The launch is to be held at the Coolamon Cultural Centre (the old art gallery) on Tumbulgum Road in Murwillumbah from 2-4pm. Everyone is welcome to attend and entry is free. The book is available to purchase on the day and there will be book signing, afternoon tea and giveaways. The launch is being held in conjunction with Murwillumbah bookstore Heidi’s Place, recently under new management.

No Ordinary Excuse is published by Odyssey books (www.odysseybooks.com.au) for 9-12 year old readers.

About the book:
Twelve year old Gemma Martin wants to be an actress, but school is getting in the way. Gemma has used all of the usual excuses to avoid her homework, but this time she’s facing serious consequences and must rely on her vivid imagination to create the most extraordinary homework excuse ever.

Initially, Gemma’s story skyrockets her popularity, but it isn’t long before things start to spiral out of control and Gemma is headed for disaster. No Ordinary Excuse is the story of how our biggest mistakes are often our greatest teachers.

About Michelle:
Michelle Adams has lived in the Tweed Valley for 16 years and has been an active local advocate for the region’s creative arts. Michelle currently hosts a youth writers’ group through Tweed Shire Council and plans to commence adult writers’ workshops in Murwillumbah in Term 2. To register your interest, please contact Michelle through her website www.michelleadams.com.au

Description

‘I put on my imaginary thinking cap. Mine is a hot pink, domed helmet with purple lightning bolts on the sides. It pulls down from a long spring coil above my bed… So with my cap in place, I started thinking of possible homework excuses. Maybe I could tell Miss Haven that I’d spent the last two weeks under alien hypnosis and they’d erased any memory of a school project…’

Meet twelve year old Gemma Martin. She wants to be an actress, but school is getting in the way. Gemma has used all of the usual excuses to avoid her homework, but this time she’s facing serious consequences and must rely on her vivid imagination to create the most extraordinary homework excuse ever. Initially, Gemma’s stolen project story skyrockets her popularity, but it isn’t long before things start to spiral out of control and Gemma is headed for disaster. No Ordinary Excuse is the story of how our biggest mistakes are often our greatest teachers.

Delivery to you is subject to Australia Post delivery schedules and delays by Australia Post are outside of our control. More information on can be found on the Australia Post website.

Drop in and say hello. Clay will be around during the launch party to answer questions or just to chat.

***

The Beatles sang “All you need is love”, but whatever happened to sex, drugs and rock’n’roll?

For one young Sydney musician, life is like a shooting star – fast and beautiful. He has unparalleled talent, a record contract with his band, and after fleeting relationships with a parade of gorgeous girls, he has finally met the enigmatic girl of his dreams. But love isn’t always written with four chords and a major key, and soon he finds himself heartbroken in his very own fairytale.

Shooting Stars is touching, raw, humorous and sexual, guided by a motley group of youths inspired by the messages of famous musicians. Our hero learns that love often only exists in the gaps between us, almost within reach. With this in mind, he sets out to make his mark and climb to a dazzling height. From there, the fall will look spectacular.

“The album had to be perfect, because it was my ticket back to her, the key to my plan. I began to think that my whole life had been leading me to this piece of music. All my years of musical training, excessive partying and brotherly adventures had all been just a prelude to a boy convincing a girl that he loved her, and that would be enough.”

***

WIN! All participating guests will be entered in a draw to win 1 of 5 ebook copies of Shooting Stars, plus we will be running a separate competition for an autographed print copy of the book.

Just tell us about your wildest nightclub experience, and get your friends to vote. The story with the most “Likes” wins!

When: from 7pm, Wednesday 14 December thru 10pm, Sunday 18 December.
Where: Facebook

This is why we’ve put together this IndieHolidaySampler (PDF, 13.8mb). Featured within are excerpts from terrific books crafted by some of our Odyssey authors, and we’ve also included titles by independently published authors such as Sarah Holroyd, Alex Shaw, Steven W. Johnson, Stephanie Kilburger, Dune Elliot, Nancy L. Hill, Dave King, Fiona Place, and Elizabeth Tyrrell.

Each excerpt is prefaced by information about the book and its author, and clickable links to several online retailers.

From each of the authors featured in this sampler, we wish you the very best for this holiday season.

Unlike other author publishing services, we have a focus on developing a mentoring relationship with our authors. Not only do we polish your manuscript and design stunning book pages, we can guide you through distribution and promotion opportunities, navigate the world of social networking, and demystify publishing industry terminology and processes.

If you would like to work with us on your voyage to publication, contact us today!
 
Editing & Proofreading
We offer editing and proofreading services with fast turnaround times at reasonable prices. Our editing rates are based on word count, so you can work out the cost of having your manuscript edited before proceeding.

Correction of grammar, misspelled/misused words, punctuation, syntax and incorrect structure.
We make suggestions where we see opportunity for improvement in subject matter and terminology, order of layout and presentation of data.
Proofreading is included with all editing.

 
Book Design & Typesetting
Good book layout is more than just typing your manuscript in Word and saving it in PDF format for your printer. Choosing the right fonts, line spacing, kerning, margins, bleeds, page numbering, and getting headers and footers to work properly can be problem areas for the self-published author. Do you have lots of images in your book, bullet lists, info boxes, fancy page decorations or other formatting requirements? Let us take care of your book layout for professional, striking results.
 
Customised Cover Design
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but we all know the cover is often the first thing a reader sees before deciding to pick it up.

Whether you supply images for your cover, or we find them for you, we will create an elegant or dynamic, eye-catching cover design.

No templates! We create all our designs from scratch, ensuring you have a truly unique cover for your book.
 
eBook Publishing
Due to the growing popularity of eBook readers such as the Kindle, Nook, Kobo and iPad, eBook sales have begun to exceed  paperback sales around the world. Your novel or non-fiction book can join in this revolution with our eBook conversion services. We will provide fully tested eBook files in ePub (Nook, Kobo, iPad) and .mobi (Kindle) formats, as well as resized cover images to be used as thumbnails in the various eBook online stores.
 
Promotional Bookmarks, Postcards & Posters
Receive professionally designed full-colour promotional materials, ready for your favourite printer, or we can arrange printing for you. Using your book’s cover art and sales information, this printed material will be ready to hand out to potential readers, fans and buyers.

Distribute your promotional materials at industry events such as book fairs and trade shows
Use them in your direct mail campaigns
Include them with any merchandise you give away or sell in person

 
Custom WordPress Author Websites
Self-published authors need a platform – an online home – where they can promote and sell their books. While seeing your book on the shelves of your favourite bookstore is a thrill all authors should enjoy, the reality is more readers are looking online to discover and buy new titles.

A WordPress blog is an ideal way to build a fan base, by allowing readers to glimpse the lives of their favourite authors – or their favourite book’s characters. Blogs are a versatile and easy to maintain platform, even for those who don’t have web design skills.

Social networking, such as Facebook and Twitter, is also very easy to integrate into a WordPress website and can expand your reach to your fanbase.
 
Printing
We can assist with selecting the best printer or print-on-demand (POD) service for your needs, and ensure that your files meet the specific requirements of the chosen printer.
 
Contact us to discuss your project needs or to obtain a quote.

What types of book do you publish?

A lot of publishers specialise in certain genres, topics or formats. Because we’re a young company, right now almost anything goes, as long as we like it enough to publish it. Yep, this includes novellas, experimental or remixed lit, full-length novels and general non-fiction. First publication rights only.

What don’t you publish?

Explicit sex or porn, gratuitous violence, or anything that expresses hate or racism. No exceptions.

We don’t publish children’s picture books, books containing overt religious themes, or self-help titles. We’re also no longer accepting poetry unless we do a call-out for anthology submissions.

Do I need an agent?

We like to deal with writers on an individual basis, so it’s not required that you approach us through an agent. Direct submissions are very welcome.

How do I submit my manuscript to you?

Odyssey incorporates green business practices as much as possible, as we are all too aware of the amount of paper waste that is produced by the book publishing industry. Therefore, we do not accept paper submissions, and you should submit your query via our online submission form. Do not submit via email. Email submissions will be deleted unread.

Please don’t submit your entire manuscript, just the first three or four consecutive chapters of your book will do nicely.

How should my manuscript be formatted for submission?

Times New Roman, 12pt, double-spaced in .rtf or .doc formats (not .docx)

Do you pay an advance?

We don’t pay advances, but we have a higher than standard royalty program.

Do I have to pay any fees to publish with you?

No. If we offer you a publishing contract, there are no fees involved. Ever. However, we do have a fee-for-service publishing studio for those authors who decide to self-publish and need a little help. See more under Custom Publishing.

An extended adventurous voyage;
An intellectual or spiritual quest.

Books are always a journey. They take readers into new places, with new people; or show them familiar places cast with a new light. And writers know that the creative journey can be as long and uncertain as it is exciting.

We at Odyssey live for the adventures that books provide. We’re not afraid to take risks with new ideas and new writers; together, we create unique and beautiful books. Exploring new worlds and new concepts excites us, so much so that we’ll consider most genres, topics and formats. Our publications include full-length novels, novellas, non-fiction, chapbooks and remixed lit.

If you would like to work with us on your voyage to publication, please visit our Submissions page.

Do you get excited about DIY? We also have a custom publishing studio, for those authors who embrace a DIY ethos but want an experienced companion to join them on their journey. Please visit our Custom Publishing page for more information.

Odyssey Books is proud to be an active member of the Small Press Underground Networking Community