Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.
Lemony Snicket
In the last few days, Amazon’s Kindle Challenge has been unveiled and found wanting. Initially, I was super stoked, because who doesn’t love a reading challenge? But is that what we’re even really looking at here? Let’s talk about this challenge a bit more and highlight how it has failed readers around the world.
Plus – I’ve provided some fab reading challenges for 2021 you can follow along with instead.
To catch anyone up who may not have seen this challenge…
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What is the Kindle Challenge?
Through the Kindle Challenge, you’re awarded badges based on accomplishing pre-determined challenges.
There are badges for reading X amount of days in a row, there are badges for borrowing a book from Prime Reading, or starting to read a book in a series, etc.
Of course, every action needs to take place during January 2021.
Using your Kindle, Kindle App, and/or Kindle Reader through the computer counts towards the badges/reading requirements.
Audiobooks and physical books do not count.
Badges can take up to about 72 hours to reflect your activity. And, the older the Kindle device, the longer it can take to sync to the server.
According to a handful of articles, you’re awarded a $5 credit after earning four badges to put towards a future ebook purchase. You’ll receive the credit by February 15, 2021.
Why The Ruffled Feathers?
The Kindle Challenge is only available to US residents. It has something to do with gamification laws in other countries. And, could also potentially be married with Amazon attempting to soft launch something in the US without issue, and test how well it does before attempting to open it up globally.
Breaking it down further, however, the Kindle Challenge is only available to some US residents. A lot of hefty readers within the US were understandably baffled and infuriated by how they weren’t eligible for the challenge considering how much money they spend on books any given year.
Totally fair.
Diving down just a smidge more, some, like myself, were eligible for the challenge, but there is no $5 credit, just “bragging rights”.
So let’s go ahead and find the bottom and scrape around for some truth…
The $5 credit is only available to a small portion of selected US accounts by invitation only.
Wellllll…. the fun is quickly jumping ship.
Why Is This A Big Deal?
]Amazon started off as an online retailer for books. They hold a monopoly with ereaders, and even opened up their own bookstores. Although they’ve grown into different markets, tech, transportation, fulfillment, sustainability, et cetera – et cetera – et cetera – I honestly think they should have a softer spot and more care for the reading community – their OG demographic.
Even more-so, when looking at the badges, it’s easy to see this really is a KINDLE Challenge.
Sure, there are badges for reading a book in a series, or reading for consecutive days in a row, but there are also badges for signing up for Kindle Unlimited, putting your Kindle device on dark mode, and creating a reading goal for yourself.
In fact, if you are eligible for the $5 credit, you can earn that $5 without having read a single book.
Reading Challenges – Real Ones
Reading challenges are nothing new to the book lover’s community. All of our beloved book bloggers and bookstagrammers – I think – are usually at the forefront of these creative challenges.
Personally, my first reading challenge started (excluding anything from grade school) with Goodreads. Declaring how many books I planned on reading that first year was titillating!
It has since grown because of the book blogging community, and I am here for it.
So – if you’re looking for an actual reading challenge – backed by interactive communities, please enjoy these recommendations:
The Uncorked Librarian – Christine started off her annual reading challenge with January’s theme of a nonfiction truthbomb. She’s also got a stellar facebook group and reading community happily sharing their January reads so many have already completed.
Pretty Mess Reading – Danielle has a great checklist of 26 items for the whole year. One of which is a book you saw someone reading – and that’s one of my favorite ways to add a title to the TBR pile!
The Book Girls Guide – Melissa & Angela are hosting a reading challenge that takes you around the world. Which is so fitting as this pandemic continues to keep us at home.
Book List Queen – Rachael deserves this title so much. Her 2021 challenge is 52 items – a book a week. And some of those items are as broad as ‘Fantasy’ and others that hone in on ‘published in the 1800’s’.
Tabitha Bear – I would be absolutely remiss if I did not share my own list. Granted, it’s not a proper 2021 reading challenge, but it’s a list of 30 Indigenous Authors you should read.
Ending Thoughts
On the surface, I am certain Amazon was well-intentioned; a way to encourage people to read more. But when this is kind of generally about reading, and specifically about paying for more Amazon services, changing the settings on your device, and one badge that is specifically about just purchasing a book – it’s not even really fun.
What do you think about the Kindle Challenge?
Don’t be shy – drop your favorite reading challenges!
Update: February 6, 2021. Amazon only conducted the Kindle Challenge for January 2021 (as of right now.)
If you’re interested in seeing if this will become a consistent thing, they have a newsletter you can sign up for here.
Never Miss An Adventure.
I was SO annoyed when one of my blogging friends showed a screenshot of her invitation email… and the rest of us in the server were left out of the $5 deal. Through sleuthing we were able to find the landing page and sign up, but without the $5 credit what even is the point? It’s a silly thing, hard to find, and it isn’t like the badges go on any public profiles where you could have those bragging rights.
Ultimately: disappointed but not surprised.