Mystic Ink Publishing Voices of the Masters Series - Santa Barbara Writers Conference 2024 - Agents Panel
Mystic Ink, Publisher of Spiritual, Shamanic, Transcendent Works, and Phantastic FictionShow Notes
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 internship at Zoetrope: All-Story, a literary magazine founded by Francis Ford Coppola. She once managed a rare bookstore and had a brief stint as a technical writer. Authors have called her the pH test for good writing, and a bedrock for literary quality control. Elizabeth Kracht joined Kimberley Cameron & Associates in 2010 and is the author of The Author’s Checklist: An Agent’s Guide to Developing and Editing Your Manuscript. She represents both literary and commercial fiction, as well as nonfiction. She’s compelled by multicultural themes and strong settings. She represents literary, commercial, women’s, thrillers, mysteries, historical, and crossover YA. In nonfiction, she’s interested in high concept, health, science, environment, prescriptive, investigative, true crime, voice- or adventure-driven memoir, sexuality, spirituality, and animal/pet stories. Dana Newman is an LA-based independent literary agent representing authors of practical and narrative nonfiction and literary and upmarket fiction. She’s interested by authors with smart, unique perspectives who’re committed to actively marketing and promoting their books. A favorite genre is literary nonfiction: true stories, well told, that read like a compelling novel. She’s also an attorney, focusing on publishing law and contracts. Before founding her literary agency, she worked as in-house counsel in the entertainment industry. Jonah Straus is the founder of Straus Literary in San Francisco. He specializes in literary fiction, often with an international or multicultural outlook, as well as journalism, history, narrative nonfiction, and the culinary arts. Jonah got his start at Atrium Publishers Group, an independent book distributor in Northern California, and went on to hold positions in production, editorial, sales, and marketing at several publishers in the San Francisco Bay Area. He established Straus Literary in 2007 and moved the agency to San Francisco in 2013. Andy Ross opened his literary agency in 2008. He was the owner of the legendary Cody’s Books in Berkeley for 30 years before switching careers. His agency represents books in a wide range of nonfiction genres. He looks for writing with a strong voice, robust story arc, and books that tell a big story about culture and society by authors with the authority to write about their subject. In fiction, he likes character and voice-driven stories about real people in the real world.
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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. She works with writers on the road to publication. Rachel Sarah Thurston, is the founder of State of Sparkle, Author Branding, Platform Building, and Book Marketing Coaching for Authors. She has 24 years of experience in event promotion, website design, marketing, accountability coaching, writing, photography, video editing, social media, music/entertainment, and communications. She’s been involved with the SBWC for 22 years and holds a master’s in professional writing from the University of Southern California. Lida Sideris writes soft-boiled mysteries and was a winner of the Helen McCloy Mystery Writers of America scholarship award. The third installment in her Southern California Mystery series, Murder: Double or Nothing will be released in June by Level Best Books. She’s also wrote The Cookie Eating Fire Dog, a picture book for ages 4-8. She lives in the northern tip of SoCal with her family, rescue dogs and a flock of uppity chickens. She teaches “Be Your Own Best Publicist” at SBWC with Melinda Palacio. Lisa Angle, earned a master’s degree in computer-based education from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Her self-published historical novel, Whiskey and Old Stogies, landed on the long list for the 2021 MARK TWAIN Book Awards for Humor and Satire. She likes to combine her writing skill and tech knowledge in helping writers complete their writing projects and build their author platforms. She offers developmental editing for novels and memoirs as well as helping writers expand their online presence with websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and video. Melinda Palacio is an award-winning poet, author, and speaker. She’s the current Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara. Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, she holds 2 degrees in Comparative Literature, a BA from the UC Berkeley and an MA from UC Santa Cruz. She’s a 2007 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow and a 2009 poetry alum of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Her latest poetry collection is Bird Forgiveness, 2018. She is a master of author self-promotion. Rick Shaw is a recently retired technologist, data scientist, and is now a full-time writer and author of two novels he self-published. In addition to writing, editing, designing and mastering the art of the various publication platforms, he makes public appearances promoting his novels. He exemplifies the successful do-it-all-yourself published author. He consults during the week of the conference, helping writers to decide if self-publishing is their best option, and, if so, what is needed to accomplish this.
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 journalist, Rother weaves stunning new details into a personal, yet objective, examination of the sensational case, exploring its many layers.
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 at Westmont College. His poems, stories, and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and he’s been featured on Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac and nominated five times for a Pushcart Prize. His YA Elizabethan time-travel novel, All in a Garden Green, was released in 2020.