Books in hand!

After years of research, writing, editing and preparation MY BOOKS HAVE ARRIVED! 

Early release paperback and hardcover copies (printed prior to receiving the professional reviews) of my historical fiction novel Cat’s Café are available now; hardcover copies, paperbacks and digital copies should be available at bookstores and Amazon after Christmas. I am so happy! 

So, you can order a copy of my book directly from me right now. And since ordering from me avoids the retailers, I can offer a lower price. I’ve learned a lot about this whole process!

·       Self-published books by new authors are generally printed on demand and include a publisher’s markup. My 326-page novel will be listed at $26.99 for a paperback or $38.99 for a hardcover when ordered from the publisher. I can sell the pre-review paperbacks from my advance shipment for $22.50 including shipping and packaging.

·      Book sellers can sell the book for whatever price they set. Major book sellers will often discount the book below the list price and I will get a small, agreed upon Net Royalty regardless of the price they choose. 

·      The lowest book price is on my direct sales. I can sell the same books for $22.50 (paperback) and $33.50 (hardcover) including shipping, handling, and sales tax. You will have a personalized copy of my book with my signature. My hope is that getting books in people’s hands before it is out for public distribution will create more interest in my novel when it is finally available in bookstores.

If you haven’t checked out my website recently, www.rallsmelotte.com, I have been posting articles about the real historical events and people introduced in my fictional account of the birth of Eagle Rock, Idaho, the town that is presently known as Idaho Falls. This is just the first book of this trilogy whose characters — romantic, raucous, and ruthless — live through many of the events of the decade prior to the Idaho territory becoming a state. The West was going through a major transition from vast stretches of frightening, empty wilderness to an exciting final destination for individuals who wanted to find wealth and independence not available to them in the eastern United States.

The trilogy centers on the lives, loves, and ambitions of its characters, set amidst the influence of the Mormons and their adherence to polygamy, the expansion of the railroads, the effects of the multiple Homestead Acts, the relations and treatment of the Native Americans, attempts at Law and Order at a time where everyone had at least one firearm, the politics of the early Feminist Movement, and the efforts to turn the vast high desert of central Idaho into profitable agricultural land through the introduction of large scale canal systems.

What was happening in the West was just one example of how the USA changed from a somewhat backwater nation of primarily subsistence farmers after the Civil War to a world power by the early 1900s.

I hope you will enjoy reading this story as much as I have enjoyed researching and writing it. For more information, visit www.rallsmelotte.com, or e-mail me directly at rallsmelotteauthor@rallsmelotte.com. I hope to hear from you, and please do tell other historical fiction fans who like a good story. I think they’ll like this one.