One of the greatest blessings of the internet is the creation of alternative distribution channels for the dumbing down democratization of standards and commodification of taste. Witness allreaders.com. It offers “detailed book reviews from many different genres of books!” and the chance of untold riches upon submission of reviews, for which allreaders.com sets stringent criteria.
You can also make 1 dollar per review, subject to these terms
BUT… it isn’t easy to write a good review.
Not everyone is intellectually positioned to be an Allreaders.com scholar.
“Intellectually positioned”? What does that mean? I want to earn $1, dammit, and before the euro appreciates. It goes on:
Keep in mind:
(o) The review will take from 5-7 minutes to enter.
(o) You’ll have to categorize the book from a preset list of plots, characters, settings and themes so we can make the book searchable by said attributes.
(o) You’ll have to write a few sentences describing the plot in standard, grammatically correct English.
So the question of being “intellectually positioned” basically requires (apart from the actual ability to read, of course) that one
1. does not suffer from ADD, or at least only suffer from its mildest forms.
2. is able to recall the main themes of the book and select from a multiple choice questionnaire.
3. is able to string a set of coherent sentences.
Let’s see how this translates in action. For example, this is the allreaders.com entry on Antony Loyd’s My war gone by, I miss it so.
Yeah, I guess that’s just about worth a dollar, but Antony Loyd surely deserves better. Better still, visit ReadySteadyBook.
