OBC Reader

So. I was excited to be able to read and earn money. Then they asked for verification for my PayPal (makes sense so they can pay you). Then they wanted my drivers licenses to prove I am a person and my address matches etc on my profile. Ok. Trying to keep down fake accounts. So I read a book for free (because you have to reach a certain level to get paid unless it’s a special offer). My review didn’t count because I had “too many errors”. Ok. It’s been a min since I took English class and rules have changed. I get an offer to read a book and get paid. So I jump on it. Read the book. Did a review. Now they want me to allow them to “track” my location. Now. First of all they have a copy of my DL which shows my address matches my profile. They have verified my receipt of purchase for my ebook. They have verified my PayPal account is my account. Now they want to “track” my location through my internet browser before they will even look at my review. What’s next? My SS#?

Found a site(which will remain nameless simply because I don’t think I can trust their suggestions anymore) stating OBC was a site to get paid to read and review books for $5 each. Read a few books, turned in my reviews, waited two weeks…ZERO dollars in payment because they have all been denied by the reviewers of the reviews. Made a “mistake”(according to them) in the review? -10 pts each. Didn’t “adhere to guidelines” — many of which are unclear — cost my scores an additional -30 pts(this is out of 100 pts total btw). My reviews were VERY well written AND HONEST — especially compared to most reviews found online. I’ve helped beta read and edit for multiple — published — authors, but it’s ridiculous getting paid for our time doing this is left to the whim of random reviewers who can deny reviews just so OBC doesn’t have to pay anyone. On top of that, the pay rates are ridiculous! Your first book read has to be done for FREE. Fine, I get that because they want to screen reviewers? After that, level 1 reviewers can get paid $5, but many of the selections were by amateur authors(which, if I’m being truly honest, many of them shouldn’t even be considered “authors” with how bad their writing was). Also, the the page counts are extremely unfair. No joke, there were three novels on my list THOUSANDS of pages long — for only $5?! Professional editors would charge hundreds of dollars for the time spent editing those — assuming they would even agree to take the job in the first place.

So far, I am enjoying this app. I will update this review Accordingly later, but I wanted to say this sooner rather than later. For the common people who use devices such as their phones and kindles for reading more and more, you should have an option between each chapter to take notes on the chapter as required/suggested by your guidelines. This is also something that’s become more common in schools as well, and I think that it would give a sense of convenience and ease to those who choose to invest their time into this app. Also, along with stating your guidelines, maybe incorporate them throughout the app a bit more? I think it would help readers achieve the result that would be a perfect review based on the guidelines given. That is just my opinion and I hope you take it into consideration