To paraphrase Billy Joel, “You may be shocked, I may be crazy.” I’m talking about what’s in my memoir, Confessions of an Investigative Reporter: Stories I Couldn’t Tell on TV. It’s scheduled to be released in May 2020.

The book isn’t a tell-all, but it’s dishy. It doesn’t destroy the business I have made a good living from, but it bashes some things you see on local newscasts. I write about fake news years before the term became popular. I explain how I was ordered to lie on TV. I criticize many decisions made by my bosses.

I give my impressions from the half-dozen interviews I did with a real estate developer who wasn’t well known yet outside New York: Donald Trump. I tell the true story behind my interview with the serial killer David Berkowitz, aka the “Son of Sam.” I write about fraudulent businesses I busted, colorful characters I worked with, why I was shoved, spit at, had a baseball bat swung at my head, and why I was arrested while shooting a story.

Above all, the book is entertaining and honest. And you don’t have to be a news junkie to enjoy it.

Writing my memoir has been number one on my bucket list for years. Viewers and friends kept telling me, “You’ve got to write a book.” I figured a million people hear that. Then about twenty years ago I started jotting down notes for possible inclusion in a book. The notes piled up. I thought I couldn’t write a book while still working full-time as an investigative reporter. Then an author gave me the best advice: “Write a page a day.” I did, every day before work for eight months and more on weekends.

After I finished the manuscript, I sent copies to journalists and authors I have long admired. Some of them I know and some I don’t. I started at the top, nervously sending one to Bob Dotson. He doesn’t know me from a hole in the wall. I had no expectation that he’d even read it. I watched Bob on the Today show and NBC News for 40 years. His nickname is “America’s Storyteller” and he’s a New York Times best-selling author. He’s one of the greatest TV news writers ever.

Bob called my memoir, “incredible…a fascinating look behind the media mirror that reflects celebrity and power.”

I thought to myself, wow, maybe my little book is ok.

I sent the manuscript to fifteen others, including authors and people who just read a lot. Among them, a Tucson-based author with the mellifluous name of Lala Corriere. She’s not in the news business, never has been. She’s just a terrific writer. Lala read the entire manuscript and sent this back to me: “His honesty, his ability to be self-deprecating alongside being duly proud of his accomplishments, and his page-turning words all spin together to make this a rocketing must-read book!”

I sent the manuscript to Michael Horowicz, who has had a long and fantastic career in television. He is maybe the smartest and best news producer I worked with. The next day, I received this email from Michael:

“Everyone in this business writes a book. For some, it’s one more than they’ve ever read. Those books are filled with anecdotes that are meaningful only to the author. But Matthew is a passionate storyteller who has written a thrilling and poignant account of his life and career. I read it in one sitting. “

I sent it to Rolland Smith, a consummate professional and a beautiful writer. Rolland was an anchor on New York City television stations for more than three decades. I was fortunate to work with him for a few years in the ‘90’s. Rolland enjoyed my inside stories and sent back this line: “The worst thing an investigative subject can hear from a receptionist is: “Matthew Schwartz is here.”

I wrote the book because I wanted to leave a legacy for my children and friends, not to be on any best-seller list or to make money. I fully expected to self-publish and had extensive discussions with a leading self-publishing company. As a lark, I submitted the manuscript to an independent publisher named Koehler Books, which produces self-published works, but also offers traditional deals.

I was surprised and thrilled when Koehler loved the manuscript so much they offered me a traditional deal.

I told approximately 10,000 stories on seven television stations across the US since 1977. Longevity in television is different from any other line of work. Thousands of people are watching but can’t see and never know so many things. The inside stories. The outrageous, incredible, fascinating, poignant, juicy, happy, and sad backstories. The mistakes and the lies. I couldn’t tell them on TV. Some involved personal feelings. Some weren’t politically correct enough for management. Others were inappropriate or irrelevant to my report’s focus. And many stories weren’t told simply due to the time constraints of local news.

They are told in Confession of an Investigative Reporter: Stories I Couldn’t Tell on TV.

And regarding Billy Joel, I tell the amazing story of what happened when I ran into him on the street.

I will be posting blogs here periodically to tell you more about myself and the book. I hope you will stop by to read them, and thanks for reading this first one.

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