A Creekside Café Chat with Michael Gatti of Schlogastic Books

Schlogastic Books

Welcome to my virtual café Michael Gatti. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to drop by my virtual cafe. I’m so glad to have you here even if it’s not in person.

Michael: Hey Sherri great to be here thank you for having me!

Sherri: You are much more than a writer. I thought I was busy, but you have me beat. You have your own publishing company and your own YouTube channel. What other business projects do you have going on?

Michael: Well it all kind of falls under the same branch. But aside from helping folks self-publish and social media I’m writing my books and making a video game through the software called RPG maker MV.

Sherri: Let’s break it down tell me about your publishing company, you help people get through the Schlog of self-publishing. So, what do you offer? Why would I want to come to you versus doing it all myself? And believe me, I’ve done it all myself. UGH!Michael: I’ve been doing this for years now and my assistance comes from learning from my mistakes.  Self publishing isn’t easy and it’s expensive.  What I provide is a very low price for editing your manuscript,  I am connected to a network of artists that are willing to discount their services for book covers for you, and I will help promote the best I can and advise. I will also help with formatting because that is actually a part of publishing people don’t realize is a very important thing.

Sherri: I’ve started following you on YouTube. Tell our audience about your YouTube Channel and your Patreon page. What do you offer writers? Who would be your perfect client?

Michael: On YouTube I offer brief 3-7 minute videos usually covering a variety of self publishing topics (sometimes I just promote things hahaha) And on Patreon for $1 I offer a monthly newsletter with great tips and tricks and for $5 I offer unlimited editing with no additional charges. So my customer base for that would be someone who either writes a lot of books a year they would save a lot on editing because it’s just $5 a month and people who have written but never published and don’t know how to get started.

Sherri: You do professional editing. How did you get started editing? What certifications and credentials do you have? Do you do line editing or are you a content editor, or do you help with developing the plot?

Michael: I started offering editing services last fall and experience is the main credential I have.  I have been writing books forever at this point.  I also went to school to be an elementary school teacher so that has also given me the knowledge of our language required for such an endeavor.  My editing services are purely grammatical.  I will offer my opinion on story and plot but that’s not my area.

Sherri: You lead or are a member of several groups online, would you tell us about them and what they do?

Michael: Yeah, you know when I started giving Twitter a try and my follower base built I found myself involved in the #writingcommunity what that # is for, it’s a group of us promoting and lifting each other up. There’s also the shameless promo chat I am in and that I met you from, which is similar to the # but we have gotten to know each other and have become friends and the chat we guarantee promotion of each other.

Sherri: But even with all of this, you are an author too, tell us about your book Earth’s Best Friends.

Michael: Earth’s Best Friends is a culmination of a lot of different ideas I’ve had in my entire life going back to childhood. I am heavily inspired by the MCU, a connected universe, so within my book you follow multiple heroes and villains and as you read you see this greater event unfold.  I have Part One available now and Part Two should be available by Christmas. And I’m not stopping at two.

Sherri: Have you always enjoyed writing?

Michael: Oh yes. It may sound corny, but I was born for writing. 

Sherri: How did you get started writing?

Michael: As long as I can remember I was always making up special stories for my friends, toys, sister, I have been a writer even before I knew how to write on paper.

Sherri: Who has most influenced your writing? Your business?

Michael: Writing I am inspired by a variety of Saturday morning cartoons, Disney movies, and of course Marvel. If I were to pick writers I love I’d say Stan Lee, Lewis Carrol, Friz Freleng, Bob McKimson, Kurt Vonnegut, and Chuck Palahniuk.

Sherri: What do you hope a client or fellow writer learns from their experience with you?

Michael: The bottom line is I hope I improve their chances for success and hope they know not to make the mistakes I’ve made in the past.

Sherri: Thank you for stopping by my Creekside Café, if you are ever on the Carolina Coast, stop by, I’ll show you the spot where I dream of having my café.

Michael: Sounds good, thank you again for having me!

Sherri: If you enjoyed this interview follow you can follow Michael on social media his links are below or check out his book, Earth’s Best Friends.

http://www.earthbestfriends.com/

https://Facebook.com/Schlogasticbooks

https://Instagram.com/Schlogasticbooks

https://YouTube.com/Schlogasticbooks

https://Patreon.com/Schlogasticbooks