Cameron A.

The site/forum has many different opportunities for both writers and readers alike. Through the "Review Team", book reviewers are given the opportunity to read up and coming books, for free (and sometimes for a monetary reward), in exchange for a comprehensive and honest review. On the flip side of this, authors are given the opportunity to have an honest review made of their book in order to either gain publicity for their work, or know what is required in order to make it better.

I have been a part of the "Review team" technically for about 4 years, but I have only been very active over the last few months. I have come to realise that OBC takes its reviews and its review team very seriously. Paid (especially higher paid) opportunities are not just given out to any available reviewer but rather earned through a system of reliability and carefully vetted prior reviews. Similarly, every effort to ensure that a review chooses a book that interests them is made and subsequently, that a quality review is written. In order to maintain access to these paid opportunities, the OBC tries to ensure that the member is an active participator in the myriad of forums.

As in any community, I'm sure there are members that try and take advantage of the system. Those that will put the minimum of effort in order to simply make a couple of dollars. This, however, will always remain the minority. Most of the community are dedicated readers who have always grown up with that passion. For these people, using the OBC to discover new authors/books, read brand-new fiction/non-fiction, and potentially help a budding author get their first steps, is what this site is all about.

I will continue to participate in this site as long as it exists as a reviewer and have already suggested this site to family members of mine.