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Jessica: Hey guys, it's me, Jess, your host of ABSITE Smackdown podcast. And with me today, we are making it official. My cohost, Dr. David Kashmer. Hi, Dr. David,
Dr. Kashmer: Jessica. That's. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. And now I've been fully upgraded to the podcast. Co-host it's always great being here with you guys. I always think that what we talk about is super fun and hopefully really useful to all the people out there. So I appreciate now being the co-host with you. And I look forward to bringing people on to interview and all the different things we're going to do. I saw the slate of what is on tap, sort of the coming attractions for the future episodes. And it looks really great. So I'm excited to do it and, you know, kind of be on the gang.
Jessica: Well, thanks for being here and I'm super excited as well. And you mentioned, you know, what's on the slate and coming attractions and that kind of feeds into what we're going to talk about today, even though our podcast today is a little off topic. So basically we want to talk about how we know how you need the first book, but we want to talk about making the first book, how we took input from the community and reviews and rolled it into making the second one. And now that we're working on the third book, how the reviews and the other things we've done, like the coloring book, how all of that helps contribute to the next version.
Dr. Kashmer: Sure. And I think the vision for it that you guys laid out early on is really what brought me on to help out with the project. I know we kind of call it #ProjectSmackdown team. It's the vision for like a living book, a living, breathing body of knowledge and a group of people around it. So the idea from the beginning was, okay, we're going to put out a book, we're going to put out the best review book we can, we're going to try to include all the important, relevant facts, with our own take on it. that other review books kind of have so that we have a unique review book, but a great review book. We took all the surgeon's notes who, contributed. And we started somewhere. We kind of had a minimum viable book and we grew around it, according to what y'all laid out, with a social media account, that's the Insta @daily.absite.fact, you setup the YouTube channel, the podcast, the video podcast, like we mentioned, LinkedIn, Facebook, all these things so that people can interact with this work and it can become part of what they do every day.
Dr. Kashmer: And then when the community started to give us ideas: hey, you know, we'd really like to see this. We'd like to see a coloring book. We said, yeah. Okay. We can do that. And that's been super fun, along with some other things that are in the works for the future, but you know, just one of the most fascinating things for me to learn about in this ride is how things get reviewed online, especially in places like Amazon. It's been really neat to see,
Jessica: Yeah, it is neat to see. I mean, I feel we try and take that feedback from Amazon, but you have to take it with a grain of salt. I know with the first series, you know, we were trying to make it more pocket size so that it would fit the book. They carry the book with them everywhere. But then we had people giving us feedback about the print being too small. And so we took that feedback and we put it into the next one, but you always have to be careful because you're never really sure if one with Amazon, at least they have the verified reviews, but at the same time, sometimes we get reviews that don't even sound like they've read the book or watch the program. And so you don't really know what they're being accurate. So you have to weigh what really needs to be changed, or if there's an issue or a problem, or if someone's just kind of salty, you know, if they were even involved.
Dr. Kashmer: Yeah. Salty, or if it's another company which we've seen before that's done it, or someone with an ax to grind, you know, you have to take the reviews, like you said, with a grain of salt, because we've seen plenty of reviews in version one and then version two, where the person had not even ever seen the video review course, but they're commenting all about it. We saw that in version one. and we've just seen really interesting stuff. And at the same time, you want to take useful feedback. Everybody who makes anything struggles with this and the vision for it, I think is like you said, is to progressively improve. So for example, version two, it still fits in your pocket. It's not a huge book, but the font's bigger, even though some people like the small font and plenty of space to write notes in the first version, the second one will still let you do that.
Dr. Kashmer: It's laid out a little better. For those other people who said, hmm, this is kind of small. And that's just a minor point. I mean, the coloring book, like you said, really came from the community. They said, you know, I'd really like a coloring book. And we said, you know, that's really good feedback and we can do that. And we did, and it's doing really well. So, you know, you're right. It's really important to iterate or improve things based on what people tell you. And at the same time kind of keep your filter up because some of what comes through as a review is just way off the mark and often not real. And that's, that's really unfortunate, but we've seen it overall reviews have been great. And we try to play to the strengths of the review book a lot too. And the course, especially with that video course. So yeah, I think exactly what you said is right.
Jessica: Yeah. I think it's, I mean, for us, it's pretty easy to spot the fake reviews and what doesn't match because we are so familiar with the program and the book, but you know, other people reading it, maybe thinking about buying it, they might not know. And that's why it's really important to stay on top of, you know, monitoring the reviews, seeing what we can do to improve seeing the ones that aren't true and making sure that we're getting positive information out about the book for all the people interested in buying it. And you know, I think about the podcast and all of our social media. We have a Tik Tok now, which is so young, you know?
Dr. Kashmer: I don't know, you guys said, it'll be great. Well, we'll see if people seem to like it. And you know, I want to pick up on what you said: I know that you all do have a way in part to tell who's seen the videos because they need to share their email so they can, the computer and everything can generate the email to them. And that's all upfront in the ABSITE Smackdown! listing, you need to share an email that works for you, and then people will share their email and their name, and it's all kept protected and secure. And the headline is it's not shared or sold to anybody else. I know your website makes that clear. or the website I should say the point is that it's sometimes really easy to see when someone goes on and on about the course and their name no way matches up with anything.
Dr. Kashmer: And then the feedback is way off. It's like exactly backward. I mean, I think there was one review where someone said the lectures in the course of do not follow the review book. Of course they follow it very closely. They said, they're in random order. Of course they're not they're chapter by chapter. It was almost like intentionally spreading misinformation. Of course, fake news is a thing. So like you said, it's more important now than ever to share, what the book is, what it isn't. And also the overwhelming majority of the reviews have been positive where people email us and talk to us about are positive. and so when you see things like that, like you said, it's just a grain of salt. It's just, hey, when you make something, some people either aren't going to like it, or for some reason, they're gonna try to take it down for whatever their motivation is. And it's okay. Bottom line is we listen to everybody. we always try to take the good feedback to improve, and it's been a fun ride so far. I can't wait until version three comes out.
Jessica: Yeah. I'm pretty excited. It's, it's in the works for those of you listening, hopefully next summer, but it's really exciting. And there's actually some other stuff that you're working on. I don't know if you're ready to share yet. We can share later, but just all of the feedback and the reviews and everything that everyone's given us, we're putting it to work, just so you know.
Dr. Kashmer: Yeah. I'm happy to share, it sounds like you guys are going to let me, yeah, the coloring book just launched really very recently day or two ago. And then, pretty shortly, we're going to launch a crossword puzzle book, which is also based on feedback from the community. So it's key facts from the ABSITE and kind of, again, a fun format. and I like how you guys have kept to the vision that even though we're releasing these additional things that are fun and super useful, the majority of what we do is free stuff. I know every day, you know, someone in the team is posting a select clear fact, related to the ABSITE, and posting on daily.absite.fact.
That fact we're releasing free, lectures and talks ongoing that are review right from the review book. So by far, the majority of the content is free in terms of what's accessible on a daily basis. And so I really love that. That would have helped me so much as a resident. And, I appreciate the opportunity to do that with you guys. and that allows us, then that's supported by people purchasing the review book and the coloring book, and, that allows us to keep doing that part too. So it's, I don't have much else to say besides it's still been a fun ride. It's really good.
Jessica: Awesome. All right. Well, doctor, thanks so much for being here with me today. And guys, like you said, we have a crossword book coming out. We do have the coloring book already out, which makes a perfect stocking stuffer. If you haven't already filled it up! And so just stay with us for next time…again, #AbsiteSmackdown!