Skip to main content

What is Readercoin?


Haven’t so many of us wished to get paid to read? Readercoin seems to be the answer to those prayers.

Readercoin is a new app that lets you earn its eponymous cryptocurrency by listening to and reading books. I'm so enamored with this app that I just had to share it with you all. It's perfect for someone like me, who has a demanding schedule and little time to read for pleasure.

Cryptocurrency?

You know, like Bitcoin, except this isn't Bitcoin. It's a currency that's generated by the time you spend reading and listening. I am not, nor do I pretend to be, an expert on how it works. I refer you to the FAQs for that.

What I can tell you cryptocurrency can be exchanged for rewards like Amazon gift cards or PayPal at a usual exchange rate of 1,000 Readercoins for one US dollar. For most people, that's probably just as good as cash (and it's almost definitely the closest as you're ever going to get).

You also have the option of donating your Readercoins to a charity. What's extra cool about this is the app tells you how far your one Readercoin can go for the organization. For example, one donated Readercoin empowers the World Food Programme to give out approximately 358 grains of rice.

I've been using it in my car on my way to and from work, and I'm saving up for a larger reward. To keep myself from being consumed by greed, I donate one Readercoin to each of the ten charities available for every 100 Readercoins I earn.

Let Me Do the Math

It takes ten minutes of listening or reading to earn one Readercoin. At the time of this article's release, the cheapest reward available is a $2 Amazon gift card at 2,000 Readercoins. That means the minimum amount of listening you'd have to do to earn the smallest reward is over 333 hours.

So, no, this isn't a get-rich-quick scheme, if you were wondering. Pretty sure Readercoin limits you to listening or reading only six hours per day, too. What’s disappointing is a $2 Amazon gift card used to be only 200 Readercoins—the exchange rate VERY recently jumped up.

Okay, so What's the Catch?

The biggest downside in my opinion is the fact that the rewards and exchange rate can change and blindside you. Already, I’ve seen some gift cards disappear, and I’ve seen the exchange rate for one dollar go from 100 to 1,000 Readercoins.

Another problem is the lack of books available. There are plenty of classics—I’ve already listened to Pride and Prejudice, and I’m slowly working my way through The Count of Monte Cristo—but there’s not much else.

That could change pretty fast though because Readercoin also lets writers upload their own content (!!!). Come back a fortnight from now, and you can read my sister post on Readercoin for writers.

If the good all sounds good to you and you can live with the bad and the ugly, then by all means, download the sucker and give it a whirl!

Do you plan on signing up for Readercoin? Let us know by commenting below and make sure to subscribe to get the latest posts.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What to Do When You Don't Know What to Write Next

If you're reading this because you've got a bad case of writer's block mid-project, stop reading. That post will come, but this is not that post. This is for the people who are at a total loss as to which project to begin. Or to find a project-worthy idea in the first place. Maybe you're still stuck on finding a NaNoWriMo project, or maybe you've decided to abandon your original project. Whatever the reason, it's time for a new direction. Believe it or not, you've already got the road map in front of you! If You Have a List of Ideas to Pick From This seems pretty obvious, but maybe try diving into your massive, ongoing list of ideas to pick your next project. What, you already thought of that? Your problem is selecting one? My bad. First, narrow down your ideas by the  length  the story idea demands. That's right, not desire, but length . You can be as head-over-heels in love with your fantasy character sketch as you want, but if they...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is it Possible for YOU to Write Every Day?

As we near the end of Camp NaNo, you might have found yourself adding a little bit to your story every day or you might have been avoiding it completely. Maybe it's become a habit during July, but as the month nears the end, the incentive and inspiration is gone. So how do you make sure you continue to write every day? You're probably wanting to say it's impossible. I can't continue to write every day. I don't have the time, I don't have the inspiration, it's just not something I can do. We're not going to tell you that you're wrong. We go through those same thoughts too. We are going to tell you what we chose to do to try to write every day. Megan I’ll be honest—I didn’t write every day. I couldn’t. When you essentially work three jobs, you don’t always have time. And that’s okay. Give yourself some grace and exercise that self-compassion, hard as it may be. I know it’s difficult for me. But you know what I did do? I thought about writing...
Post a Comment
Read more

August Writing Goals

Hello August! We're hoping this month provides us with much inspiration and many hours of writing time. Our writing goals in July had to take a backseat to our personal and professional lives. We didn't get around to running those word sprints, but we'll aim to do them in NaNo November. Neither of us met our goals for Camp NaNo. Jessica actually lowered her word count goal during the month when she realized she was deleting more words than what she had added in. For August, we've set some new, more realistic goals based on our time constraints. MEGAN’S AUGUST WRITING GOALS Write some blog posts Rework my daily schedule to include designated writing time now that there's a new full-time job in the picture Finish a short story and submit it for publication somewhere Finish new outline for  Earhart & Noonan's Last Grand Adventure JESSICA’S AUGUST WRITING GOALS Write some blog posts Finish editing and rewrites on this draft version of  Murder...
Post a Comment
Read more