Mystic Ink, Publisher of Spiritual, Shamanic, Transcendent Works, and Phantastic Fiction

Marla Miller, moderator, wrote for OC Register magazine before becoming founding editor-in-chief of an OC lifestyle magazine. In 1999, Simon and Schuster published her first book, All American Girls, the authorized biography of the World Cup/Gold Medal winning US Women’s National Soccer Team. Miller’s experience in traditional publishing inspired her to launch MarketingtheMuse Workshop at SBWC. Sh...

Podcasts & Audiobooks Lois Phillips, Yvette Keller, Claudia Dunn, Matthew J. Pallamary Audiobooks and podcasts are a fast-growing area of publishing. Join this team for an insightful seminar on how to accomplish the goals of getting your book and book promotion into the audible range.

Learn how to collect research, organize it, and develop a coherent narrative. Yvette Keller will introduce 8 successful authors telling research stories with time for Q&A and discussion. Yvette Keller writes fiction and is a working voice actor.

Caitlin Rother has authored 14 books. Her latest, Death on Ocean Boulevard: Inside the Coronado Mansion Case, which is in development for a TV limited series with Rother as executive producer, explores the mysterious death of 32-year-old Rebecca Zahau, who was found hanging from a second-floor balcony of her multimillionaire boyfriend’s San Diego mansion in 2011. An award-winning investigative jou...

Moderator, Perie Longo, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, 2007-2009, has published 4 books of poetry, the latest Baggage Claim (2014) and poems in numerous literary journals. This June was her 40th year teaching poetry at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. She’s thrilled and awed to be still poeting and standing. Paul Willis, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate 2011-2013 is an emeritus professor of English...

Book Marketing Magic & Authors Roundtable Brand your books, connect with your ideal readers and make your books stand out in the marketplace. Rachel Sarah Thurston and 5 successful authors who market successfully will share their experience and superpowers. Rachel Sarah Thurston, is the founder of State of Sparkle, Author Branding, Platform Building, and Book Marketing Coaching for Authors. Sh...

Book Marketing Magic & Authors Roundtable Brand your books, connect with your ideal readers and make your books stand out in the marketplace. Rachel Sarah Thurston and 5 successful authors who market successfully will share their experience and superpowers. Rachel Sarah Thurston, is the founder of State of Sparkle, Author Branding, Platform Building, and Book Marketing Coaching for Authors. Sh...

Publishing Options - A Deep Dive Patricia Marshall, Rick Shaw, Holly Kammier Three experts cover in depth both hybrid publishing and self-publishing. Learn what is really involved in hybrid publishing, cost, time, and result. Discover more about ala cart services as well as what is really required if you go solo.

Edgar Allan Poe Award–nominated author Paul Levine crafts thrillers where law, history, and moral courage collide. Whether it’s linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake Lassiter roaming Miami courtrooms or Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin battling fascists in Hollywood, Levine delivers suspense with heart and bite. Winner of the John D. MacDonald Fiction Award and nominee for the Edgar, Macavity, Internat...

Lorissa Rinehart is an author, cultural producer, and public speaker. Her writing explores women’s history, politics, war, and their points of intersection. Her debut book, First to the Front: The Untold Story of Dickey Chapelle, Trailblazing Female War Correspondent (St. Martin’s Press) has received rave reviews. She’s a TEDx speaker who’s appeared at the National Press Club, Friends of the Natio...

Moderator, Perie Longo, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, 2007-2009, has published 4 books of poetry, the latest Baggage Claim (2014) and poems in numerous literary journals. This June will be her 40th year teaching poetry at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. She’s thrilled and awed to be still poeting and standing. Melinda Palacio, current Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, is an award-winning writer. F...

Moderator: SBWC faculty member, Trey Dowell, is a novelist and a short story aficionado. His expertise in writing effective query letters has helped numerous writers get their projects reviewed by agents and publishers. Margaux Dunbar Hession is a funny, off-beat, award-winning writer of dark humor stories that balance darker subjects with audacious wit and off-the-wall scenarios, many inspired by...

Matthew J. Pallamary, moderator, is an award-winning writer, musician, and sound healer who’s been studying shamanism all his life. He has books covering several genres. His latest story collection is The Thinning Veil: 13 Twisted Tales. He explores how art imitates life and reflects our human condition. G. Brian Kurtz is an intuitively-guided medical empath, energy healer and author of Access the...

Demystifying Publishing Options with Patricia Marshall, Rick Shaw, and Holly Kammier. This session offers a working understanding of the range of publishing options, a useful checklist as to what you’ll need in any route to publication, and how to decide if self-publishing a good choice for you.

This seminar covers aspects of the traditional publishing process, how it works, how long it takes, dealing with rejections, contracts, publicity, platform building, blurbs, signings, podcasts, nominations, and more. SBWC faculty member Norm Thoeming (aka August Norman) is author of two literary thrillers and mysteries, Come and Get Me and Sins of the Mother . Andy Ross opened his literary agency...

W. Bruce Cameron is author of #1 New York Times, USA Today International bestselling novel A Dog’s Purpose. The Amblin/Universal film of the same name is the most successful international live-action dog movie of all time. His latest novel, Love, Clancy: Diary of a Good Dog is a deeply moving story with a brand-new cast of characters, including one very good dog and one disdainful cat. Told in Cam...

PLEASE ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF  Hi, I am your Death and I am here for you. No wait, don’t go! Aside from the fact that you can’t get away, I’m not here for you in that way, at least not now, although to be honest with you we do have a date and I am always with you whether you acknowledge me or not. Want to know when I am coming in that way? Sorry, I can’t tell you. It’s part of the Great...

Moderator, Perie Longo, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, 2007-2009, has published 4 books of poetry, the latest Baggage Claim (2014) and poems in numerous literary journals. This was her 40th year teaching poetry at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and she’s thrilled and awed to be still poeting and standing. Enid Osborn Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara 2017-2019, published When the Big Wind Comes,...

SBWC faculty member Norm Thoeming (aka August Norman) is author of two literary thrillers and mysteries, Come and Get Me and Sins of the Mother. Annie Bomke is a literary agent with more than a decade of experience in the publishing industry. She represents a wide range of projects from hard-nosed business books to otherworldly historical novels. Annie has loved the publishing industry since her i...

Shamanic Experiences on Coast to Coast AM February 17, 2025 Shamanic explorer  Matthew J. Pallamary  discussed the universal appeal and foundational significance of shamanism across cultures, including the use of ayahuasca. He pointed out similarities between South American indigenous beliefs and those found in various global religions, including the legend of the Great Flood. Calling sh...

ONE Jeanette Driscoll opened her sparkling blue eyes, stretched out on the bed, and brushed back her long blonde hair before resting her head on her husband Ted’s chest. Tall, sandy-haired, and blue-eyed like his wife, Ted’s muscular frame complemented her model’s figure. Their friends and Ted’s colleagues where he worked as head of research and development at Bliss Pharmaceuticals often referred...

Mary Otis is the author of Burst, longlisted for the 2024 Joyce Carol Oates Prize and winner of the 2023 Silver Medal in Literary Fiction from the Independent Book Publisher Awards. The moving debut novel explores the relationship complexities between mothers and daughters. She’s also the author of Yes, Yes Cherries, a collection of short stories author Lorrie Moore called “funny, brave and amazin...

David Starkey, Santa Barbara’s 2009-2011 Poet Laureate, Founding Director of the Creative Writing Program at SBCC, and the Publisher/Co-editor of Gunpowder Press, published 11 full length collections of poetry and more than 500 poems in literary journals. His novel Poor Ghost was released in March 2024. Emma Trelles Santa Barbara Poet Laureate 2021-2023, received an Established Artist Fellowship f...

Moderator Karen K. Ford, SBWC workshop leader, is an award-winning author of short fiction whose honors include top prizes from Narrative and bosque. Her work has been shortlisted for the Tobias Wolff Fiction Award and the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Prize and anthologized in Ginosko. Karen lives in Southern California, with her rescue mutt, Dude, where she is a freelance editor and writing coach...

The Art of the Query Trey Dowell is a novelist and a short story aficionado. His expertise in writing effective query letters has helped numerous writers get their projects reviewed by agents and publishers. In this presentation Trey focused on sparking curiosity and building anticipation. Proven query strategies and methods were discussed. Attendees brought their in-progress queries which were re...