Down Home Nova Scotia: How does the world survive

Down Home Nova Scotia: How does the world survive: As I sit here pondering life I wonder how the rest of the world functions. I have recently decided to write books. I have a purpose, I have ...

How does the world survive

As I sit here pondering life I wonder how the rest of the world functions. I have recently decided to write books. I have a purpose, I have something I want to say. I also want to add a few dollars to my pension.  Is that wrong?

I spend a lot of time joining this group and that group to promote my book. I get tangled up with which password I have used, concern myself with deleting sexually crude emails-give me a break. I try to support fellow writers, I try to learn how to write,how to format and how to avoid the sharks.

Some reading site asks me to select a favourite author. How in God's name would I ever do that? Seriously, I read two or three books a week-yes you read that correctly. I read, and have done so for over fifty years.

I have no idea who wrote some of the best stories I have read, until I decided to write my own I rarely paid attention to WHO wrote it. I simply want to be entertained. I can list off names till the cows come home but I will miss the best, because the book I am currently reading is "my best" or else I Wouldn't be reading it.

If you want a list of authors in no particular order sure, here goes: Stephen King,JamesPatterson,Dean Koontz,Frank Slaughter, Bradshaw,EarleStanley Gardiner, Louis LaMour,Agatha Christie,Lisa Unger, Amy Tan, Michael Connelly,the Bible,Margolian,Conrad Black, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Margaret Trudeau, Jack London, Carolyn Ann Vaughan, Dolly Parton,F Scott Fitzgerald, Tabitha King, Charles Hemingway,Lucy Maud Montgomery,Dickens,Temple Emmet Williams,PeteMorin, Mark Twain,Dan Brown,Pierre Burton,Farley Mowat,Stephen Leacock,Hans Christian Andersen,Peter Hoeg,Solzhenitsyn,Alcott,VC Andrews,Maya Angelou,Bach,Bloch,Pearl S. Buck,Clancy, Taylor Caldwell,Arthur Hailey, Margaret Craven,HarrietBeecher, Meena Lee, Stowe,FrankMcCourt,Lisa Jackson,Lisa Scottoline,Lisa Jackson, Harper Lee,YOU GET MY POINT, THERE IS NO WAY FOR ME TO CHOOSE

Hopefully this is the link to the AuthorsDen.com but not all things work they way I think they should :)

Where authors and readers come together!

Horses of different colours

Sometimes I wonder if it is just me or if ALL people struggle with trying to write the book, upload the book, publish the book DIGITALLY and then struggle with the fine points of printing the book.

Don't misunderstand me, I think it is wonderfu if someone can afford an editor, a proofreader, an agent,a graphic designer etc to assist with your cover etc, that is great and power to you. I cannot. Therefore I find it all a bit of a daunting task to do all these things, here is to hoping I am enjoying myself. 

Perhaps any knowledge learned is a good thing, I hope so!!!!

New Facebook page

I have decided to make a new Facebook page for my little books. It is called Maritime Home Grown Publication & Presentations. There are still things I don't quite understand about the Facebook page. Mostly I have used my FB to upload me singing and playing guitar, and occasionally viewing photos so the fine art of facebooking sometimes illudes me. Still, I do enjoy it, it really is nice to see photos and watch people's kids grow up.

Canada is a big country and Facebook does let us keep in touch just a little.

this is a link to Kindle edition of Gerald's Wisdoms

http://www.amazon.com/Geralds-Wisdoms-Book-One-1-ebook/dp/B016SUZX0W/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Down Home Nova Scotia: My iBook and Kindle sales are neck and neck

Down Home Nova Scotia: My iBook and Kindle sales are neck and neck: A few weeks ago I started an experiment. I published a couple of small books on three different platforms. Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks and K...

My iBook and Kindle sales are neck and neck

A few weeks ago I started an experiment. I published a couple of small books on three different platforms. Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks and Kobo

It is now a new month. So what have I learned?

• marketing the books is harder than writing them
• filling out the paper to get the accounts set up is difficult
• formatting the books is touchy
• supposedly Kindle is bigger than iBooks BUT my sales are exactly the same on both 
• the sweetest reading experience seems to be on Kobo
• Kindle provides me with an author page-kind of cool
• iBooks provides me with widgets
• Kindle provides me with an online writers community

Current total sales from all three platforms for  month of October 2015 is
                               18
Look out Stephen King, John Grisham, James Patterson. Here comes Carolyn Ann Vaughan

My book WITS' END available on Kobo

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/ebook/wits-end 

WITS' END is hot psychological thriller

Well, I am quite thrilled. My little book  WITS' END which is available on iBooks, Kobo and Amazon Kindle, ranks 31st at amazon.ca as a hot psychological thriller. I have to say this pleases me.

No matter how I look at it. I really do like my story, and it is a nice pleasant surprise to see it ranking 31st so if you bought it on Kindle, thank you very kindly.

Now I need to get busy writing more psychological thrillers perhaps a longer story next time : )

my author page on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Carolyn-Ann-Vaughan-RN/e/B016ZDYFVA

My Kobo Books on sale

I have been notified that Kobo is having a sale and if you own a Kobo and would like to try my books WITS' END or Gerald's Wisdoms they are on for 50% off from Oct.28 at 12 am EST until Oct 31 11:59 pm EST

use the code 

CA50SALE at check out to receive 50% off at the Kobo store 

The little widget works if I search for my name

okay the little widget works in my previous post if I search for my name, it shows my two books
so I search Carolyn Ann Vaughan RN and low and behold up pops my two books. not bad

trying to work it out with the books

okay lets see if this little widget works. If it does one should be able to search for WITS' END which I think is the more fun of my two books, although I do admit I did like Gerald's Wisdoms too. but I really prefer "The Transfer" in the WITS' END book also I do think I have Kobo on board. I will know in a few hours.

My Second Book WITS' END is on ibooks

I have done it, I am quite excited about being able to publish my books on iBooks. I have a second one that went live this AM. I hope you will read it, and I especially hope you will review it. Reviews seem to be the key issue. I dont know if a certain threshold for reviews has to be reached before they are listed, but the reviews do seem to matter. 

I especially like the first of the two stories from WITS' END, It is called  "The Transfer " it is a story about an exhausted night nurse Selma Barclay RN. I enjoyed writing it and I think it would make a great reading for hallowe'en. It is available through iBooks and will shortly be available through Amazon kindle. I am still having issues with uploading to Kobo, I am not sure why.

Creating the covers of these publications is an easier job with Amazon Kindle I think because they have something called a "cover creator" I kind of wish Apple iBooks had something similiar.  I really do prefer the look of the covers on Amazon.

I am thrilled my first epub book Gerald's Wisdoms is live

What can I possibly say, I am delighted, thrilled. I have just published my very first epub on both Apple iBooks and Amazon Kindle store. I read. Reading is something I have done for many years. I mean, I really read. You know the kind of person who always has a book on the go.

I prefer mystery and suspense and my first  digitally published book is not that, it really is a series of conversations  Gerald has with Carolyn. Twelve conversations actually each on a different theme.

I like Gerald, he is a great old guy. He chews Red Man tobacco, drinks tea and sometimes sips home made moonshine. He wears rubber boots, and has red suspenders. Gerald is opinionated, has thoughts on just about everything and sometimes is even a bit wise.

This book is Book One because Gerald is not finished talking yet. Still, my next published book will be two short stories because they are closer to being finished. I like both of them. One is called "Alma Mae and the Computer" which will be dedicated to Dave because he really does have computer issues, and the other is more of a suspense called  "The Transfer"  about a night nurse and will be dedicated to all the hard working nurses in this world (and trust me they are that)

I think I can link here so you can find the Kindle book,  (it has a nicer cover -thanks to Amazon cover beta) I cannot find  an easy url for iBooks but I believe a search for Gerald's Wisdoms in the iBooks app will bring up the book. Do let me know if you find it, and if you care to purchase, yipee, but if not please read the free bits and give me an opinion -much thanks to you!

http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D2980423011&field-keywords=Gerald%27s+Wisdoms

Something needs to go here

It has been some time since I wrote anything on this blog site. What am I up to you ask?  Well I am pleased to say I have earned Google dollars, and I am in the process of writing content for digital books. I would then hope to offer them for sale on Kindle, or iTunes, or perhaps Kobo, maybe all three if that is permitted.

To move forward, I have completed a passport document- might travel south this winter. I have applied for a business name, I will know in a few days if my application has been successful. I have agreed to attend a guitar jam on Wednesday nights and begin next week, and I have applied to participate in a writing apprenticeship program.

In order to sell digital books I need to complete my sign in information by submitting bank account data, so far, I have been unsuccessful, but I continue to have hope that the glitches in the data base input program will get worked out. Apple finance has been graciously assisting me. These are the areas of interest I have been pursuing lately.

Do remember to subscribe to my blogs, and drop me a line when you see an area that interests you.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Virgin Mobile network.

Mysteries of the Maritimes

One of the mysteries of Nova Scotia is Oak Island. Interestingly enough, I have a distant relative by the name of Anthony who was involved in this little mystery. Then there is the story of Red Bridge pond, where the slaughter of settlers occurred, causing wailing sounds to be heard, on certain full moon nights, echoing off Millers mountain.

Mysteries and stories wouldn't be complete without the face of the priest in the window of Saint Paul's church. Apparently after the Halifax explosion a face appeared in the window and every time the window has been replaced it becomes black and the outline of a head appears

We cant forget the ghost of Maynard's Lake, as told to the children of Dartmouth by Mrs. McKnight, where a Micmac princess plunged to her death because she fell in love with a white settler and was banned from her village. And of course the UFO sightings along the Eastern shore. And the numerous  ghosts of Devils Island, Citadel hill and ghost ships of the South shore. Mysteries wouldn't be complete without the rumors of tunnels running out into the Atlantic.

The best of course is that Elvis Presley is alive and lives on the south mountain in Annapolis Valley and that Christ made an appearance at Tim Horton's in Cape Breton.

Sunken ships, buried treasures, massacres,UFO's, all part of the folk lore of the Maritimes. Of course all these events happened way before Facebook, instant messaging, and cell phones, so who knows maybe they are all fiction. However, I wouldn't suggest this to most of the folks living in Nova Scotia. We take our folk lore seriously.

Till next time

Guitars

Okay, maybe I should update this post. I am still trying to learn to play the guitar. I think I am getting better. I now own a seagull Performer, a Takamine, a Yamaha . I still would like Martin Dreadnought.  So off to work I go to earn the money to buy one.