I feel slightly conflicted. But perhaps its one of those problems that will resolve itself with time.
I volunteer for an organization that works as an independent book review. their mission says that they are completely volunteer, in order to restore the book review sections that have gone missing in many newspapers and magazines (due to recent economic struggles those are usually the first to go).
but things seem to be changing.
I recently had quite an upsetting issue with one of my reviews. the feedback i got on future reviews seemed to revolve around reviewing a book you like. and now, i just received an email about fundraising. apparently, we (the organization) gets money from click-throughs on books to amazon and advertising on the website.
i understand they need to make some money. but won’t relying on readers’ click-throughs to buy books we review compromise the quality of reviews? if a reviewer doesn’t like a book, how likely is it that they will click through our link and buy it?
to top it off, the email said this fundraising effort will go towards paying contributors and volunteers. thats not a volunteer organization anymore, is it?
i’m thinking the organization just may be evolving into one that doesn’t really fit my ideals, anymore.
