A Book That Explains Your Advice Before the First Meeting
Prospects can’t see the difference between you and the advisor down the street until they sit down with you. A book shows them first, in your words.
Dictate is a book-writing service for financial advisors, planners and wealth managers. You talk with an AI interviewer by phone for up to 15 hours; we write a full nonfiction book from your own words, in your voice, delivered in a format your compliance department can review and mark up. You own 100% of the book and its royalties. Our goal is a finished manuscript in 4 to 8 weeks, at your pace.
The trust problem every advisor has
Your prospects are deciding who to trust with their retirement, and most of them can’t judge investment skill. They judge whether you explain things clearly, whether your philosophy makes sense to them, and whether you seem like someone who will still pick up the phone in a bad market.
A book answers all three before the first meeting. It is your planning philosophy, your process and the questions you hear every week, written in the way you actually talk to clients.
What a book does for an advisory practice
Advisors use a book as a working tool, not a vanity project.
- A leave-behind that outlasts the meeting, and a reason for a prospect to call you back.
- Referrals from CPAs and estate attorneys, who are more comfortable sending clients to the advisor who wrote the book.
- Seminars and workshops: the book is the outline, the handout and the follow-up gift.
- Client education: fewer repeated explanations, better conversations in review meetings.
- Positioning that supports your fee, because you are visibly the specialist in your niche.
Compliance is part of the plan, not an afterthought
If you are registered with a broker-dealer, FINRA generally treats a book you distribute to prospects as a communication with the public, which means principal review before use. If you are with an RIA, the SEC Marketing Rule governs testimonials and any performance you present. Either way, your compliance team will want to read the manuscript, and they should.
Dictate writes for that review from the first chapter. Your book explains principles and process, not product recommendations or projected returns. You get the manuscript as editable Word files, so compliance can comment line by line, and changes they ask for go back into the book before you approve it. Plan for their review time when you set a launch date.
Why advisors choose an interview-based book
You explain the same ideas in every first meeting, so the material already exists. What doesn’t exist is a year of evenings to write it down. In phone interviews you say it the way you say it to clients, and the book is written from those words. It sounds like you because it is you.
How the interview process works
Your part is talking and reviewing. Everything else is done for you, remotely.
A strategy call
We talk about who the book is for, what it needs to do for you, and what you already have: talks, notes, articles, recordings. We confirm the scope of your book on the call.
Research before you talk
Before your first interview, Dictate researches you and your field, so the questions start where your expertise starts instead of at the basics.
Phone interviews with Silas
You talk with Silas, our AI interviewer, by phone at times you choose, usually once or twice a week. Up to 15 hours of conversation in total. No writing and no homework.
Chapters from your own words
Chapters are written from your interview transcripts as you go, in your voice. Nothing is invented: every story and claim comes from you or your uploaded material.
You review and approve
You read every chapter in your author portal, leave notes and approve it. A sentence only you can confirm, like a date or a number, is flagged for you to check.
Ready to publish
You get print-ready and ebook files, a custom cover, Amazon copy and an Author’s Toolkit, set up to publish in your own accounts.
A realistic timeline
Our goal is your finished manuscript in 4 to 8 weeks. Your interview and review pace sets the timeline, so a busy month moves it and a free week speeds it up.
- Week 1Strategy call, research on you and your field, and your first interview.
- Weeks 2 to 5One or two interviews a week. Chapters arrive in your portal as you go.
- Weeks 5 to 8You review, ask for changes and approve each chapter. Then the files are prepared.
- After approvalYou publish in your own accounts, on your own launch date.
Books for Financial Advisors: Questions
Can I buy copies in bulk to give to clients and prospects?
Yes. You publish in your own account, so you order author copies at the printer’s cost, in whatever quantity you need, with no markup from us. Advisors often mail a copy after a first meeting or bring a box to every seminar.
Can I print a family edition for my own family?
Yes. You own the print-ready files, so you can print a private family edition through a print-on-demand printer without listing it for sale, alongside or instead of a public edition.
Can I get wide distribution through IngramSpark, not just Amazon?
Yes. Your files are prepared for Amazon KDP and for IngramSpark. IngramSpark lists your book in the Ingram catalog that bookstores and libraries order from. Both accounts are in your name, so royalties come straight to you.
Who owns the rights, me or my firm?
You do. You own 100% of the copyright and keep 100% of the royalties. Dictate claims no ownership of your book and takes no royalties, and your publishing accounts are in your name. If your firm has its own policy on outside writing or outside business activities, read it before you start. Dictate claims no rights either way.
What does the speaking help include? I run client seminars.
Every book comes with an Author’s Toolkit: bios, Amazon copy and quote graphics. Optional marketing packages add a speaker one-sheet with talk topics, and the largest adds a keynote outline and speaking pitches. We help you get ready to be booked; nobody can honestly promise the bookings.
I’m not a writer. Is this realistic for a busy advisor?
You don’t need to be. You talk on the phone with Silas, our AI interviewer, and the chapters are written from your own words, in your voice. Your job is to talk and to review. Most advisors find the interviews feel like a long first meeting with a very curious client.
Explain Your Philosophy Once, in Print
Start with the free training. See how what you tell every new client becomes a book in your own voice.
