I have many stories to tell about my time on the Police force. I have often thought about
getting some sort of recorder to dictate these stories into and maybe write a book.

Has anyone ever done this, and how difficult would it be?

Mike Dippel

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Mike Dippel wrote:

I have many stories to tell about my time on the Police force. I have often thought about getting some sort of recorder to dictate these stories into and maybe write a book.
Has anyone ever done this, and how difficult would it be?

Amazon Books is full of people self-publishing on every topic under the
sun. There's an audience for everything (tho finding the paying audience
is largely a matter of luck). True Life stories is a solid genre.

The main way to get a book written is to actually write it. If you're
better at talking into a mic than typing it out, then that's the way to
go, perhaps with a transcription program like Dragon Naturally Speaking
to do the grunt work. (There are others, that's just the name I know off
the top of my head.)

So yes, if you've got stories to tell, you should tell them, publish
them, and if you're lucky you might make a few pennies from it. If not,
at the very least your stories will be preserved.

For true-life stories you probably don't need to hire an editor (which
starts at about $300 per 100,000 words), tho it's good to have beta
readers to catch typos and the like.

Thanks to Amazon and other self-publishing outlets, you no longer need a traditional dead-tree publisher (and besides, their contracts suck).

Do NOT get sucked into some outfit that charges you to "develop" your
book; those are vanity publishers, and make their money mostly from
fleecing authors.

[However if you do hire an editor, here's my shingle. :)

Anyway, yes! Go for it!!
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On 2/17/2023 2:27 PM, Ky Moffet wrote to Mike Dippel:

Mike Dippel wrote:

I have many stories to tell about my time on the Police force. I have often
thought about getting some sort of recorder to dictate these stories into and
maybe write a book.
Has anyone ever done this, and how difficult would it be?

Amazon Books is full of people self-publishing on every topic under the sun. There's an audience for everything (tho finding the paying audience
is largely a matter of luck). True Life stories is a solid genre.

The main way to get a book written is to actually write it. If you're better at talking into a mic than typing it out, then that's the way to
go, perhaps with a transcription program like Dragon Naturally Speaking
to do the grunt work. (There are others, that's just the name I know off the top of my head.)

So yes, if you've got stories to tell, you should tell them, publish
them, and if you're lucky you might make a few pennies from it. If not,
at the very least your stories will be preserved.

For true-life stories you probably don't need to hire an editor (which starts at about $300 per 100,000 words), tho it's good to have beta
readers to catch typos and the like.

Thanks to Amazon and other self-publishing outlets, you no longer need a traditional dead-tree publisher (and besides, their contracts suck).

Do NOT get sucked into some outfit that charges you to "develop" your
book; those are vanity publishers, and make their money mostly from fleecing authors.

[However if you do hire an editor, here's my shingle. :)

One of my former Sgts. from way back when ( I've been retired for 20 years now ) has
written a couple of books. I will probably contact him to see his process. Here is a page
detailing one of his books:
http://www.police-writers.com/gary_jones.html

He was a great supervisor, and apparently has a gift for writing. Not sure I have the
same ability, but I can get a lot of laughs when I tell my stories.

We'll see.

Mike Dippel

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Mike Dippel wrote:

On 2/17/2023 2:27 PM, Ky Moffet wrote to Mike Dippel:

One of my former Sgts. from way back when ( I've been retired for 20 years now
) has written a couple of books. I will probably contact him to see his process. Here is a page detailing one of his books: http://www.police-writers.com/gary_jones.html

Good idea.

He was a great supervisor, and apparently has a gift for writing. Not sure I have the same ability, but I can get a lot of laughs when I tell my stories.

The big trick is to write like you speak, rather than trying to make it
sound "perfect". Funny police stories are always popular. Go for it!
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