Jerry Banfield — Author in St. Petersburg, Florida
Turn Your Life Story Into a Book You Can Hold.
Join me for a focused 90-minute session at my home office near Crescent Lake where we begin shaping your life story into a clear, structured manuscript and audiobook. No writing experience required. Just your voice.
My Books (Newest to Oldest)
Books I've Helped Others Write
Let's Write Your Story!
Imagine holding your life story in a book. Not videos buried in a profile. Not photos scattered among thousands in a cloud account. A real book with your name on the cover and an audio version narrated in your own voice. All the stories you have carried for decades carefully organized, preserved, and able to be held in someone’s hands.
Picture your children or grandchildren opening that book one day and discovering who you were before they knew you. See a friend reading it and saying, “I never knew that about you.” Hear your voice telling your story long after you are gone. Feel the relief today of knowing your life is not scattered across fading memories but laid out clearly, honestly, and permanently. While the legacy side of writing a book is obvious, what surprised me was something even more powerful.
As soon as you start recording your life, you begin living differently. When you know what you are doing today will one day be written into your story, you make more conscious decisions. Patterns that once felt automatic become visible. For me, that pattern was addiction.
I have been sober for eleven years in Alcoholics Anonymous. After years of trying to quit drinking, the turning point was writing my life story and seeing, in one continuous narrative, how many times I had tried and failed to get sober. Reading it all together changed something in me. I knew I would do absolutely anything not to repeat that pattern again. That awareness interrupted a cycle that years of effort alone had not broken.
Writing does more than preserve your past. It reshapes your future. There is another benefit that may matter even more today.
We are living in record levels of loneliness despite constant digital interaction. We post photos, upload videos, scroll feeds, and send messages. Yet how often do we sit down with someone and speak for hours about what truly shaped us? Our analytical minds feel stimulated in this environment, but our deeper emotional systems are not nourished by synthetic connection.
One genuine conversation where someone listens carefully to your life story can interrupt that loneliness spiral. I experienced this in Alcoholics Anonymous the first time I shared my story honestly with another person. I felt seen in a way that getting over a billion views online never satisfied. Creating your book with me guarantees that depth. You will be heard. Fully. And that experience does not stay confined to our sessions. It spills into the rest of your life.
I love having my books to give out because they create instant depth with people I would otherwise only know at a surface level. I have enjoyed incredible conversations at school pickup, yoga studios, and AA meetings that began simply by handing someone a copy of my book. After reading it, people often share their own stories more openly. Real friendships form.
By contrast, I uploaded over 10,000 videos online and never made a single new in-person friendship as a result. Unlike videos, books are physical. They can be handed from one person to another. They cannot be quietly buried by an algorithm or mass deleted. I have books in my home that were written more than 100 years ago. That permanence matters. When you work with me, your book exists in print, on Kindle, and on all major audiobook platforms. Your story becomes physical, global, and enduring.
If you are thinking your life story does not matter, I promise there are people for whom it matters deeply. We have all lost someone and wished we could read their story again in their own words. My father passed away in 2014. I am grateful for our time together, but there are many stories I wish I could read from his perspective, especially if he had written them decades earlier. Too often we leave behind a grieving family trying to piece our story together from scattered memories that slowly fade.
My name is Jerry Banfield. I live here in St. Petersburg, and I am an author with 33 books published on Amazon. I have written my own 112,000-word memoir titled Un Fn Myself. Nine years ago, I published Speaker Meeting 2017, a long-format memoir about my history with alcoholism and recovery. I continue adding to my story every month in my Daily Autobiography series.
Writing books is not something I dabble in. This is my life. I deleted millions of followers online to build something real, here in person.
One of the first people I helped write her book was Lindsay Dorio. In just two 90-minute sessions, she dictated her entire book, The Queendom Quest, off the top of her head in my studio. It captures her journey from living a perfect-on-paper life to courageously leaving it and eventually finding the partner she is deeply happy with today. She loves having that book available to share now and ready for her children to read decades from today.
When you are ready to begin your book, use the button below to book a 90-minute session with me at my home office near Crescent Lake Park. We begin by mapping your life timeline: childhood, turning points, relationships, successes, failures, and lessons learned. Then, session by session, you tell your story chapter by chapter. You speak from the heart while I listen and record. I handle the transcription, editing, design, formatting, publishing, and audiobook production.
A 100,000-word life story usually takes about ten sessions. A short book capturing one idea or chapter of your life can be completed in two or three sessions. You do not need writing experience. You do not need technical skills. All you need to do is speak.
Even if you never want your book distributed publicly, we can print and bind copies for private sharing. However you choose to distribute it, you will gain clarity, connection, and something lasting.
I offer a maximum of twelve 90-minute sessions per week. If you do not see availability on my calendar, it simply means those sessions are currently booked. I regularly open new time slots as space becomes available.
If something in this letter stirred curiosity, excitement, hesitation, or even resistance, pay attention to that. The most meaningful changes in life often begin with an emotional reaction followed by action.
The only question is whether you will begin. I’m ready when you are. Scheduling using my button below takes only a few minutes. The impact can last for decades. If you have questions, call or text me at 727-339-0333.
Sincerely,
Jerry Banfield
P.S. Your life story matters more than you think. It matters to you. It matters to the people who love you. If you have felt for years that you should write your story someday, this is your invitation to begin. It will never be easier than it is right now.