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Biography for
Patrick Carman
Author of The Land of Elyon series
Though only 37, first-time author Patrick Carman had already
built four successful businesses from the ground up before
adding "novelist" to his resume.
Indeed, it wasn't until he began trading places once a week with
his wife, so she could have a night out, and he took over
reading to their young daughters, that Carman began thinking
about writing a novel.
As the months passed, Carman began spinning a tale for his
four- and six-year-olds about a girl trapped behind the walls
surrounding her village and her adventures as she attempted to
escape to explore the forests beyond. In the year that followed,
he "journaled" his thoughts and sketched out impressions about
the characters and place that would become The Land of Elyon series.
Then, in his spare time between running a national media production
company, devotion to his family, and commitment to mentoring teens,
Carman began writing.
What evolved was a riveting trilogy for young people that is
filled with mystery, intrigue, endless surprises and moral questions
that are relevant to their own lives.
*
Carman grew up in Salem, Oregon, where he graduated from
Willamette University in 1988. He spent the following decade in
Portland, starting out working for Central Point Software. After
one year, Carman realized he wasn't cut out for the corporate
environment. The son of a successful entrepreneur, he decided to
strike out on his own. Encouraged by Central Point's President,
Cory Smith, who had become a friend, Carman wrote up a business
proposal to create an advertising agency, submitted it to a
former college roommate's investment family in Chicago, and
received a phone call only days later, saying they would be
sending the $20,000 in needed capital. "So at 22, I started my
first company, Pinpoint Design Team," he says.
With a staff of about ten employees, Pinpoint Design produced
print advertising and collateral material for Hollywood Video
and various mid-size companies in the area. "I did a lot of the
copywriting and editing. That's where I kind of got my start
with writing, by just working in the ad business," Carman says.
After nine years of coping with the stress inherent in the
advertising world, Carman was ready for a change. He sold the
agency and moved his family to Montana for a year. "We felt like
we'd been in a city for a long time and that we really wanted to
go someplace totally different," he says. "So we made up a list
of the top ten things we wanted in a small town."
They found it in Hamilton, an historic town in Montana's famed
Bitterroot Valley. During the year that followed, the Carman's
second child was born, Pat pursued his love of fly fishing, and
he came up with his second inspiration for a business. "We
rented a house there on about ten acres and just kind of really
took a deep breath for a year and tried to figure out what we
were going to do next. And, of course, me being an entrepreneur,
I couldn't help myself," he says with a laugh.
The idea was for a movie trivia board game, which became the
highly-successful "Applause." To finance it, he called up his
old boss and friend, Cory Smith, who joined him in the venture.
They formed Big Game, Inc., with Carman as president. "I ended
up writing thousands of trivia questions and researching all
these different actors and films, which was just a lot of fun,"
he says. Carman subsequently created the movie game "Action,"
the biography game "Profiles," and the "Smart Games" line of
card games. The games became so popular that the company's
products were being carried in over 4000 stores nationally,
including Blockbuster Video, Hollywood Video, Musicland, Sam
Goody, and Gamekeepers.
Meanwhile, Carman and his family decided to return to their
roots, Walla Walla, Washington, where he was born and his wife,
Karen, grew up and still had family. It turned out to be the
idyllic small town environment they'd been searching for. Once
the hub of a rural agricultural region, Walla Walla today is
world-renowned for its award-winning wineries, picturesque
turn-of-the-century downtown, and large artistic community.
In 1998, Carman and Smith went on to form Mywebpal
(www.mywebpal.com) and built it into the third largest provider
of online newspaper publishing in the U.S. Filling a void for
mid-range newspapers that lacked the means of building and
maintaining their own web presences, Mywebpal provided over 130
newspapers with sites that their own staff could upload stories
and classified advertising to on a daily basis. In 2002, the
partners sold it to Myles Communications, Inc.
Carman immediately launched into a fourth new start-up, Amped
Radio (www.ampedradio.com), which has quickly grown into a
premiere producer and syndicator of programming for the CHR
market. Amped produces both the fastest-growing radio show in
Christian music today, called "The Weekend 22," and the weekly
television show, "Inside the Music," which simultaniously airs
on three cable networks.
Since graduating from college, Carman has spent much of his
spare time volunteering as a youth counselor. About four years
ago, he created his "Lifetime Mentoring Program," and began
working with the same eight young men, who will graduate from
high school this coming summer. The program's objective is to
"walk" with them through life as they face the myriad challenges
of college, careers and raising families. "Young people need an
adult who will not disappear at graduation and move onto the
next group of kids. Lifetime Mentoring is an attempt to provide
this missing link. Imagine what would happen if every healthy
adult walked with one troubled child through all of life's
challenges," he relates.
During the last five years, Carman and his wife, Karen, have
also been deeply involved in the Agros Foundation, a non-profit
organization founded in 1982. Agros (www.agros.org) currently
assists seventeen developing communities in Central America and
has helped over 3000 people break free from poverty through land
ownership and technical assistance. Both Karen and Pat have
made numerous trips to Nicaragua and Guatemala to better
understand the cultures and impact Agros is having. Carman also
served on the film crew that produced a documentary on Agros'
effort, directed by Jeffrey Townsend. The Carman's also
spearheaded the fundraising effort for the Aduana II village,
in which housing will be erected in 2004.
* * *
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Jeremy Gonzalez
Media Relations
Amped Media
(509) 301-3060
jeremy@landofelyon.com
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