A Door Opens

Last spring our primary Print-on-Demand manufacturer ended their program of "CD-on-demand". The plans to release a series of disk that are self-paced teaching systems based on a simple "web page" front end came to a screeching halt.

But we have found a new company who have stepped into the void to provide a new CD-on-demand service that will fill that void.

The disk project is back online.

ALL OF THESE DISKS WILL BE AVAILABLE AS ISO (DISK IMAGE) DOWNLOADS FOR FREE!! The option of buying a disk from the CD-on-demand service will be there for people who either do not understand how to use a disk image, or don't want to bother with the geekwork.

The first disk is about 90% done: a Sponsors Resource Disk which includes 36 talks on the many speakers experience of Sponsoring and guiding someone through Steps, several with a special focus on Inventory. In addition, several hundred pages of PDF and text documents (Including the full PDF of A Recovery Reader) are provided to help a Sponsor expand their own recovery while helping the newcomer. The Sponsor Disk should be available by the end of September.

The second disk will work exactly the same way as the first (web page front end) and offers a variety of talks on the Steps as they are grouped by many people in 12-Step Recovery. The Steps/Grouped disk should be available in November. This disk will also offer a library of PDF and text documents to support students of 12-Step Recovery.

Also, a two disk set of all of the Anonymous Review podcasts, which will run on the same simple "web page" front end, is in the works. That will included all 27 of the History podcasts, voices the voices of the people from AA history ("In their own words, in their own voices") as they tell their own story and viewpoint of the growth of the Program. And, of course, the disk will also include PDF and text file resources for programs students and teachers.

All four disks will be previewed online and a we have a target price under $7.50 per disk (less for the 2-disc set, if we can get that option) - including shipping - with bulk discounts for groups who may want to use the disks.

You can sign up for email updates from the blog - use the "Follow by eMail" option on the right side of this page. And, if you can, please let a friend know about the various faces of Anonymous Review project - podcasts, books and disks.

Simplification?

I have been thinking - run for the hills.

So far, as Anonymous Review, there have been two volumes of podcasts over three years (77 individual podcasts), a booklet on Inventory, which was absorbed into A Recovery Reader, and the first issue of Sponsor Magazine was released (Issue #2 will be out the first week of June).     

A third volume of the podcast is in development, and a fourth podcast is in discussion.

The third podcast will topics in depth. For example: three or four podcasts with snippets from dozens of speakers on a single topic (such as a single Step); or a single personality telling his or her story in depth by pulling various recordings together (such as Bill Wilson). This may involve reducing the size of the podcast to 30 minutes creating many more podcasts to cover the material. But who's in a big rush? The working title is "_____ in Depth".

The fourth podcast would be a meeting format that was tried locally at a meeting which is no longer around. I do not think the meeting failed because of the concept, I think it failed because it was too closely linked to an institution and wasn't perceived as a "real" AA meeting. The format is called "Speaker in a Box" and offers a speaker recording for 25-30 minutes, followed by discussion. I am used to 90 minute meetings (out West), and locally meetings are 60 minutes. There would be materials for anyone to use Speaker in a Box for either time format and it would be published as podcasts to fit the format and provide topic. The vision is to provide smaller groups, who have heard each others story over and over, some fresh input from the wonderful speakers available - or to allow a tiny meeting with 3-4 people to enjoy the benefit of hearing speakers from around the world with thousands of flavor of recovery.

Such a format would allow the people running the group to pick and choose speakers (such as women or men only, particular classification speakers only, certain topics only) or to allow the random train of speakers you would get at any big-city AA Speaker Meeting. An optional format would be available as a PDF download. The format would not link the format to anything other than an optional meeting format for a group - it would not carry a brand. (Not "Anonymous Review" and not "Sponsor Magazine." but would be available through those sites.

But as all this is being done the question comes up: does any of this Keep it Simple?

As a whole we try to focus on particular aspects of recovery - our relationships, our money, our families, our job, our sex lives, our service work, but we have to do it all. Does this collection of projects need the same isolation? Does it make sense to make them simple with a "one site fits all" approach - go to one place, get access to everything and links to more?

As the producer/editor I am in a rare position where I can devote almost full time to these projects. I'm a bad capitalist because I'm not looking at ways to cash in on recovery - just want to contribute something while I'm still around.


Anonymous Review has been a wonderful project, but the phrase "anonymous review" has a very distinct meaning in academic circles ... to review a paper without identification to allow the reviewer more latitude to speak freely. But that also means when someone goes to a search engine to look for "Anonymous Review" they get 1,050,000 results - and my project doesn't show up until around page 15. (To be fair, if they enter "anonymousreview" the home page is the #1 result - right after they ask you if you meant to search for "anonymous review" as two words.)

I am wondering if it might serve this project better to bring everything under one banner - and that banner to be "Sponsor Magazine."  Sponsor Magazine is a project that has immediately shown that it "has legs" - it can get up and walk around on its own. It has been well received and some high-powered authors have made their material available for future issues. It is a free eZine - free to download and free to share with others - and has an option for a print-on-demand hard copy (which I think is overpriced, but some people prefer to hold the magazine in their hands). The articles for the second edition have just been edited and should be available the first week of June, and #3 is in process.

Would it be simpler to offer the magazine, to make the second edition of A Recovery Reader a project of Sponsor Magazine, and then do the new podcasts as Sponsor Magazine podcasts?

So far this has all been a tiny storm in my tiny little brain, so I am asking for your thoughts; first impressions and the more sober responses after some time reflecting on the idea. I know that alcoholics don't like change, but I'm feeling the Anonymous Review banner has too much baggage to make it useful. Sponsor Magazine seems to be moving under its own steam.

But therein lies the rub - that's what I think. And my thinking got me to AA.

What do you think?  Please feel free to respond by comment or by email.