In the newest version, CS3, no problem, methinks, look for a preset in the help files, like this one;
https://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/8.0/help.html?content=WS659A8F62-2B68-41b0-B6E9-9D85E09B331C.html
Or in the older versions, put each letter on it’s own layer, make it 3D then animate the Y rotation.
In case you talking lots of text, here is a handy script for converting text to individual letters:
crg_Text_from_File.jsx
https://www.crgreen.com/aescripts/ie/
just drop the jsx file into your scripts folder, fire up AE, then File>Run Script>Text to File and follow the instructions.
Or…
Make the text, add the Effect Card Dance, a little trick to space it right, then animate the y axis.