OnlineBookClub.org

I joined this site because it seemed like it was easy enough; post your five and then you can start reviewing books. But I feel like there has been a sort of bait and switch. Now, I have to keep posting so that the week long delay goes down and THEN I can start reviewing, BUT I have to review books for free first, (which is fine really) and then each time I go up a point there's another waiting period. Anyone else feel a bit disillusioned by this site? Or am I just being unreasonable.

I believe you are being unreasonable, as a reviewer, as soon as I completed my first review back in November, I have had immediate access to books for review, not paid as those are somewhat rare, but always free books up for review.

I agree with Trisha. Free books are available at certain point and posting isn't too much to ask for this privilege.

However I think it was better if it was stated that paid books are rare, in order to avoid misunderstandings or to not to arouse expectations.

Usually after your first few reviews, you get a bigger selection of books to review. But even if you've been reviewing for a while, sometimes there just aren't that many books available, and it doesn't really have anything to do with your number of posts. It sometimes goes in phases.

I have found that I have immediate access to the free books, which is pretty nice. I am guessing that the paid reviews are few and far between because there are more reviewers than money. It would be nice if there were more paid reviews but a free book is its own payment

If Scott is to stand over the Official Review Process & if authors and members are to have confidence in it then I don't think it at all unreasonable that he would want to read some posts by a new member before including them in the review group, in fact if anything, I would favour a more stringent process.
Without doubt we have some excellent reviewers but I have also read posts purporting to be "reviews" which are barely literate, many that have more than a hint of "promoter hype" about them & even some where I doubt the poster had actually read the book their knowldge of it seems so sparse.
But that is, of course, just my opinion.

I tend to agree with Fran on this one.

I agree as well regarding posts and such.

I don't feel lied to at all. I just joined this website two weeks ago. I had to poke around a bit to find out how it is structured, but immediately found interesting threads on which to comment. After I made about 60 posts, I had a book to review. (I believe on the reviewers' page it states that a minimum of 50 posts are required before a book will be offered for review.) I read the book and wrote the review - it was a 75-page book of poetry, so it was a pretty quick read - and after submitting the review, I immediately had a choice of four more books to read & review. This is as I understood it. Since then, I have done a second review (after submitting it I had a choice of three books to review), and I am now reading my third book.

I think it is good that there is a vetting process for reviewers here, so not just any Tom, Dick, and Harry can register and start writing reviews. Keeps the process honest and of a certain quality.

Thanks for the replies. I do think that reading a good book is very much its own reward. But my point is that they should have made it more clear about the paid books being a rare occurrence, AND should have stated that it would take more than five posts to get started. I don't mind have to post on this forum, as there are many interesting topics, but it should have made more clear how it ALL works before choosing to join. I joined this site to make extra money for my family doing something I love doing, and if that's not what is going to happen, then I feel like spending all this time on here is not important, and that I have better things i could be doing.

Oh, I see what you mean now; yeah it definitely shouldn't be treated as a possible way to earn supplemental income. Like Gali said, I think this should be specified more clearly: that the main deal you're getting is free books (which is pretty cool, too), but definitely not to be viewed as a part time job.

I think Fran is right.

I don't feel lied to but I agree that the the info page sounded somewhat more promising about the possible earnings (or maybe the highest ranking members are actually getting quite good money?)

On another note: I still think it's a good start to get into the whole how-to-do-reviews thing so I was wondering if I could just review any book I've already read and post it somewhere? Where would I post though? And could I get feedback on the review itself? Would they be counted as reviews or just as posts?

Thanks for your help, I've been browsing around for quite a bit but couldn't find anything but I'm sure I've read something somewhere about reviewing just any book.

GypsySpirit, I an still pretty new and by no means an expert, but I have posted some quick reviews of previously read books in the forums under new topics, not to count for reviews but to increase post counts and share some great books I have read. Plus, it gave me a little bit of writing practice before doing actual reviews.

@GypsySpirit
As AMP76 says you can post your review/opinion on any book in the "Reviews and Discussions about Specific Books and Series" Forum. You will find there also a number of sub-forums and you should post in those if there is a sub-forum for the relevant genre.
However, do please use the Search option on the Home Page to ensure you don't duplicate existing topics, if there is a topic open for the relevant book you should add your opinion/review to that topic rather than creating a new topic.
It is then up to the general membership whether they want to discuss or debate the book or your opinion of it.