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.