Inside Read & Earn Mall 

Yinka Olatunbosun

Adeyinka Komolafe, an author of inspirational books has opened the pathway for promoting the reading culture with a new initiative called “Read & Earn Mall Readers’ Club.’’ Officially launched in June 2022, the idea had been in the pipeline since September 2020 towards bridging the gap between readers and writers. The Read & Earn Mall itself is an E-commerce platform to online shopping of books.

“We encourage writers to register with us and we assess the books to see whether it is something of public interest. Then, they can enroll for membership,’’ the founder of Read & Earn Mall, Komolafe revealed.

The Read & Earn Mall Readers Club is built like a multi-level platform for the authors and readers to earn some money. Organised into bronze (level 1), silver (level 2), gold (level 3) and diamond (level 4) categories, the author can earn both as a reader and earn royalties as an author. Other perks to registration include t-shirts, bible and books, music accessories, depending on the level of registration.

“There is something we call Point Value,’’ she further explained.  “It is 2PV for level 1, level 2 has 4PV, level 3 has 6PV while level 4 has 8PV.when you refer people to the club, your PV accumulates. Readers need to register to access books. But their registration fees start from as low as N3000. Readers get books to read and increase their PVs with referrals. We have a column for readers to check if they are actually reading the books. If you review, you will automatically earn PVs that can be turned into cash. That is our own way of encouraging the reading culture.’’

Komolafe recalled how she had relied on footwork to distribute her books in the previous years and how technology had helped to revolutionise the system of book distribution in Nigeria. 

“I used to take my books around on foot from bookshop to bookshop and I offered discounts. The sellers will set a price higher than the cover price and make it difficult for buyers to purchase. Often, they would sell the book and not pay you or claim that they haven’t sold any of the books they collected from you. They will give you excuses every time. I see this initiative as very good for authors to sell without hindrance. It is cheaper to get books from Read and Earn Mall. You can track payments easily because everything is technologically enabled.’’