SUCCESS STORY: THE ADDICTION/RECOVERY eBULLETIN

By Burl Barer, Award-winning author, and radio host

If you send out a weekly email newsletter, you’re lucky if 2% open it, and you’re doing gangbusters if you hit 12%.   The Addiction/Recovery eBulletin, with over 21,000 free subscribers, has an astonishing 45% open rate. 

The secret of its eleven years of enviable success is no secret: there was nothing like it when it started, and there is nothing to equal it today.

Simply stated, The Addiction Recovery eBulletin is the most widely read and highly regarded source of news for treatment professionals and members of the recovering community.  It also is highly valued and regularly read by friends and family of those who deal with issues of addiction, mental health, or recovery.

“It is very clever and vastly entertaining,” says regular reader Lisa Mia, a suicide attempt survivor and author of the recovery memoir, Juliete Lives.

“You don’t have to be an alcoholic, drug addict, doctor, counselor, or therapist to love the Addiction/Recovery e-Bulletin. Every issue has something entertaining, uplifting, and informative.  I read about other people who have turned their lives around and are working to help others, and I always learn something new about the latest research and celebrate some celebrity’s personal story of recovery.”

“Our audience is actually quite diverse,” says Leonard Buschel, founder of Writers In Treatment, publisher of the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.  While he could rightfully provide quotes of praise from astronaut Buzz Aldrin, various TV, and movie celebrities, or even the late counter-culture legend Paul Krasner, Buschel is more egalitarian.

“Our readership includes industry professionals, health and wellness clinicians, doctors, CEO’s, MFT’s, admission coordinators, sober influencers, press and members of the recovery community, plus friends, family, and anyone who loves to read and learn new things every week.”

Advertisers on the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin are, according to Buschel, “the good guys – all of them are honest, ethical and exemplary of the best resources available in terms of treatment, intervention, counseling, or other products and services.”

Another key to the eBulletin’s success is consistency – It has been emailed to subscribers every Tuesday morning at 8:55am PST without fail since September 4th, 2013. 

There is also a weekend special edition with a few new stories that goes out to those who didn’t open the Tuesday edition because, as Buschel says, “everyone deserves a second chance.”

In addition to the 45% open rate on the email edition, another 4,000 readers visit the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin website each week to catch the latest news.

Other defining characteristics of the eBulletin exemplify its diversity and sense of artistic appreciation. Each issue contains a musical interlude. There is also a ‘Person of the Week’, spotlighting individuals who serve the recovering community in altruistic and innovative ways.

“If you really want to know the length and breadth of the topics we cover,” offers Buschel with a smile, “here is a rather comprehensive list: Notable obituaries, scientific studies, celebrity sobriety, big pharma. process addictions, AA, book and film reviews, medical research, industry news, law enforcement, eating disorders, treatment advice, recovery stories, group therapy topics, advocacy initiatives, recovery technology.  Interventionists, rehabs, detox, and perhaps decoupage and situational ethics.”

This was not Leonard Buschel’s first notable success in the recovery field. He created the REEL Recovery Film Festivals, the Experience, Strength and Hope Awards, and wrote his highly praised autobiography, HIGH: Confessions of a Cannabis Addict.

For more information, or to subscribe, visit addictionrecoveryebulletin.org