Kindle Version is Out!

Ta-da! After hour upon hour of formatting work, and calling it quits once and then starting over, the Kindle version is up and running. I’ll have to investigate how to market it, etc., but I’ve priced it at $5.99 – having no idea what it should be or what to expect. Now, whether it will be accepted for Nook and Apple remains to be seen, but I think that Kindle has the widest use anyhow.

I left out photos, in my attempt to get the reformatting approved, so anyone should really prefer to have the print version – which I will remind everyone (again) can be bought at Amazon’s http://www.createspace.com/3546438 or on Amazon.com (which is where the Kindle version also shows up.)

Publishing for ebooks

I’m finding that publishing an already-written book for ebook formats isn’t quite as simple as one would hope. But I’m plodding away and hope to have it out there in ereader form soon.

And son Davis is going to host a book party Saturday after next. Of course, it’s primarily a wine-tasting party, but the two themes will be combined. He suggested I bring ten signed copies!

Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

Katharine M. Jones

Telephone: 540-686-7285

Email: wjones146@comcast.net

 I’ve created a “press release” that I’ve sent to all the newpapers in Missippi, to appropriate blogs that I’ve found, and historical societies. Here ’tis, in case anyone wants to help me spread the word.

Previously Unpublished 1852-1912 Diary Now Available

The Diary of a Southern Lady

The previously unpublished diaries of Georgina Barrett Devlin have just been published by her great, great granddaughter, Katharine Jones.

In 1852, Georgina Barrett Devlin was a young immigrant from London with small children, living in Yazoo City, Mississippi. She began keeping a journal, at first sporadically but then consistently, almost every day for the rest of her long life. Now this diary, titled The Diary of a Southern Lady, set in Yazoo City and Winona and transcribed and edited by her great, great granddaughter, Katharine Jones, has been published by Create Space and is available on Amazon.

Early in this period of sixty years she recounts her experiences during the Civil War, when Yankee forces came to her house and she took the children to hide in the woods. After her husband’s Yazoo City store burned, the family moved to Winona, Mississippi, where they lived for several years, and then moved back to Yazoo City. In the course of her life story, the reader will read of traveling by stage, then by railroad, by trolley, and by automobile. The education of her children and grandchildren is a constant theme. They were at first taught at home or in small neighborhood schools, but were later sent away to boarding schools and colleges as far afield as Tennessee, Virginia, and even Canada. She was interested in the religious and social movements of the day, including Christian Science and Swendenborgian philosophy. And in her later years, her aches and pains and the treatments of the day became more and more important to her.

Well footnoted, this diary will be of interest to historians and students of Southern history, the Civil War and the development of rural and small town life, as well as to the general public.

The Diary of a Southern Lady is available at http://Createspace.com/3546438. For a limited time, through December 31, 2011, the author is giving a 10% discount, by entering the discount codeFSC5RLVC when purchasing through http://Createspace.com/3546438. The Diary is also available onwww.Amazon.com, or by contacting the author at: wjones146-at-comcast-dot-net.

About Katharine Jones

Originally from Mississippi, Katharine Jones, the author and publisher of The Diary of a Southern Lady, was born in Yazoo City, the town where the writer of the diaries lived most of her life. As a teenager, she was given the first volume of the diary by her grandmother. She graduated from the University of Mississippi and has had a life-long interest in her family history. After operating a bed and breakfast in Tennessee for seventeen years, she and her husband Bill now live in retirement in Winchester, Virginia.

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Third, and final, proof!

Although The Diary of a Southern Lady has been out for sale for a week or so, I haven’t promoted it until I could see a final copy, and it looks fine. And I’m, dare I say, proud!

The best site from which to order it is https://www.createspace.com/3546438. That is a site set up by Amazon for the book, and as far as the purchaser is concerned, purchase and shipping is handled just as it is usually done on the Amazon.com site. However, it can also be found by a search on Amazon’s regular website.

If you know of anyone who might be interested, it would be wonderful if you would forward the site address to them. I’m sure descendants of Georgina and John Michael Barrett would be the ones most interested, but the book truly has wound up with a lot of information that anyone who is interested in history in the South and in the period of the diary, 1853-1813 would enjoy.

I’ve “gone to press!”

My, it has been a long time since I last posted! I’ve been two two more revisions, including a whole year I had omitted and three new photos of family members.
In addition, I’ve gotten more help with content from my brother Sam Mounger, have fixed more “orphans” and “widows” (dangling short lines beginning a page, etc.) and now I’ve resubmitted the files and decided to “go live” and put the book up on Amazon without even ordering a third proof.
That should take ten days or so. If there are folks interested in ordering a copy, email me at wjones146@comcast.net and I’ll let you know as soon as it is up.

Additional information

I’ve been in touch with the cousin who has the eight additional volumes of the diary which I had added to the one I had. She continues to live in the old home where the writer of the diary, Georgina Barrett Devlin, spent her last years. She was a wealth of information about the family, some of which I have incorporated into footnotes.

She also has a couple more photos which I will also be including. Glad I restrained my impatience to actually publish. Things will be delayed, but I think a lot will be added.

The proof copy is here – and required a lot of work!

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Well, I got the proof copy back from Amazon even more quickly than they promised, and it really looks good. I got Bill to proof read it, and boy did he find lots of corrections that I needed to make. These were mainly formatting issues, such as extra spaces where there shouldn’t be, numbering of footnotes, etc. I’ve worked on them, as well have choosing a deeper color – “saddle brown” – for the cover and will be sending it back to Amazon soon.

This all sure does take a lot of time!

A big day!

The proof copy arrived today and it looks wonderful! Bill, with a fresh pair of eyes, will proofread it soon.

There’ll be a few tweaks and corrections, needless to say, but then I’ll resubmit and we should be good to go.

Waiting for the Proof Copy . . .

I’ve gotten word that it meets the “technical requirements” of CreateSpace. So I’ve ordered a copy to proof. Should be here in less than a week!

Here is the bound copy that I have had for over fifty years, given to me by my grandmother. As it turned out, there were seven more volumes that I was able to borrow from a cousin and transcribe.

The Cover of the Book-to-Be

After working for years to complete the transcription, footnoting, introduction, historical notes, and most complicated of all, formatting, I’ve submitted The Diary of a Southern Lady to CreateSpace for publication. If it meets their technical requirements, the next step will be to order a draft copy to proof. I’m holding my breath!