Process for Creating & Approving New Literature

N.B. This process has been determined by the Literature Committee, and reviewed and approved by the UA GSB, but has not yet been reviewed and approved by the World Service Conference.

Suggestions for New Literature

The Literature Committee maintains a “wish list” of literature that we would generally like to see created for the program: any UA member is welcome to make a suggestion. The committee takes items from this list and turns them into active projects based on the availability of volunteers to write the material. After review with his or her sponsor and/or action partners, any UA member is welcome to volunteer to help write any specific item on the wish list.

From time to time, the Literature Committee can review the wish list, and consolidate or remove items that are seen as duplicative, either with each other or with existing literature.

The World Service Conference can also direct the Literature Committee to create specific pieces of literature; in this case, when no volunteer writers are available or suited to the task, the committee may instead hire suitable writers for a modest fee to write the material.

Evaluating Literature For Approval

At all stages, from working group reviews of the first drafts to World Service Conference review for approval, we ask ourselves the following in evaluating the appropriateness of a proposed piece of new literature:

  • Does it have a specific, valuable purpose?
  • Does it carry the UA message, with a focus on the 12 Steps, 12 Traditions and 12 Tools as the foundation to recovery from compulsive underearning?
  • Is it understandable and informative but also succinct?
  • Does it respect different genders, ethnic backgrounds and religious beliefs?
  • Is it well presented, grammatically correct and free of typos?
  • Do I personally consider this piece to be a valuable addition to my recovery? If not, have I reviewed it with others in the program and have they confirmed to me that they consider it to be a valuable addition to their recovery?

Procedures For Active Projects/Proposed Literature

  1. Selection of a topic
    1. The World Service Conference passes a motion to create a specific piece of new literature.
    2. In the absence of outstanding requests from the World Service Conference, the Literature Committee selects a topic from the “Wish List” of suggested topics, based on its own priorities and the availability of volunteers.
    3. A member of the Literature Committee is assigned to guide the topic from creation through approval, and it is added to the list of active tasks. This coordinator is responsible for tracking the progress of the piece, and reporting the status and any roadblocks back to the Literature Committee via the active tasks list. The coordinator may or may not be involved in creating the piece, but their first responsibility is tracking progress, and actual creation only their second priority.
  2. Selection of creative team
    1. The Literature Committee finds and approves one to three volunteers to create the piece; this will usually, but not always, include the coordinator.
    2. For topics selected by the WSC, in the absence of suitable volunteers, the Literature Committee may elect to hire an outside writer or creative team, for a modest fee consistent with its budget; in this case, the coordinator identifies suitable creators and negotiates fees; the Literature Committee approves the selection and fees, and makes a motion to the full General Services Board to approve the selection and the fees.
      1. If the Literature Committee or GSB rejects the motion, the coordinator works with creative team to revise the proposal to meet the objections, and resubmits it.
      2. If the Literature Committee or GSB rejects the motion a second time, the Literature Committee may determine that the topic is not suitable for continued effort at this time, in which case it is taken off the active task list, and returned to the Wish List.
  3. First Draft
    1. The coordinator secures Assignment of Rights waivers from the creative team, and files them with the Literature Committee Secretary.
    2. The creative team creates the first draft.
    3. The coordinator submits the first draft to the Literature Committee.
    4. The Literature Committee reviews the first draft, and provides comments on it.
    5. The coordinator collates the comments and presents them to the Literature Committee at its next monthly meeting.
    6. At the monthly meeting, the Literature Committee determines whether the project should continue with the selected creative team; it may also determine that the topic is not suitable for continued effort at this time, in which case it is taken off the active task list, and returned to the Wish List.
  4. Editing & Review
    1. If the project continues, the coordinator provides all comments to the creative team.
    2. The creative team revises the literature and provides the second draft to the coordinator.
    3. The coordinator submits the second draft to the Literature Committee at its next monthly meeting.
    4. The Literature Committee reviews the second draft, and provides comments on it.
    5. The coordinator collates the comments and presents them to the Literature Committee at its next monthly meeting.
    6. At the monthly meeting, the Literature Committee determines whether the proposed literature is ready to go to the full GSB; if not, the project returns to step 1 of the Editing & Review process.
    7. The Literature Committee circulates the proposed literature to the full GSB, and brings a motion to approve submitting the proposed literature to the World Service Conference.
    8. If approved by the GSB, the final draft is returned to the Literature Committee; no further content changes may be made, only minor editorial corrections. If not approved, the project returns to Step 4(A) of the Editing & Review process.
  5. Approval
    1. The Literature Committee makes final revisions to the literature (as noted, minor editorial corrections and typesetting adjustments only, no content or meaning changes), and typesets it, following the established typesetting guidelines; at this stage, it is denoted “For review only; this has not yet been approved by the UA World Service Conference.”
    2. The Literature Committee approves the final typeset draft.
    3. The Literature Committee circulates the proposed literature to the World Service Conference, and brings a motion to approve it.
  6. Publication
    1. Once the literature is approved for publication by the World Service Conference, the motto “Created by the UA World Service Conference” is added, with the year of approval, and it is provided to the GSB for publication by the usual mechanisms.

Copyright

All persons providing creative input to any literature projects need to be aware they will need to sign a waiver formally assigning their copyright interests to UA GSB, Inc., so that the legal entity representing the UA program owns the copyright to all its literature. Likewise, any contractual obligations will need to contain a provision for this.

Anonymity

Anonymity is the key foundation of all Twelve Step programs. Consequently, authorship will not be ascribed, and the First Name, Last Initial format will be used for any person referenced in the material.

With modern electronic systems automatically tagging documents with our names and other details, we need to be especially careful that full names are scrubbed from electronic documents before they are distributed. Since Copyright Waivers, contracts and other legal documents will by necessity include full names, these will be kept in locations that are not open to public access.

Payment For Services

For any given piece of literature, it is likely that some combination of the following areas of expertise will be needed:

  • Research
  • Writing
  • Editing
  • Illustration
  • Formatting/Typesetting
  • Proofing
  • Printing
  • Transcription
  • Video editing
  • Web design

It is anticipated that much of the work around creating and publishing literature will be provided by volunteers on the Literature Committee, as part of the service component of the program. However, it is also likely that some specialized services may be needed beyond the capabilities or resources of available volunteers.

Where necessary, the Literature Committee will engage suitable professionals for modest fees, pursuant to its overall budget and approval of specific contracts by the GSB.

Active Task List

The Literature Committee will maintain an Active Task list, accessible to any UA member, tracking the following details about each literature project:

  • Working title
  • Topic/summary
  • Proposed format (pamphlet, book, etc.)
  • Current draft
  • Coordinator, with contact details
  • Current status
  • Detailed next actions: what, by whom, expected/due by when

Version Control

To keep track of changes, each version of a document will be given a sequential version control number, together with the date and a summary of the changes in each version. The Literature Committee Secretary will maintain copies of all versions of a document, so that historical changes can be reviewed, and older versions recovered if necessary.