I’m Giving Away Ten Copies of my Bestselling Book “FORKS!”

If you want to jump right to the giveaway, click this link to my YouTube channel to enter— If you want to know more background, keep reading below […]

Several years after I started the WorldRider blog and took off to ride around the world, I created a YouTube Channel. This was just before Google bought the platform. Most of the video content on YouTube consisted of primarily copyrighted material.
At the time, I looked at YouTube as a place to stash videos I wanted to keep while clearing space from my hard drives. Things have changed.

A young Allan Karl WorldRider, with a camera. This photo is still captured from a video recorded ten years before Allan took off on his epic around-the-world motorcycle journey.

As far back as I remember, I’ve always had a camera or a video/film camera by my side. Photography always was easy to share through prints, my blog, online photo sharing, and in my book “FORKS: A Quest for Culture, Cuisine, and Connection.” For the most part, the video footage remained on DV tapes and the various DVDs I produced for family and friends.

When I began traveling, limited bandwidth, large files, and underperforming video software and hardware made sharing such video productions much more difficult. Yet I continued to capture the footage—right up through my most recent months-long motorcycle journey where I circumnavigated the Black Sea in Eastern Europe.

Even with advances in bandwidth, hardware, and software, I still focused on photography. Video productions took a back seat—mostly due to the time required to edit, produce, score, and grade a decent video. Sure, I managed to create a handful of videos and upload them to my blog, Vimeo, and YouTube. But the bulk of that footage remained unedited on a variety of hard drives.

If not for the recent coronavirus pandemic, it’s likely most of the footage I’ve captured over the years would still be stashed away on those drives. However, the pandemic gave all of us something we perhaps took for granted or didn’t take advantage of in the past: TIME.

So with that time, I resurrected, and continue to resurrect, footage. Some of it is pretty good, while others rough and raw, but still with a degree of charm or part of a bigger story.

I took the time to review, edit, and produce videos and invest a bit into that YouTube Channel I started so many years ago. As more and more videos get pushed out on the channel, several people commented or wrote to me with accolades and happy that I’ve taken the role as a YouTube “content creator.”

I had that phrase: “content creator.” I am a creator. But I do not create content. I’m not sure what that is. I create films, books, photographs, experiences. I tell stories, inspire people to connect, travel, and explore. I try to open people’s minds to something new, different, or exciting. I encourage people to step outside their comfort zone and do something new. I am a creator—and my work is and deserves better to be called “content.”

While I don’t want to be tagged with that label, I am trying to create and do more with that YouTube Channel. As of the date of this post, I have approximately 920 subscribers. I aim to join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), which unlocks more “creator” features. It also will expose my videos to the YouTube algorithm and, therefore, more people—a bigger audience.

To join the YPP, I must have 1,000 subscribers and have 4,000 hours of people watching my videos over the previous twelve months. I currently have over 4,000 hours. I’m just under 100 subscribers shy of hitting the magic 1,000/4,000 subscribers/hours mark.
So to encourage people to subscribe to my channel, I’m giving away ten copies of my book. All you need to do is go to my Giveaway Video and leave a comment (at least five words.) That’s it. Though I hope you will subscribe, too. Hey, if you’ve already subscribed in the past, you can still comment and have a chance to win a copy. And if you already have a copy, you can still win a copy and give it to a friend or family member.

Don’t worry. I’m not giving up on writing, this blog, or photography. I’m just adding another creative outlet to the WorldRider Journey.

Thank you for your support for all these years!