TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

John Cullum reads the famous poem.

We made this video sometime ago. Each year we enjoy watching and hearing it again, and again -- like children, delighting in the way John tells the famous words.

CULLUM ON "CIRCLE OF IVY" A FAT LADY

John reads the opening chapter of Emily Frankel's novel, which bluntly, realistically tells the story of a fat lady jeopardizing her life by excessive dieting.

Click, get a free copy--CIRCLE OF IVY" (it's free till Dec 18th)

AUTHOR MOAN

Hey, almost nobody is buying my e-books -- my six novels are just sitting on emilyfrankel.com.

Why?                                                                                                              
 why?                     

Why?

Gee, the titles are good, book-covers are good!! The plots -- gee -- they're very good stories. My writing has been praised by critics ... Lotta friends on Facebook and Twitter read my blog ; they say they like my ideas, my humor, my honesty. Why aren't they buying a book?

The $2.99 price is too high?

I dug up facts hoping to comfort myself. According to Pew Research: One out of 10 American adults, 72 percent of adults, read some kind of book last year. That's a steep decline from 1978, when 92 percent of Americans made that same claim. But when e-books exploded into popularity -- driven by the launch of the Kindle in 2007, the Nook in 2009 -- books sales jumped from $61.3 million to $1.54 billion, and  e-books accounted for an increasingly large share of the total trade revenue. Pew and Gallup say the revenue from e-books has been "flattening" -- end of last year e-books totaled $1.37 billion and accounted for not quite 20 percent of total revenue.

Numbers dumberate me! LOUDLY I'm moaning -- I am, I am -- I don't write novels to study percentages, market shares, I don't really care about money.

Okay, audiobooks are getting popular. Researchers said they accounted for the strongest portion of adult book sales in  2015, bringing in $205.6 million, a 38.9 percent increase from 2014. My husband, John Cullum, who has a voice that thousands of fans love, wants to record my books.

Hey ho, haha -- I haven't been able to sell my e-books! Even with Cullum's name, the same thing will happen with audiobooks. Gee -- if I could just get my books in a store window, I'd post this sign.

Hey, here's a video that a critic who wrote a book published. It sums up my moan perfectly.

A PRINTED HOUSE FOR XMAS?

Yep, a 3D Printer can build a Printed House in 45 days, or 24 hours.

Here's tech talk about this 3D Printed House in China, and its thick, strong walls that can withstand a major earthquake.


In the next video, you can see more details, and watch a 3D Printer layering on cement like it's decorating a birthday cake. I'm not sure what the boss-owner of this 3D Printing Company is talking about with excited gestures, but he's obviously proud that 10 houses were built in 24 hours.



It's amazing -- the 3D Printer, amazingly economically, can create different style houses, and the basic cost for any of these houses is about $4800.  

A Double House

A Sun Room.

Golly, maybe 3D Printers will help solve the problems of the world's expanding population, and homelessness. My husband and I could even build a house in the courtyard behind our home -- maybe a tiny house like Texan Alex Le Roux built -- an 8 x 5 x 7 foot structure. We could paint its 7 x 4 square-foot interior bright pink and orange!

I'm already wondering whom I could contact about local 3D Printers, builders, permits -- an extra space would be wowy wonderful!!! I could have it ... well, probably not for Xmas, but maybe for New Year's. 


Hey, it's the wishing time of year. What about a castle?

There's a guy in Minnesota who built himself a castle in his backyard. I must say it would be lovely to have an Andrey Rodenko castle on our premises -- bet I'd write lovelier, better blogs.