Cynthia Peavler Bull's book How To Be A Medical Transcriptionist is targeted to "beginners", the folks that are thinking that maybe Medical Transcription is a career they might enjoy.
Ms. Bull says in the book that she earned a diploma in transcription in 1997 and worked as a transcriptionist for some time after that. Her main business now, as you will see in the book, is Marketing.
The sales letter is interesting. It starts off with asking who wants to make $70,000 a year in medical transcription (see below), and then has endorsements by several prominent Internet marketers (who know nothing about medical transcription). It does promise some nice bonuses in the book.
There are some interesting sections in the book, such as how to protect yourself if there are mistakes in your reports, and the importance of continuing to train your ear and improve your listening skills. But the information about what one can actually expect to earn doesn't say much, and indeed doesn't do much to dispel the myth that she blatantly trumpets as the headline of her sales page:
"Who Wants To Make $70,000+ A Year Working In A Home Based Business As A Medical Transcriptionist?"
Make no mistake, there are people out there who are making that much money in transcription. But they aren't "newbies", that's for sure, and almost all of them have businesses with their own employees. They aren't making it via their own typing. Generally. There are exceptions. And guess what? The ones making it via their own work have no lives to speak of; they are typing 6-7 days a week, 12-14 hours a day. When I met my wife Pam, who types at 100+ wpm and has 25 years of transcription under her belt, she was making 70K, and she worked 6-7 days a week, 12 hours a day. And making more per line than is generally found these days.
Other than those interesting sections, the book is generally pretty fluffy and doesn't at go into the "dark side" of transcription, except to say in a few sentences that it's not just typing.
There are a couple of sections near the back of the book I found interesting as well; one series of questions answered by three or four other transcriptionists, and an interview with with another woman.
The remainder of the book is a series of links to affiliate products and plugs for her personal growth works. I can see putting a couple in there, but this is overkill.
Overall: I think that some people might appreciate her writing style, and there are some good points in it, but overall it is pretty lightweight, and seems more like a vehicle for pushing a bunch of marketing products than a serious attempt to provide real quality information to prospective transcriptionists.
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