Dear Friends of The Last Open Road:

As many of you know, The Last Open Road was originally turned down by many publishers before my wife and I finally took out a second mortgage and published it ourselves in July of 1994. Thanks to great reviews in the motoring press and unbelievable word-of-mouth support from people like you who read and enjoyed it, we were able to sell out two printings (over 11,000 copies!) and attracted the attention of well-respected New York publishing house St. Martin's Press, who released a slightly revised "mainstream" version of the book in May of 1998.

We thought we were home free...

But, now that the sequel is done (and it's as good as the original, I promise you) we've come to realize that we did a better job of marketing and promoting the first book than the "real" publisher. So, after a lot of soul searching and more than a few sleepless nights, we've decided to grit our teeth and go back into the publishing business for book #2 (and, if possible, buy back the rights to the original novel to complete the package). Believe me, we agonized over it, because we knew how much work was involved and how much money had to be laid out before the first book could be sold. To be honest, it looked like a mountain we might never be able to climb.

And then I had a wild idea. Why not turn to the type of funding that has almost universally supported both the fine arts and most forms of motor racing over the past 25 years:

I don't believe it's ever been done before, but we've decided to include an advertising supplement and sponsor list in every copy of MONTEZUMA'S FERRARI. This should add up to more than a "feel good" deal for our commercial sponsors, as advertisers will reach out to 15,000+ loyal, enthusiastic, high demographic, motorsports-oriented readers and fans of The Last Open Road, targeting a highly focused niche market filled with genuine business opportunities. Plus there's staying power. Unlike periodicals that wind up on the shelf in a few short weeks, people tend to hang onto favorite books like The Last Open Road, reread them from time to time, and pass them along to friends. Think about it...