eventually started jotting down some ideas. This ultimately grew into a list of 100 goals, and I set myself the challenge of achieving them in 100 weeks.

In August 2008 I set off on an amazing two-year journey, travelling three times around the world, doing all the things I ever wanted to do. There is much more detail on the 100goals100weeks website here, and the full journey is chronicled in the blog posts, which begin here:-
100goals100weeks blog posts

My journey ended in July 2010, and the final outcome was a very pleasant surprise. I ended up in Whitehorse in the north of Canada, and spent four months writing a book about my incredible experiences. I called the book "A LIFE SOLD - What ever happened to that guy who sold his whole life on eBay?"
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
There is more detail about the book, and the background to the story on my current website, www.IanUsher.com, and the blog postings from my months in Canada can be found here:-
ALifeSold blog posts

The answer appeared to be obvious - I needed to find out how to become a publisher!

To be continued...

The book is now published and available online. Here are a few links to Amazon sites around the world:-

USA	Canada	UK	France	Italy

Amazon Germany		Kindle version - Amazon US
Amazon Japan		Kindle version - Amazon UK

Happy New Year.

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:05:00 +0000

As midnight approaches on the last day of 2010, I am enjoying a few beers on the beach at Evan's new home on the coast just north of Los Angeles.

It has been a fun year, filled with fun, excitement and surprises. As my year began in January, alone at my brother's house in London, I had no idea how the end of the 100goals100weeks journey would play out, and where life might take me afterwards.

The first six months of the year took me to Africa, South America, back to Africa again, then on to Australia for a month or so. From there I headed to Nepal, India, England, Jamaica, Costa Rica, and ended my journey in America, finally visiting the crown of the Statue of Liberty on 4th July.

The last two months of my journey provided a very welcome surprise, when I met up again with Moe, who had originally invited me to go dog-sledding in Whitehorse in Canada. A new and exciting relationship flourished, and we decided that I should head back to Whitehorse as soon as my journey ended.

Things went very well for us, and we spent a happy six months together. I have had to leave for a while, as there are a couple of weddings I want to attend, but we plan to meet up again towards the end of March.

I am currently enjoying New Years Eve in LA with my friend Evan, and I fly to New Zealand in a day or two.

I think this is going to be pretty much the end of my blogs about travels for now. I have some new ideas for 2011, and plan to change the focus of the blog a little. Keep an eye on this space for new developments in the new year, particularly if you have ever thought about writing a book.

For now though, I hope you too have had a wonderful 2010, and wish you all the success you hope for with your own goals in 2011.

Best wishes,

Ian
11.59pm
Friday December 31st 2010

On the road again...

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 03:11:00 +0000

Well, my time in Canada is now at an end, as I only had a six month tourist visa, and that was due to expire in early January. My original plan had been to head south around mid-October, but the book-writing took a little longer than I had originally anticipated. I kept extending my stay, and as the end of the year approached, I decided that I wanted to stay for Christmas, and spend the holiday with Moe, Finn and Maible.

This is the picture we used for the family Christmas card - taken on a "warm" -10 deg C day!

Moe's sister Rainey arrived for the week with her two kids, Wynn and Aslin, and the seven of us managed to enjoy a fun-filled week in the little cabin.

I have an invitation to a wedding in New Zealand in February, and am acting as best man for my buddy Bruce in March in England, so very soon after Christmas it was time to hit the road again.

Moe dropped me off at the airport in Whitehorse on a very cold morning, and we said our sad farewells. We plan to meet up again towards the end of March, hopefully for a month or so of travelling together.

My first flight took me south to Vancouver, and a connection took me onward to LA. I caught the airport bus to Van Nuys, where my friend Evan met me. It wasn't long before we had a couple of beers in hand at his new place right on the beach.

It is quite a shock to the system to be somewhere where a t-shirt is adequate for daytime, and a light jacket is all the extra wear that is needed for the evening.

On the evening I arrived we constructed Evan's new "Ball O' Fire" enclosure, in which he had just invested, planning to use it for his New Year's Eve bash. We had to test it out, of course!

I'm here until 3rd or 4th January, and then fly direct to Auckland, where I plan to spend a couple of months exploring New Zealand, and enjoying some sunny southern-hemisphere summer weather.

I hope you all had an equally wonderful Christmas, and are looking forward to a fantastic New Year. I am certainly excited about new adventures that 2011 may offer.

Tags, reviews, and "yes" votes...

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:16:00 +0000

I have been pretty busy over the last week or so with the first push for publicity for the book, and things have gone fairly well. I did a couple of interviews on local BBC radio stations in the UK, and several other interviews with online broadcasters too.

I have created a new Press Coverage page for the website, and have added links to some of the recent press and publicity about the book. The latest links are to:-
- The Creative Penn, an author blog, which I mentioned in my previous posting
- The Stuph File, with Peter Anthony Holder
- Cheap Travel radio, with Brian Peters
They have all been fun interviews to do, and all are available online if you want to listen to them.

With Amazon being the main target for as many of my sales as possible, I have been looking at ways to improve my ranking there, as well as find ways that will help others to stumble across my book as they browse through Amazon's huge catalogue of around 8 million books.

I have discovered a couple of things that look like they will help, and if you care to assist a little, your input would be very gratefully accepted. Here are a couple of things that you can do that will only take a few seconds.

1). This is the quickest and easiest way you can help out a little - just a few seconds will do! A very influential part of a listing on Amazon is the "Reviews" section. For reviews that have already been written, there is a "Did you find this review helpful?" section. Below each review there is a "Yes" and a "No" button, and you can indicate whether the review was of assistance to you. "Yes" votes for good 5* reviews help keep these reviews on top of the review list.

2). Another really quick way to assist - Amazon makes use of tags to assist people to search for products. You can add your own tags, or agree with tags already suggested by others. I think the most relevant tags are: travel, adventure, goals, goal setting, ebay, auction, life changing, separation, divorce, love... tick the ones you agree with, or add your own. You are allowed to tick or add up to 15 tags.

I was looking into the tagging system a little more last night, and it is very interesting to see how it works. When you search for a book on, for example, the subject of "goal setting", the page first shows recently popular products tagged this way. As I write this my book appears at #5 on this list. This is wonderful, and is due to those friends and contacts who have recently done a review or some tagging. Thank you all very much.

The list can be sorted several ways, and right now I am #1, as the most recently tagged product under "goal setting". However, I guess it is overall popularity that really counts, and the #1 book in this section has 97 tags for "goal setting". I have 8 "goal setting" tags right now, so have quite a way to go, but if you want to help out, go to the book page here, and scroll down to the tags section (after you have voted "Yes" to a couple of helpful reviews, on the way, of course!)

In overall popularity I am currently #18. The top 15 books display on the first page of results, and the book at #15 has been tagged "goal setting" 9 times. So only two more people tagging A LIFE SOLD as being relevant to "goal setting" will put me on the first page.

Tags I think I should particularly target are:-
- adventure
- goals
- goal setting
- ebay
- auction
- inspirational books
- travel
- adventure travel
Anything elso you can suggest?

You can add up to a maximum of 15 tags, and as always, anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated.

There is another new page on the website with a few other ideas and suggestions for ways you can help, should you have the time and inclination.
Click here for more info.

Many thanks once again to all blog readers out there for your on-going support and encouragement.

The Creative Penn.

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Usher) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:07:00 +0000

I have been following Joanna Penn's author blog for some time now. She has some wonderful tips and insights on book writing and publishing, and regularly features other writers and authors in here interview section.

I made a couple of comments in reply to Joanna's blogs, and mentioned one particular tip she had given which I had found very helpful. She had suggested that as part of the editing process, it was very useful to read your manuscript out loud to yourself. You could get a feel for how any dialogue sounded, and how the narrative flowed.

I also found that I spotted many typing errors that I hadn't previously seen. I think there is something different about the way the brain sees the text when reading aloud that means the little errors are more easily picked up.

I was surprised when Joanna contacted me, suggesting she would like do an interview. We made arrangements, and Joanna and I spoke via Skype last week. It was a fun interview to do, and we found we kept getting a little off-track, as we are both very enthusiastic about travel.

You can listen to the interview here if you like:
Achieving Goals With Ian Usher Who Sold His Life On EBay - The Creative Penn

Joanna's thriller, "Pentecost", is due out in February. She has a couple of free chapters available to download from her website - it sounds like it is going to be a great read.

Thanks for a fun interview Joanna. Good luck with the book.