Mystic Ink Publishing is focusing on works of a spiritual, shamanic, new age, or transcendent nature as well as dramatic works of Phantastic Fiction © in the paranormal genres of magical realism, horror, supernatural thrillers, and science fiction -Matthew J.

July 28, 2022

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Mystic Ink Publishing is focusing on works of a spiritual shamanic new age, or transcendent nature as well as dramatic works of Phantastic Fiction © in the paranormal genres of magical realism horror supernatural thrillers and science fiction -Matthew J.

Based in San Diego since 2000, Mystic Ink Publishing is an independent publisher focusing on works of a spiritual, shamanic, new age, or transcendent nature as well as Mystic Ink © in the paranormal genres of magical realism, horror, supernatural thrillers, and science fiction.

Mystic Ink founder Matthew J. Pallamary has over forty years of experience working in the publishing industry and is a multiple award winning writer. His works have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Norwegian, French, and German. His historical novel of first contact between shamans and Jesuits in 18th century South America, titled, Land Without Evil received rave reviews along with a San Diego Book Award for mainstream fiction. It was also adapted into a full-length stage and sky show, co-written with and directed by Agent Red and performed by Sky Candy, an Austin Texas aerial group. The making of the show was the subject of a PBS series, Arts in Context episode, which garnered an EMMY nomination.

Matt has eighteen books in print in multiple formats and his work has appeared in Oui, New Dimensions, The Iconoclast, Starbright, Infinity, Passport, The Short Story Digest, Redcat, The San Diego Writer’s Monthly, Connotations, Phantasm, Essentially You, The Haven Journal, The Hurricanes & Swan Songs Anthology, The Santa Barbara Literary Journal, The Closed Eye Open, The Montecito Journal, and many others. His fiction has been featured in The San Diego Union Tribune which he has also reviewed books for, and his work has been heard on KPBS-FM in San Diego, KUCI FM in Irvine, television Channel Three in Santa Barbara, and The Susan Cameron Block Show in Vancouver. He has been a guest on the following nationally syndicated talk shows; Coast to Coast with George Noory, Night Dreams Talk Radio, Paul Rodriguez, In The Light with Michelle Whitedove, Susun Weed, Medicine Woman, Inner Journey with Greg Friedman, and Environmental Directions Radio series. Matt has appeared on the following television shows; Bridging Heaven and Earth, Elyssa’s Raw and Wild Food Show, Things That Matter, Literary Gumbo, Indie Authors TV, and ECONEWS. He has also been a frequent guest on numerous podcasts, among them, The Psychedelic Salon, Black Light in the Attic, Third Eye Drops, C-Realm, Psychedelics Today, Voices in the Dark, Adventures Through the Mind, Beyond the Veil, and many others.

Matt received the Man of the Year Award from San Diego Writer’s Monthly Magazine and has taught a fiction workshop at the Southern California Writers’ Conference in San Diego, Palm Springs, and Los Angeles, and at the Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference for over thirty years. He has lectured at the Greater Los Angeles Writer’s Conference, the Getting It Write conference in Oregon, the Saddleback Writers’ Conference, the Rio Grande Writers’ Seminar, the National Council of Teachers of English, The San Diego Writer’s and Editor’s Guild, The San Diego Book Publicists, The Pacific Institute for Professional Writing, The 805 Writers Conference, The College of Central Florida, Yakima Valley College in Washington, The Yakima Public School System, and he has been a panelist at the World Fantasy Convention, Con-Dor, and Coppercon. He is presently Editor in Chief of Mystic Ink Publishing.

Matt was also a featured lecturer and performer at the Mysteries of the Amazon exhibit at the Appleton Museum in Ocala Florida and The Larson Gallery in Yakima Washington. He frequently visits the mountains, deserts, and jungles of North, Central, and South America pursuing his studies of shamanism.

Like the film and music industries, the publishing industry has been turned on its head with all of the innovations that rapidly advancing technology have made available to everyone, and all of the prior conventions that traditional publishing had in the past are for the most part no longer viable.

Publishing used to be centered in New York and literary agents were the gatekeepers to what would be published, but with instant downloading of e-books and audio books the archaic distribution paradigm of print editions, warehousing, and all the other expenses that used to be critical parts of the overall structure have been sidelined. Print on Demand referred to as POD, eliminates the cost of warehousing and significantly reduces shipping cost as production is decentralized, allowing for more local production.

Additionally, reviews in major newspapers could make or break a book, but those methods of printing and distributing news have also been eclipsed by the instant gratification of the internet. In today’s electronic world, Amazon reviews are what carry the most weight.

The younger generation that has been brought up with the internet have accelerated all of these trends and many of them do not read at all. This generation grew up seeing everything in graphic and video formats, which themselves have accelerated into what I call “attention span theater” to the point that what is arguably today’s most popular application is Tik-Tok, a video site with a three minute limit. This latest internet fad has spawned a whole new generation of Tik-Tok influencers, many of which have made substantial amounts of money. Some of these influencers review books and that endorsement can drive sales, and make or break a writer, or any other person or product for that matter.

The key to survival in this rapidly changing, ever shifting environment is adaptability. The competition in the publishing field is intense to begin with as anybody can publish a book now, regardless of quality or experience. In the greater reality of the internet, there are an infinite number of print, audio, video, graphics, virtual reality, web sites, Twitter, Instagram, apps, etc. etc. All of these things competing for every web browser’s attention have practically become schizophrenic in its rapidly changing items that scream for attention in the online world.

Mystic Ink had a little bit of a head start as its first few titles were originally published traditionally, which brought with it an already established fan base.

As technology has rocketed forward, Mystic Ink Publishing has added e-books, and audiobooks to its print repertoire, which makes them instantly available worldwide. Audiobooks have become a substantial part of Mystic Ink’s revenue, which allows nonreaders access and, it brings with it portability which allows people to listen while traveling to work, or on long trips.

In line with these trends podcasts, which have the same versatility as audiobooks have become a major, very productive promotional tool, especially when the show has a popular host with a large following. With every podcast comes a new audience that most likely have not heard about what you have to offer.

Mystic Ink has also created short book trailers on its own YouTube Channel to get the attention of the video oriented web surfers. Here is Mystic Ink’s primary marketing video.

Mystic Ink has also created its own podcast that contains interviews from other podcasts and radio shows, samples of audiobooks, short stories, and its ongoing Voices of the Masters series from some of the twentieth century’s greatest writers when they spoke at the legendary Santa Barbara Writers Conference.

https://mystic-ink.captivate.fm/

By embracing all of these new innovations, aside from its traditional print editions, Mystic Ink Publishing now has a foothold in the audio and video worlds, making its titles available in one way or another that can be seen in all the present popular electronic formats for the greatest accessibility. The Mystic Ink publishing web site is tied in with all of this. It has a contact form for new visitors on its landing page which puts them on the Mystic Ink mailing list where all new podcasts, videos, product releases, and all other media are sent to subscriber’s email accounts to keep them apprised of the latest developments. All on line should be continuously updated with new content on a regular basis to keep posts fresh, relevant, and up to date.

Driven by technology, everything appears to be moving faster and faster which is why flexibility and adaptability are the only way to keep up and survive. The fact that anybody can publish anything regardless of quality or relevance, is a double edged sword, because all of the instantaneous publication with all of its versatility muddies the waters with even more things of dubious qualities trying to get your already overwhelmed attention in an overly cluttered world of sight and sound.

It is one thing to write, edit, and publish a book, and an entirely different matter when it comes to promoting it and trying to find an audience who will even pay attention. Marketing takes considerable time, so anyone who does not want to spend that time will fail miserably, because no one will buy your work if they don’t know that it exists Competing in today’s overwhelming online reality of attention span theater, attempts at getting noticed are exponentially compounded with everything else that is trying to do the same thing.

With all of the avenues and formats available today in an online market which has been stimulated even more by pandemic induced isolation, the market has become even more saturated and diluted, making getting noticed even more challenging. If you are not fully committed to what you have to offer, do not bother expending your time and energy in an overly crowded field.

Anything less will only bring disappointment.