Dictate turns expert phone interviews into nonfiction books
Appendment’s AI service says it can produce an author-reviewed manuscript in four to eight weeks, with editable files and publishing materials included.
Appendment LLC is offering Dictate, an AI book-writing service that turns recorded phone interviews with experts into nonfiction manuscripts. The Tarpon Springs, Florida, company says the process can produce a finished book in four to eight weeks, with the timetable determined by the author’s interview and review pace.
The service is aimed at professionals including consultants, coaches, doctors, financial advisers, attorneys, educators and ministry leaders who have expertise to share but limited time to draft a book themselves. Michael Giannulis, whose book “Talk Your Book Into Existence” describes the underlying method, said Dictate was designed around the fact that experts often explain their ideas aloud to clients and audiences.
The process begins with a 30-minute AI-led discovery call on the author’s expertise, goals and book vision. Dictate then compiles a research dossier on the author, their work and industry, as well as competing books, before conducting guided interviews of roughly an hour each. Depending on the package, authors may spend up to 15 hours in interviews.
Each conversation builds on the last, while a Content Scorecard tracks whether the material covers seven areas, including stories, frameworks and evidence. After the interviews, Dictate prepares a book blueprint with a thesis, chapter outline and three working titles. The author must approve that blueprint before drafting starts.
Dictate says its Voice DNA system assesses vocabulary, sentence rhythm, personality and signature phrases to draft in the author’s voice. A Continuity Ledger is intended to track facts, names, dates and timelines between chapters. Five specialized AI agents handle interviewing, analysis, architecture, writing and editing, while authors review chapters through an online portal and submit comments for the editor to apply.
The company characterizes the approach as “extraction, not generation.” It says the manuscript’s stories, frameworks and facts come from interviews and uploaded author material, rather than content invented by the software. Its website says a complete manuscript can be created without the author writing prose, provided the author supplies expertise, answers and feedback.
The final manuscript is supplied as print-ready PDF, EPUB and Microsoft Word files, suitable for routes including Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and IngramSpark. Authors also receive an Author’s Toolkit containing biographies, Amazon description copy, back-cover text and quote graphics. Within 48 hours of purchase, Dictate says it assigns an Author Concierge to develop a Marketing Blueprint, alongside support calls and a customer-support center.
Authors retain full copyright under Dictate’s stated terms, with the company claiming no ownership or royalties. It also offers discounted pricing for ministry and nonprofit authors.
Dictate estimates traditional nonfiction writing at 500 to 1,000 hours. For comparison, a separate 2026 analysis of professional nonfiction ghostwriting put typical costs at $18,000 to $50,000 and timelines at six to 12 months, with 10 to 30 interview hours for a full-length book. That analysis similarly identified structured interviews, source-grounded drafting, author review and voice preservation as the distinctions between purpose-built AI book platforms and one-prompt chatbot use.
“Talk Your Book Into Existence,” available in Kindle, paperback and Audible editions, describes the conventional business-book route as roughly 500 hours, or about 12.5 full work weeks spread across six to 18 months. Dictate is presented as the productized version of that interview-based method.